Business Focus Magazine Issue 77

Issue No.77

SPECIAL FEATURE: SUSTAINABILITY AND COVID

THORNTON AND ROSS

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE Exclusive interview with Managing Director Roger Scarlett-Smith on meeting skyrocketing demand while protecting the staff during the pandemic.

NUEVO PUDAHUEL

Airport extension progress.

DSV PANALPINA

Strong leadership is guiding DSV’s green vision.

WATPAC

Acquisition by the international BESIX Group and new opportunities.

T H E

M A G A Z I N E

W I T H

I N S I G H T

FEATURE YOUR BUSINESS CONTACT SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR TREVOR GRETSINGER t.gretsinger@ceomediagroup.com

EDITOR’S NOTE

PROJECT MANAGERS ANDREW BOURKE a.bourke@ceomediagroup.com DAVID GARNER d.garner@ceomediagroup.com TIMOTHY GARWOOD t.garwood@ceomediagroup.com JOHN HOLLIMAN j.holliman@ceomediagroup.com MALVERN KANDEMWA m.kandemwa@ceomediagroup.com GLEN NEWTON g.newton@ceomediagroup.com JAMES RICHARDSON j.richardson@ceomediagroup.com GARY SMITH g.smith@ceomediagroup.com NEIL STOWE n.stowe@ceomediagroup.com DAVID TAVERNOR d.tavernor@ceomediagroup.com ETHAN THOMPSON e.thompson@ceomediagroup.com JAMIE WAITE j.waite@ ceomediagroup.com

DESIGN SCOTT ANDREWS design@ceomediagroup.com SARAH GREEN artwork@ceomediagroup.com

ACCOUNTS MIKE ASHER accounts@ceomediagroup.com

PRODUCTION KAMILA KAJTOCH production@ceomediagroup.com

EDITORIAL CHRIS FARNELL cfarnell@ceomediagroup.com JIM HUNTER editor@ceomediagroup.com

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR TREVOR GRETSINGER t.gretsinger@ceomediagroup.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS, PRESS RELEASES AND GENERAL ENQUIRIES: info@ceomediagroup.com

The content of this magazine is copyright of CEO Media Group.

Redistribution or reproduction of any content is prohibited. © Copyright 2020 CEO Media Group.

FOCUS ON

THE NEW NORMAL It is beginning to feel like, if we are not yet on our way to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are at least beginning to adapt to the “New Normal” everyone has been talking about since March. While in various parts of the world lockdown rules being lifted, businesses are finding new ways to work within the constrictions of the COVID reality, and in many cases are finding these new ways can be an improvement.

T

his issue is a celebration of the innovation that has come about in the face of this global crisis. We talk to healthcare companies such as Thornton & Ross, a pharmaceutical company that has thrived by occupying a wide range of market niches, but which has had to step up in the face of the demand COVID has created. We have talked with Fine Hygienic Holding, the only company to provide sterilised tissue, and how they have expanded their offering to provide for the needs created by the pandemic.

And we have talked to companies like Q-Sourcing and Dakeryn, who have used the restrictions of the lockdown to make the case of increased digitalisation, or Cobalt Robotics, who have demonstrated that their simple security robot has a much wider range of applications in a crisis.

There has also been a lot of discussion about what the world on the other side of this pandemic might look like, with many companies, such as Bokomo Botswana, looking to find ways to build more locally sourced supply chains that are less vulnerable to such crises in future.

Indeed, our lead feature for this issue looks at the solutions and adaptability that COVID-19 has brought out of so many businesses, and asks how we might be able to repurpose that drive and invention to tackle the next big crisis- climate change.

But the one unifying theme across all of our interviews has been optimism. Challenges exist, but with creativity, innovation, and a strong team, they can be overcome.

ON THE COVER

Thornton & Ross Go to page 16.

Issue No.77

SPECIAL FEATURE: SUSTAINABILITY AND COVID

THORNTON AND ROSS

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE Exclusive interview with Managing Director Roger Scarlett-Smith on meeting skyrocketing demand while protecting the staff during the pandemic.

NUEVO PUDAHUEL

Airport extension progress.

DSV PANALPINA

Strong leadership is guiding DSV’s green vision.

WATPAC

Acquisition by the international BESIX Group and new opportunities.

3

IN THIS ISSUE

8

13

16

30 36

42

EVENT

International Uzbekistan Oil & Gas Conference 2020 14 - 19th August 2020 Taskkent, Uzbekistan The country’s leading flagship event that covers all the key sectors of the oil & gas and energy industry.

