Electricity and Control January 2021

ENGINEERING THE FUTURE

Investing in industry in Africa

F rom a solid base of local exper- tise and manufacturing capabili- ty, Zest WEG’s 40-year heritage has seen it grow from its South African base into serving 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Juliano Vargas, Chief Executive Officer of Zest WEG, this journey is focused on innova- tion, efficiency and sustainability – drawing from the values of Brazil-based holding company WEG. An important element of Zest WEG’s Level 1 Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment status has been its investment in technology and skills transfer, empowering local manufacturing operations to operate to world-class standards. In just four years, between 2015 and 2019, over 25 000 hours were invested in this commitment. WEG shared expertise from its global facilities and South African staff from Zest WEG spent time abroad upgrading their skills. To fund its core priority of building local expertise, Zest WEG continues to invest well over the 6% of payroll re- quired by regulations. Its bursary programme will soon see the graduation of a third qualified electrical engineer, who can be recruited into the company. The process has supported the incorporation of WEG’s global manufacturing productivity logic into the South African business, and the latest equipment and software systems were installed to further raise the bar. This has allowed Zest WEG to reach close to a 90% local content capability for some of its transformers manufactured in South Africa, and over 70% local content capability for other products, including E-houses and electrical panels. “This provides important supply chain security for our

Juliano Vargas, CEO at Zest WEG.

Zest WEG’s local automation manufacturing facility.

customers, especially during periods of global economic disruption like the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Vargas. “We are also less exposed to market fluctuations and this gives us and our customers significant cost savings and greater cost certainty.” When South Africa’s national lockdown began in March 2020, Zest WEG was able to adapt quickly to new condi- tions and continue delivering value to customers. By the 2020 year-end, 230 of its 700 full-time employees were working efficiently from well-established home offices. Enhancing the supply chain has also seen considerable investment in local suppliers, where the company’s focus on enterprise development is an important aspect of be- coming independent and constantly raising its competitive advantage. From this springboard, the drive into Africa has been strengthened. The company’s subsidiary in Ghana has already been in operation for a decade, and Value Added Resellers (VARs) now represent Zest WEG and its products in over 20 African countries. In this way, Zest WEG has a presence in Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “Our priority in Africa is to be locally represented by competent teams who understand the culture and lan- guage in individual countries,” Vargas says. “These teams are skilled in assessing customer requirements so we can

Artist’s rendition of the company’s planned new purpose-built head office.

30 Electricity + Control JANUARY 2021