Housing in Southern Africa August 2016

Bricks & Paving

Brick-It – doubles production levels Brick-It, manufacturer of cement stock and Maxi (RDP) bricks, aims to increaseproduction levels by purchasing anewRE1400 machine from PMSA.

C urrently the brick manufac- turer has two existing VB4X machines. The new RE1400 is one of the largest machines avail- able from PMSA for the production of concrete bricks, blocks and paving. It is built to heavy duty standards to ensure long life, high performance and consistent quality. Brick-It is amajor supplier of qual- ity, cost-competitive concrete bricks and now as part of its diversification strategy, the company has entered thehighly competitivepavingmarket. Civil work has commenced on the site for the new RE1400 machine. Founded in 2005 by Sean Cameron

a modern fleet of 18 Mercedes Benz trucks, which it uses to supply its products tomajor customers such as large property developers. “We also supply a large number of Cashbuild, Build It and Builders Warehouse stores,” says Cameron. The manufacturing plant in Chloorkop, Johannesburg, is well equipped to stockpile aggregates and includes a large production and stacking area. “We are located close to the Tembisa informal settlement, and we are able to use local labour. “PMSA has provided technical assistance to increase production on both the wet and dry side of the operation. On the dry side, they have suggested quite a few changes in order for us to get more pallets out. In addition, we had an issue with the strapping of the bricks, which PMSA also resolved for us. The availability of the PMSA technicians to come to site is excellent, reflecting a high focus on customer service and af- termarket support,” notes Cameron. Walter Ebeling, Managing Direc- tor of PMSA, highlights that, with the building and construction sector facingpressure fromreducedmargins and a lack of new projects, PMSA is well-positioned to help its customers fine-tune their existing assets in order to boost productivity and end quality. “We are unique in the industry in being a specialist manufacturer that is able to cover the entire business spectrum, from establishing a busi- ness to boosting the bottom line through the application of appropri- ate technology,” explains Ebeling. “We have been building on our technology, leadership, expertise and experience in the concrete products sector for the past 40 years, and have an array of options to suit all client needs,” says Quintin Booysen, sales and marketing manager at PMSA. He stresses, “Brick-It is an excellent example of the kind of long-standing relationships we forge with our cus- tomers.” PMSA, the leading manufacturer of brick, block and pavingmachinery on the continent, celebrated its 40 th anniversary at Totally Concrete 2016 in May. ■

and Steven Carr, Brick-It has grown rapidly in the past nine years delivering almost 12 million bricks a month. “Our goals for the next three years are to meet the current demand and supply of bricks in a fast-developing region and to double brick production. The acquisition of a new RE1400 machine fromPMSAwill improve cus- tomer satisfaction by pro- viding excellent service and lower prices,” says Cameron. He remains confident of Brick-It’s ongoing success, pointing to the manufac- turer’s involvement in the low-cost housingmarket for RBA Homes and the Karibu Group. The company runs

August 2016