Construction World February 2016

TURNING UP the tippers added recently to the fleet of Scribante Concrete, bringing FAW’s representative total in that fleet to 89 units. VOLUME in Gauteng Repeat purchase is the best measure of success as is evident from the 35 FAW mixers and

> Pushing for growth in an economic downturn takes tenacity, care- fully calculated risk profiling and considerable research, all ‘flavoured with a touch of foresight’. These are the attributes displayed by Scribante Concrete, a division within the larger Scribante Construction Group, as the company expands its reach in Gauteng with the commissioning of two concrete batching facilities – one in Muldersdrift and the other in Laezonia. Alongside some sizeable investment into plant, equipment and staffing, Scribante Concrete has expanded its fleet with the purchase of 35 additional FAW vehicles. Going into operation at the West Rand batch plants at present, the new FAW units include 27 FAW 35.340FC 8 m 3 mixer trucks, six FAW 33.330FC 6 m3 mixer trucks, and two FAW 28.280FT side tipper trucks. The decision to expand Troy Petzer, operations manager for Scribante Concrete, explains: “The Scribante Construc-

tion Group saw the opportunity, crunched the numbers and with very careful consideration and planning, decided to invest and expand our Gauteng footprint. We had the chance to acquire the sites for our batch plants. Based on a 50 kilometre radius for deliv- ering our time-sensitive product, we secured suitable construction contracts to support our growing business, as well as enough future prospects to validate our decision to strengthen our position in Gauteng. “We’ve been running FAW mixers and tippers in our fleet for close on three years now. Based on the total cost of ownership calculation, together with superb aftermarket service and support, our choice fell to FAW as we replaced older vehicles in the fleet and started equipping for the West Rand plants. “Besides the vehicles, we’ve refurbished and installed the batching plants, appointed a management team for sales and customer contact, done staffing for concrete produc- tion, also for our maintenance and service workshop, and acquired drivers for our new extended fleet. In total we’ve created over a

dozen new jobs so far with this expansion. “As we’ve done in the past, Scribante Concrete will attend to basic service and maintenance on the vehicles on-site. To this end we’ve appointed two technicians. All technical training, driver orientation and testing, as well as 24/7 parts supply is provided and guaranteed by FAW SA whom we’ve come to trust. This was a crucial element in our purchase decision,” affirms Petzer. He certainly aims to get every ounce of work out of each vehicle. However, the performance of each unit or ‘cubes per day’ as he puts it is highly dependent on the oper- ating environment. Other Gauteng sites Other Scribante concrete production sites in Gauteng are based in Midrand and near Kyalami Business Park. Past projects served from these sites include the upgrade of both N2 and N3 freeways, and supplying concrete for a tunnel section of the Gautrain project between Marlboro and Linbro Park.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD FEBRUARY 2016 I