African Fusion March 2016

SAIWmember profile: Efficient Engineering

South African company chooses quality cornerstone Efficient Engineering has been certified to ISO 3834 Part 2 for many years and had its first recertification earlier this year. African Fusion caught upwith the company’s qualitymanager, Louis Smuts (right), engineering, sales andmarketingmanager, Gerhard vanZyl, aswell asmanaging director for newly formed Efficient Trotech, Mike van der Walt, at Efficient Engineering’s Phase IV facilities in Tunney, Germiston.

E fficient Engineering was estab- lished in 1968 as a small company manufacturing cabs andoperator cabins for forklifts and trucks. Demand for the company’s high quality prod- ucts has seen the business grow into a world-class steel fabrication,machining, manufacturing and heavy engineering works, constituting a total floor space of some 25 500 m 2 . As the official supplier to many national and international original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs) in the mining, materials handling and engi- neering industries, Efficient Engineering has continued tobuild its business name on a reputation of quality and reliability. “The company promotes quality excellence fromthe groundup,” explains Smuts “We follow stringent procedures to ensure uniformity. For example, each welder signs off on the quality of his work before an inspector is called. This

is what has emerged from honing our products and processes for nearly 50 years,” he adds. Facilities and growth Having started out as a small-scale engi- neering firm, the company experienced highdemand, which led to the establish- ment of a new factory in Sebenza and a shift in focus to heavy engineering. Due to continued demand from major industry players and the need for significantly larger production space, October 2006 saw the development of Phase I of Efficient Engineering’s newly established 6 300 m 2 headquarters in Greenhills, which would allow the com- pany tomanufacture larger components than ever before while consolidating its machining, blasting and painting capabilities. Continued increases in demand necessitated the construction of the

4 200 m 2 Phase II development, com- pleted at the end of 2008, followed in March 2009 by its 2 000 m 2 Phase III facility, which is focused on sheet metal fabrications. Efficient Engineering’s Phase IV and V developments, with a combined floor space 13 000 m 2 , constitute the latest state-of-the-art facilities. Ownership The continued success of Efficient En- gineering over the decades has drawn keen interest from a number of high profile investors during the company’s history. In order to effectively accelerate this growth, Efficient Engineeringagreed to sell 26% of the company’s equity to investment expert, RMB Corvest, the private equity division of FirstRand Limited, in September 2009. At the same time, B-BBEE private equity company Shalamuka Capital acquired 29%. Efficient Engineering’s non-execu- tive chairman, Tony Cimato, retains a 25%shareholding in the business, while the remaining 20%was offered to senior management as part of an internal buy- in. This ensured improved job security and increased loyalty to the Efficient Engineering brand while enabling the current leadership team to flourish in a corporate environment where they have been exposed to new learning opportu- nities and decisionmaking responsibili- ties from within the business. The net result is B-BBEE Level 4 status with total black ownership of 36.82% and black women ownership of 11.58%, a R400-million turnover for 2013 and 2014, and a likely turnover of R350-million in 2015. Products and capabilities Efficient Engineering’s activities can be categorised into four main product

A heat exchanger for Natref under construction. The welders had to weld 585 U-bend joints per bundle, nearly 1 200 tube-to-tube butt welds, and achieved a very low weld repair rate – an impressive feat when mirror welding has to be employed.

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March 2016

AFRICAN FUSION