MechChem Africa January 2017

BMG’s ‘Simplify for Success’ initiative

MechChemAfrica’s Peter Middleton talks to new BMG MD Gavin Pelser about his company history, the consolidation into the expanded BMG World premises in Johannesburg and his strategy for continued future growth.

A ppointed on September 1, 2016, Gavin Pelser has been part of BMG since 2005 when his own business, Oscillating Systems Technology (OST), was acquired by BMG. “I did my Ts at Wits Technikon, now Johannesburg Uni- versity, before joiningGECElectricMotors inBenoni,” he tells MechChem . After rising through the ranks to become general manager at GEC, Pelser decided to start his own elec- tricmotor business. “Soonafter, though, Iwent into the OST business, which involves drives and suspensions for vibrating equipment. I started to spend a lot of my time at process plants, mines and materials handling sites. We developed vibrating screens and feeders, electromagnetic precision feeders and gearbox feed- ers for a host of applications – coal mines, theKoeberg nuclear power plant, coin feeder systems for the minters and chocolate sprinkling systems for the food industry,” he says. The heart of these patented systems is four 90 Shore round suspension rubbers, which have no memory loss and can be sized from small to massive. “While the rubbers are designed to be replaced from time to time, OST suspension systems are remarkably simple and highly effective,” Pelser points out. Today, OST is wholly owned by the Invicta Group, BMG’s parent. It is independently run with Pelser remaining chairman of its board. Pelser joined the BMG board of directors in 2008

when he first took charge of BMG Engineering, which includes the Technical Resources and Field Services divisions. “Both these areas have enjoyed substantial growth over the years. BMG now has over 100 field service technicians operating out of 168 outlets throughout Africa,” Pelser notes. FollowingthepromotionofCharlesWalterstoCEO of InvictaHoldings, BMG’smanagement structurewas split into two, with Gavin Pelser and Paul McKinley taking joint responsibility for the separate divisions. “But during the last Exco, it was decided that one leader was preferable. Paul now looks after logistics, procurement, and distribution and I have taken on the MD role, while retaining responsibility for engineer- ing. In principle, I take care of the value-adds and all components come under Paul,” Pelser explains. Centralisation and African expansion The past year was “extremely tough” and, for BMG, characterised by the conclusion of the upgrade of BMGWorldalongwith thefinalisation and integration of three strategic acquisitions: Hansen Transmissions South Africa; Hyflo, including Hyflo SA and Hyflo Namibia;andSibuyile,a toolshardwareandequipment supplier that was acquired through Man-Dirk. “This is all part of our ‘Simplify for Success’ ini- tiative,” Pelser reveals. “We make acquisitions to strengthen the company; through the expertise and knowledge of the people that come with the acquisi- tion, and the solutions and brands that we can add to our basket. We then look to see if we should fully integrate the new entity into BMG or to support in- dependent operation. Hyflo, for example, like OST, will continue to operate independently, while Hansen Transmissions SA has been fully integrated into our Power Transmission offering,” he explains. Building at the BMG World site in Johannesburg was completed inDecember and the Christmas break was used formoving. “All of our financial staff has now relocated fromDurban and the BMGWorld facility is fully operational,” Pelser assures. “By August, our new JDAwarehousemanagement system will be installed and operational, consolidat- ing our stock countrywide. Centralised warehouse management enables us to keep stock at branch level to aminimum, maximising our returns andminimising costs –without extending delivery times. The globally linked warehouse management systemwill enable us torespondtodeliveryrequestsfasterthaneverbefore, with branches able to function on the leanest possible ‘just-in-time’ basis. “A conservative estimation puts the return on in- vestment for the BMGWorld expansion and the new warehousemanagement systemat nomore than four years, through stock savings and efficiency. We have

“Our advantage is that we can offer best-fit whole solutions based on a basket of different products and brands.”

Building at the BMG World site in Johannesburg was completed in December 2016 and the Christmas break was used for moving. “The facility is now fully operational,” Pelser assures.

4 ¦ MechChem Africa • January 2017