NEWS

8

COVID-19 COVID and Sustainability

16

LEADING ARTICLE

Thornton & Ross Rising to the Challenge

AUTOMATION

Cobalt Robotics The Age of the Robot The Paslin Company The Home of the Robotics

AVIATION, AEROSPACE & DEFENCE Nuevo Pudahuel Leading by Example

52

68

58

Telecom Fiji Fijian Company Punching Above Its Weight

CONSTRUCTION Clarus Glass Half Full

64

Dakeryn Group Knock on Wood

68

Watpac Bringing the Best Together

76

Q-Sourcing Bringing the Talent

80 86

4 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

COMMUNICATION & TECHNOLOGY

ENERGY & UTILITIES EPCM Holdings Handling Growth

Logan Energy Hydrogen-Powered

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ISSUE NO.77

92

TM Geothermal Bringing Geothermal Power to Ethiopia

98

Umgeni Water Rising Water

106

110 116

124 130

136

142

136

ENGINEERING

APG Neuros Bringing Innovation to Market

FMCG

Bokomo Botswana A-Maize-ing Fine Hygienic Holding Keeping It Clean

MANUFACTURING Davis & Shirtliff Clear Waters

Safal Group Raising the Roof

162

MINING

Codelco Ongoing Investment

OIL & GAS

162

Baker Hughes Independent Spirit

150

Tara Energy Services Raising the Bar

154

Zamil Offshore Services Company Working Towards Vision 2030

PalletBiz Pandemics and Packaging

174

Peninsula Drums Marching to Their Own Drums

182

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Elopak Thinking Outside the Carton

168

178

182

PACKAGING

188

RETAIL

Al Ikhsan Sports In a League of Their Own

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

DSV Panalpina Bringing the Green Revolution to Logistics WDP Taking Stock

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 5

Find your way out of a complex operating model.

Let’s talk.

Operations Strategy | Digital | Cultural Engineering

Global io

- integrated operations experts.

globalio.com

EVENT OF THE MONTH

EVENT: OGU 2020 WHERE: HILTON TASHKENT CITY, TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN WHEN: 18TH – 19TH AUGUST, 2020

OIL & GAS UZBEKISTAN

2020

8 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE

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EVENT OF THE MONTH

O

il & Gas Uzbekistan Exhibition & Conference OGU 2020 - is the country’s leading flagship event that covers all the key sectors of the oil & gas and energy industry. OGU is annually held with the official support of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan and JSC “Uzbekneftegaz”.

Representatives of Ministries and government structures, top management of leading international and regional oil & gas companies, international consultants and financial analysts annually gather on a

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one platform for discussing the main challenges faced by oil & gas and energy sector, and the current development problems emerging in: • • • •

Gas industry Oil industry Gas-to-chemicals & petrochemical industry Energy saving & energy efficiency

www.oilgasconference.uz

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 9

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COVID-19

THE COVID CRISIS HAS FORCED BUSINESSES TO COMPLETELY CHANGE THE WAY THEY DO THINGS, BUT DO THESE DRAMATIC ADAPTATIONS POINT THE WAY TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE WAY OF WORKING?

COVID & SUSTAINABILITY There’s an old, if somewhat dark saying, that if you want to know what somebody cares about most, set their house on fire. For most of this year, it is fair to say that the business world has had its house set on fire, and throughout the COVID-19 crisis, we have seen how companies have prioritised in the face of the challenges it brings.

O

ver the course of the pandemic we’ve talked to businesses around the world and in all sectors, and some themes have kept recurring over and over. One of those is the safety of staff. Another is the ability to sustainably continue their business. But perhaps a surprising topic to recur over and over through our conversations

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 13

COVID-19

has been the importance of environmental sustainability, and how companies are using this as an opportunity to improve on that front.

THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

One aspect of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic is that, because they hit suddenly, businesses are forced to adapt quickly, which can mean the solutions they develop are more innovative and left-field than the ones developed in the face of a more slowly emerging crisis.

We can see this is the products developed by Clarus, interviewed elsewhere in this issue, as they were forced to rapidly develop a way to screening employee temperatures as they entered their place of work.

“The Catch 22 situation was that in order to be able to take an employee’s temperature with the handheld infrared thermometers you need to get close enough to take their temperature, breaking distancing guidelines,” says Marc Mansell, Clarus’s CEO. The solution they developed was not only fit for purpose but was developed into a marketready product on unheard-of turnaround time.

Mansell says, “We went from idea to design to saleable product in seven days. It’s called Thermobile, a vertical clear glass shield for taking employee temperatures with a vertical slot where you hold the thermometer, taking the temperature of the employee depending on their height.”

