DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
CLEAR WATERS
DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
IT HAS BEEN A COUPLE OF YEARS SINCE WE LAST TOOK A LOOK AT WATER-RELATED EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF. WE SEE WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN UP TO SINCE THEN.
CLEAR WATERS
PROJECT MANAGED BY: ETHAN THOMPSON
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DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
It has been nearly two years since we last spoke with the Davis & Shirtliff Group, the East African region’s leading supplier of waterrelated equipment. The firm was established by Eddie Davis and his partner, Dick Shirtliff in 1946, and from the beginning, the company has been in the water supply space. The company grew progressively through the 60s and 70s before really starting to develop in the 90s as the Kenyan economy expanded. From their focus on water projects and pumps Davis & Shirtliff has expanded over the years into a wider span of activities, while remaining true to its values. Even today the company’s Chairman, Alec Davis, is the son of one of the founders.
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“T
he company’s activities are now focused on six principal product sectors Water Pumps, Boreholes, Swimming Pools, Water Treatment, Generators, Solar Equipment and Irrigation. Through a network of branches, in Kenya and through subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, South Sudan, DRC, as well as a partnership in Ethiopia, the company is operating across Eastern Africa with approximately 750 permanent staff and 200 outsourced workers. In the principal countries where the company operates Davis & Shirtliff is a market leader.
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DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
The D&S Executive team including CEO David Gatende (5th from left) and Chairman Alec Davis (7th from left).
This is down to the reputation the company has built distributing high-quality equipment sourced from world-leading industry players including Grundfos from Denmark, Pedrollo from Italy and Davey from Australia. Davis & Shirtliff also manufacture and assemble their water-related products. By combining carefully sourced quality equipment with their manufacturing Davis & Shirtliff have built an industryleading product portfolio. “There’s no company I know of anywhere in the world with the same sort of product mix that we have,” Alex Davis told us the last time we spoke with him. “Other companies tend to have a more narrow focus. Our wider range of related products has enabled us to develop our branch network. That’s a very important aspect of what differentiates us.” Davis & Shirtliff has placed particular emphasis on infrastructure investment, and this is reflected in the way the
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company itself is spread across a network of modern premises with a fully integrated ICT network and huge stocks of products and spare parts. They have developed a reservoir of digital expertise to be proud of, including a number of product information initiatives and its progressive D&S Flo App. They also boast an effective presence on social media. Since we last spoke with the company, however, they have been setting their sights still higher.
FORGING PARTNERSHIPS
One of the company’s most recent developments has been the signing of a new water
“THERE’S NO COMPANY I KNOW OF ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WITH THE SAME SORT OF PRODUCT MIX THAT WE HAVE.”
chemicals distribution deal with the German company, Kurita Europe. This new partnership will allow Davis & Shirtliff to grow its capabilities across the industrial water and wastewater treatment sectors while offering cost-effective solutions through a wide range of products and services. Through this deal, Davis & Shirtliff will be able to use their position as East Africa’s leading water and energy solutions provider to introduce Kurita’s wide range of manufactured industrial water and wastewater treatment chemical products to the Kenyan and larger African markets. Those products include Cetamine, the cutting edge in boiler water treatment technology and the Biocide Kuriverter IK 110, a product that can prevent bio-fouling in Reverse Osmosis membranes. David Gatende, Davis & Shirtliff’s CEO, has described the partnership as an effort to expand the product portfolio,
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DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
“THE BUSINESS WILL IN FUTURE BE TRANSFERRED TO D&S BECAUSE OF THE COMPANY’S POSITION AS KURITA’S LOCAL PARTNER.”
reach and customer base of both companies. “With this new partnership, Davis & Shirtliff will now be able to increasingly grow its capabilities in industrial water and wastewater treatment and offer cost-effective solutions in a wide range of products and services,” Gatende has said. He added, “We have been testing the quality of the Kurita products at various customer
sites to evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness and are satisfied that the products have passed every single quality test we have conducted on them.” Kurita, meanwhile, sees this deal as an opportunity to strengthen the foundation of its business on a global level. But making this deal a reality has been more than just a question of quality testing Kurita’s products.
A view of D&S Kenya staff in front of the Nairobi Head Office.
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DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
Davis & Shirtliff has also been engaged in exhaustive technical training for its water treatment personnel. These are the people who will be storing, handling and transporting the Kurita chemicals locally and regionally. The training has been conducted in partnership with Kurita to make sure Davis & Shirtliff’s staff are able to practice safe management and use of the chemicals once they reach local markets. It is set to be a continuous and ongoing process. Gatende has hinted that this deal is only the beginning of a series of collaborations between Kurita and Davis & Shirtliff. “Kurita has acquired the order and supplied cooling tower chemicals to Olkaria Unit 5 Geothermal plant. Davis & Shirtliff is also working with Kurita to develop a range of treatment options for the country’s geothermal power plants through Kengen Olkaria,” Gatende has said. “The business will in future be transferred to D&S because of the company’s position as Kurita’s local partner.”
HERE COMES THE SUN
As well as working with new partners, Davis & Shirtliff is also investing in their own solutions, such as a new range of solarpowered water pumps priced from Sh50,000 so that more rural homes can be connected to clean water without depending on electricity. The company’s wide range of solar pumps are coming to market under the Dayliff Sunflow brand, and come with photovoltaic (PV) modules, pump and all the necessary accessories for a complete installation. These pumps can operate on as little as 150 watts. It is a departure from Davis &
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“BENEFITS OF THIS NEW SOLUTION ARE HUGE WITH CAPITAL COSTS OF THE PUMPS BEING LOWER THAN TRADITIONAL HAND PUMPS AND PROVIDING TOTAL COST AND MAINTENANCE-FREE OPERATION. SYSTEMS SIMPLY START WITH THE SUN AND PUMP ALL DAY.”
Shirtliff’s traditional electrically powered water pumps, designed to eliminate operating costs associated with diesel or electric-powered generators. As Alec Davis said as the pumps were announced, “Benefits of this new solution are huge with capital costs of the pumps being lower than traditional hand pumps and providing total cost and maintenance-free operation – systems simply start with the sun and pump all day.” This expansion is only the latest effort from Davis & Shirtliff to bring clean water to people who need it. We cannot wait to see what they do next.
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DAVIS & SHIRTLIFF
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