A Wellington entrepreneur’s nation-wide hunt for a manufacturer to design and produce her new weight-loss product led to the door of a Waikato plastics business.

Self Health Company director Gabrielle Sorensen whittled down her list of 80 possible New Zealand companies to produce her invention to just one, Hamilton’s E.S. Plastics.

“I had to find a company that could injection mould food grade silicone in colours. The product needed to be oven-proof and freezer-proof. I needed to work with a company where I could be very involved in the manufacturing process,” Gabrielle said.

Gabrielle’s Slimmerings invention is designed to help prevent weight-loss plateaus by controlling food portion sizes. The product includes 10 silicone plate rings and two bowl guides to help reduce food intake.

People start with the ring size closest to their existing meal size and gradually reduce the size of the rings, which range in size from 24cm to 15cm. Gabrielle’s own 20kg weight-loss helped inspire her invention.

“I just couldn’t get the last seven kilograms to budge. Then I was at an art deco fair and I noticed the old dinner plates were much smaller than plates now. So I started to research plate sizes throughout history,” she said.

Slimmerings has been about five years in the making and finding a plastics company to work with was one of Gabrielle’s biggest challenges.

“It was hard to find a company that ticked all the right boxes. E. S. Plastics has worked out well on a couple of levels – Hamilton is where my daughter lives and she will be distributing the product.”

Gabrielle’s ultimate aim with Slimmerings, which retails for about $60 in New Zealand, is to crack the global market.

Hamilton economic development manager Adrian Dixon, of Opportunity Hamilton, said Gabrielle’s experience of finding the right business for her needs in Waikato is a familiar one.

“We have many businesses with excellent capabilities here in Waikato. It’s brilliant to have companies like E.S. Plastics willing to work with customers who think outside the box. You never know when the next invention will capture the world’s imagination,” Adrian said.

Opportunity Hamilton, the city’s economic development agency, works to connect businesses, leverage opportunities and assist companies to become established in the city.

E.S. Plastics director Heather Allen said her company’s willingness to go the extra mile for customers sets it apart.

“There are lots of plastic moulding companies with similar equipment to ours. The difference with us is we are willing to work with people with all kinds of ideas to bring the ideas to reality,” Heather said.

E. S. Plastics designs and manufactures a wide range of products including components for the agricultural, automotive and marine sectors. They also produce parts for use in hardware, electrical appliances and control systems.

The company also designed and produced the Scorpion off-road roller skate now being sold throughout the world.

E.S. Plastics, specialising in custom plastic injection moulding, tool making, blow moulding, multi-material industrial design and precision engineering, is based in Maui St, Te Rapa.