Other businesses, meanwhile have discovered new applications for their existing

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“WE WERE GOING TO IMPLEMENT A REVISED TRAVEL POLICY, BUT WE WANT TO TAKE OUR LESSONS FROM THE LOCKDOWN BEFORE ROLLING IT OUT.”

products and services, such as Cobalt Robotics’ discovery they could repurpose their security robots for healthcare purposes.

“For example, our robots have a high-resolution FLIR thermal camera,” explains Travis Deyle CEO of Cobalt Robotics, elsewhere in this issue. “The robot normally uses that sensor to detect people, leaks and spills and thermal anomalies, but with a simple software update, we were able to provide customers with elevated temperature screening capabilities on very short notice.”

These robots have also been able to perform PPE checks for facemasks and promoting social distancing.

These innovations can have long term benefits.

Many companies, for instance, have found that a pivot to remote conferencing has resulted in shorter, more productive meetings, while at the same time showing that regular air travel costs to get leaders “in the same room“ is unnecessary and an easy place to cut costs and carbon emissions.

“There are opportunities in the downturn to optimise our production. We’re helping our clients find cheaper avenues to get products to market,” explains CEO Scott Bissell, in our profile of TARA Energy Services.

As DSV Panalpina’s Senior Director Sustainability, Lindsay Zingg tells us, “Positively we have really learned to work differently. Globally many of our employees have had to do home office, we’re learning to work in a different way. Our Chief

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COVID-19

Commercial Officer is driving the account management team to see how they can manage customer relationships without travelling, and we’re hoping companies take notice and say ‘We can do business this way’.”

Indeed, it’s a change in perspective that has come at a critical time for DSV, as we find out in our profile of the company.

“We were going to implement a revised travel policy, but we want to take our lessons from the lockdown before rolling it out,” Zingg says. “We will take the lessons learned and implement the travel policy only once we gather that information.”

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

But as we said at the start of this piece, the COVID-19 crisis has, for many businesses, clarified what’s important.

Packaging company Elopak, for instance, found that the pandemic reaffirmed for them

the importance of sustainability as a company-wide goal.

“For us, I think this drives how we look at the company and our activities moving forward. We reduced emissions by 70% between 2008 and 2018 and use 100% renewable electricity. We’re now targeting a 55% reduction of internal emissions and a 16% reduction in emissions across the value chain by 2030,” says Thomas Körmendi, CEO of Elopak.

“I would definitely say as part of the strategy and part of what we have planned we have also realised the importance of things like digitalisation and sustainability and how that has become of higher relevance – and luckily also focus, says Thomas Gents, Managing Director and COO of PalletBiz. “It wasn’t deliberate, we didn’t plan for that but it’s reemphasised the importance of not relying on global supply chains.”

While that new perspective is valuable, and many businesses are coming out of the pandemic lockdown with new solutions, new ideas and better ways of doing things, ultimately it all comes down to the company’s pre-existing values.

“Our CEO has said frequently that sustainability is still top of the agenda. It does not go away because of COVID-19,” Zingg tells us. “The crisis does have a financial impact on the company but nothing has changed with our sustainability strategy. I think it would be sad if companies don’t take this momentum.”

Nuevo Pudahuel has also said the COVID-19 crisis will not see their priorities change in terms of sustainability.

“We have no change in our vision, so when things return to normal, we will focus on the development of our business,” Xavier Lotart-Jacob, Nuevo Pudahuel’s CEO tells us.

However, although businesses are adhering strongly to their values, they may find that in the aftermath of COVID, customers are viewing sustainability in a different, and better light.

“Now we have, to the best of our understanding, things under control, you can ask what it means in respect of the programmes we had planned before,” says Körmendi. “That’s how we’ve looked at it, and in short we believe that the drive and the interest around carton packaging and sustainability will not diminish because of COVID. There is a high level of sensitivity towards our need to protect the planet because there are forces at play, whether you’re talking about pandemics or huge changes in climate, and as human beings, we are not immune to these external factors.”

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 15

THORNTON & ROSS

DURING THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS THORNTON & ROSS IS STEPPING UP TO MEET SKYROCKETING DEMAND WHILE PROTECTING ITS STAFF.

RISING TO THE

CHALLENGE PROJECT MANAGED BY: DAVID GARNER

Thornton and Ross have been going since 1922, starting out as a family run business before being acquired and intergrated into STADA, a German pharmaceutical giant in 2013. Since then STADA has been under private equity ownership, bringing new investments into the business in terms of plants and machinery, but also the talent to give the business a new lease of life.

