Construction World April 2020

CEMENT & CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY

PARTNERING TO OVERCOME CHALLENGES Sibusiso Hlatshwayo, CHRYSO Southern Africa’s Regional Cement Business Director: RSA, Exports and East Africa tells Wilhelm du Plessis how CHRYSO’s main goal is to help their customers in the cement and concrete industry achieve their goals by improving performance and achieving better costs while increasingly enabling customers achieve a sustainable end product.

“C HRYSO Southern Africa consists of two main divisions, one focusing on concrete which designs, manufactures, distributes and supports concrete admixtures for the concrete industry. The cement business does the same, but it focuses on cement additives that are used by cement factories,” Hlatshwayo says. As the regional cement director he is responsible for CHRYSO’s cement business in South Africa, the ESA (Eastern and Southern Africa) region while the export of &+5<62 DGGLWLYHV WR FRXQWULHV LQFOXGLQJ Nigeria and the DRC is also his responsibility. “My role is to craft the business strategy for the cement business in the region. I am responsible and accountable for its execution,” he says. “In addition I have commercial responsibilities which include and are heavily focused on new business development and logistics,” he explains. Challenges The cement industry, according to Hlatshwayo, has two main challenges. ̸7KH ͤUVW LV PHHWLQJ WKH HYHU FKDQJLQJ needs of customers. Unlike, for instance, the automotive industry where a person buys D FHUWDLQ PDNH RI FDU DQG KDV ͤYH \HDUV LQ ZKLFK WR GHFLGH LI WKH YHKLFOH ͤWV KLV RU KHU needs, the cycle in the cement industry is much faster. Because of pressures which include the cost of electricity, manpower, skills and government regulations, the industry is constantly looking at ways to LPSURYH FRVWV DQG IXOͤO FXVWRPHU GHPDQGV It is never good enough to merely say ‘I have found a solution and I have delivered LW̵ , ͤQG WKLV TXLWH FKDOOHQJLQJ ̰ LW LV QHYHU quite enough,” says Hlatshwayo of this challenging environment. 7KH ͤUVW FKDOOHQJH LV LQH[WULFDEO\ OLQNHG to the second whereby CHRYSO has to stay ahead of competition. “We have a rule in our company that a certain percentage of products sold has to come from solutions WKDW KDYH EHHQ GHYHORSHG LQ WKH ODVW ͤYH years. This means that we have a strong focus on R&D. If this metric is not optimal, it means that we are losing the competitive edge. The industry needs are changing,

CHRYSO supports its customers through its extensive R&D programme, both globally and locally.

competitors are innovating and we have to stay ahead of this.” “So in short,” says Hlatshwayo, “what CHRYSO Southern Arica is doing is helping the cement industry achieve its goals. This includes the better performance of cement and at a better cost. Sustainability of cement and related products are increasingly also part of what the cement industry wants to achieve.” He says that the company’s philosophy KDV DOZD\V EHHQ WR SXW LWV FXVWRPHUV priorities at the heart of its business. “This is why we link our large range of additives and admixtures to various services that range from advice from experts to how products CHRYSO works with contractors to mitigate challenges. “The top three challenges are performance, cost and now sustainability,” says Hlatshwayo. Contractors have performance challenges which include the quality and cost of materials, and the demands from their clients. “We are approached by contractors WR ͤQG WKH RSWLPDO VROXWLRQ WR PLWLJDWH these,” Hlatshwayo says. “In addition, contractors are now faced with building in a sustainable manner, a challenge that has existed in Europe for long, in South Africa for about just over a decade and in pockets are used from day to day use.” Mitigating customers’ challenges

in Africa,” he says. CHRYSO Southern Africa aims to provide and create solutions to address the cost challenge by improving the performance of materials, be it to increase the pump-ability of concrete, accelerating setting times or increasing early and late compressive strength. “We offer a range of products that can allow our customers to achieve this,” he says. “Our products can reduce the customers’ cost as we offer FRPSHWLWLYH SULFLQJ IRU WKHVH VROXWLRQV ̰ E\ using our products out clients can get better performance at lower cost,” Hlatshwayo says. “The third challenge is the sustainability of the offering. “The production of cement is a major contributor to CO 2 emissions. The world is attempting to use less clinker and cement to make better concrete,” he says. For him this is also the biggest trend. “In South Africa you would rarely go to a cement meeting without talking about or without top executives concerned about it,” he says. The advantages of combining worldwide expertise “CHRYSO Southern Africa is one of the top ͤYH VXEVLGLDULHV RI &+5<62 LQ WKH ZRUOG ,W has local Research & Development capability ̰ HTXLSSHG ZLWK WHVWLQJ IDFLOLWLHV ZKLFK include chemical and physical labs for both cement and concrete. We have the ability WR KDYH ͤHOG WULDOV ZLWK D SDUWLFXODU VROXWLRQ homologate that product and supply it to the customer,” Hlatshwayo says.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2020