“W

e’ve got good organic growth and we’ve been successful in acquiring businesses that have moved the business forward,” explains Roger Scarlett-Smith, Managing Director of Thornton and Ross, as well as Executive VP of the STADA group.

Scarlett-Smith has seen Thornton and Ross experience incredible growth over the last couple of years thanks to a finely honed strategy that has allowed the company to work smarter, not harder to achieve growth in market niches others might neglect.

“I think agility and entrepreneurship are our unique selling points. We have good reach into many different trade sectors from specialists to homecare stores,” Scarlett-Smith says. “We have products going into grocery stores, pharmacies,

16 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

wholesalers, doctors, clinical commissioning groups (CCG)s, and so on. We have a very broad sweep of product categories we serve so we can make the most of opportunities. We’ve never had global ‘big brands’, instead, we are occupying important niches.

If you look at our portfolio, it is not mirroring the big boys who tend to have a small number of megabrands We occupy niches, small by relative size but sizeable and with room for growth. Our idea of scale and scaling up is to grow these niches rather than aim for the biggest market sectors.”

The strategy has gifted Thornton and Ross many standout products, as well as doubledigit levels of growth last year, a feat the company is looking to repeat this year.

“We’re having a real moment with Zoflora® and since coronavirus everyone’s

Roger Scarlett-Smith Managing Director of Thornton & Ross Executive VP of the STADA group.

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

OXFORD PACKAGING SOLUTIONS

OXFORD PACKAGING SOLUTIONS WHY OXFORD PACKAGING SOLUTIONS? We can bring our expertise to your needs. If those requirements include cleanroom capabilities, it’s good to know that we offer ISO Class 6* hardwall cleanroom, soft-wall cleanroom validated to ISO Class 6*, ISO Class 7* laser etching for maximum traceability, an irradiation partner, microbial testing, and bioburden controls.

only aesthetically appealing, but functional too.

OUR OTHER CAPABILITIES If your needs are different, but still exacting, we can help. We manufacture nothing but the highest quality bottles and containers, both standard and bespoke. Besides the pharmaceutical sector, we serve multiple industries, ranging from food & beverage to personal care and household products.

WE’RE AGILE Oxford Packaging Solutions is an independent company, streamlined for agility. With fast reaction times, and efficient processes, our experts can ensure no time is lost in delivering what you need. All of this adds up to a competitive advantage for you.

At Oxford Packaging Solutions, our 110,000 square foot facility includes PET Injection Stretch Blow Moulding. We also offer HDPE Extrusion Blow Moulding with on-site warehousing and distribution. We specialise in Precision Blow Moulding in a range of materials, including PET, RPET, PP, and HDPE.

OUR PEOPLE MAKE US WHO WE ARE Our emphasis on employee wellbeing and safety is at the heart of everything we do. As a result, our people are engaged in Oxford Packaging Solutions, which in turn encourages creative problem solving and positive attitudes. When people like what they do, they do it better. It’s that simple. It’s also a benefit to customers.

Our experienced team develop innovative product design with well-known brands – and we can do the same for you, bringing plastic packaging ideas to life.

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS EVERYTHING TO US Whether you’re a start-up or a global brand, we can provide the support you need. A strong working relationship can make your job easier, and that’s exactly what we aim to deliver. Aesthetics matter in packaging and is a critical decision point for consumers. That’s why we work closely with our customers.

We want to ensure they receive a quality product that’s not Pharma_Half Page 129 x 180mm March20.pdf 1 05/05/2020

We can help you with all sizes and specifications for your bottles or containers, no matter what your industry. We’re flexible too. Our service outputs range from 4,000 to over 500,000 containers per day. Whatever you need, we’re here to help you achieve your aims.

TELL US HOW WE CAN HELP YOU Our exciting new website is launching soon, but until then we invite you to visit us online at: www.oxfordpackaging.uk Alternatively, you call us on +44 (0) 1865 893000 or email us at: info@oxfordpackaging.uk *All ISO Classes are Federal Standard 1000

15:20

Trust starts with Packaging C

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Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

We are a trusted global partner offering a complete range of paper-based packaging focused on the specialised needs of the healthcare industry: cartons, labels, leaflets - and lots more. We take a holistic view of our responsibility. Our consultancy services include sophisticated anti-counterfeiting measures, supply chain and artwork management. Trust us to help you.

Zoflora and Hedrin are registered trademarks of Thornton & Ross.

For further information please contact: marketing-mps@westrock.com www.westrock.com/healthcare

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 19

Zoflora labels, also printed onto the adhesive for instructions through a clear bottle, plus a CARE range label highlighting the Braille.

New Digicon finishing equipment for adding Braille, metallics, textures and more.

For almost 50 years, Vista Labels have been at the forefront of the UK label printing industry. With several international awards, they have overseen many of the UK’s ‘firsts’. Vista were one of the UK’s first label manufacturers to receive the Pharmaceutical Code of Practice as part of their BSI quality system over two decades ago. Since then Vista have constantly invested in the latest technology: one of the first to develop UV flexo-printing; the first to introduce in-house computer to plate technology; the first to install digital ink-jet Braille.

This investment, together with Vista’s eye for quality and emphasis on customer service, has seen them retain long term clients and create excellent customer/supplier partnerships both large and small. Serving all industries across the UK, Vista is proud to include many of the country’s leading businesses such as Thornton & Ross, Kellogg’s, Holland & Barrett and Henkel amongst many other key accounts.

In partnership with many customers, Vista work together to make continuous improvement and having a management team with over 100 years’ experience, can find a solution or improvement to almost any label process. Whether it be money saving suggestions or new projects, Vista’s aim is always to work closely as a team to get the right result for the end user.

High volumes or small, Vista has the answer and the technology to produce both with quality to match.

Performance Series are the latest flexo-presses for volume work and to complement these, a recent up-grade to a 7-colour domino digital press has been overseen. The P Series are capable of high-speed printing of peel & read labels which are said by many end users to be the best performing labels of this type out in the market. (please request samples from sales@Vistalabels.com).

In addition to the printing presses, a new Digicon finishing system has been put in place. Capable of adding colours, pattern varnishes, tactile symbols, metallic foils and more. This system can also handle higher volumes of Braille.

On paper, it would appear Vista have the answer to all your labelling needs – in reality they have!

Based in Stockport, close to the M60, why not pay a visit to Vista House or contact one of the team at sales@vistalabels.com.

Vista Labels Limited Vista House, 349 Hempshaw Lane Stockport, Chesire SK1 4NB Tel: 0161 477 5151 Email: sales@vistalabels.com

www.vistalabels.com

THORNTON & ROSS

into disinfecting their home, particularly with people like Mrs Hinch discovering it,” Scarlett-Smith says. “Zoflora is a range of disinfectants that are growing really well for us, it’s one of our oldest brands and now our biggest. We have also done well in over the counter medicines, like Hedrin® and Nizoral® a shampoo we recently bought from J&J for problem scalps. It’s a very effective product and there’s always the need for an effective product in a niche. We have a welldeveloped range of emollients and skincare preparations, in fact, T&R is the biggest supplier for emollients to the NHS. We manage the whole sweep of uses from prescription to the high street. Then we have a generic medicine business where we benefit from the generic medicine pipeline and the low-cost of manufacture we

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“WE’VE GOT GOOD ORGANIC GROWTH AND WE’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN ACQUIRING BUSINESSES THAT HAVE MOVED THE BUSINESS FORWARD.” can achieve through STADA. We run the gamut of all healthcare opportunities, by focusing on niche markets with slightly lower competitive intensity. That’s a successful strategy for us.”

STEPPING UP FOR THE PANDEMIC

Of course, being in the medical and pharmaceutical industries

puts Thornton and Ross in an odd position right now, for while the company has seen a recent surge in demand, Scarlett-Smith obviously wishes it were for different reasons.

“We’ve been thriving even in the coronavirus era. Right now, there’s more demand than ever for a number of our products,” Scarlett-Smith says. “Like every business, we’re worried about the future economic impact but at the moment we have a thriving business ready to invest in further growth and are looking for partners for acquisitions or in-licensing deals to build our portfolio and innovation pipeline.”

Throughout the crisis, Thornton and Ross’s top priority has been the safety of their people.

“We’ve taken steps to ensure safety. In factories with our key workers, we are careful with

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 21

THORNTON & ROSS

social distancing, cleaning and other measures,” Scarlett-Smith tells us.

The measures have paid off, with only a relatively small number of confirmed cases of coronavirus occurring within the company.

“We have 500 people normally working on-site in Linthwaite; all staff who can are working at home, with only production staff

22 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

on site. We’ve adapted and I think we’re sustainable; there’s no rush to get everyone back,” says Scarlett-Smith.

The demand for Thornton and Ross’s products has occurred across its range for a variety of COVID-19 related reasons.

“As far as the business is concerned there’s been a pick-up in demand for Zoflora, vitamins, healthcare food

“RIGHT NOW THERE’S MORE DEMAND THAN EVER FOR A NUMBER OF OUR PRODUCTS.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

THORNTON & ROSS

supplements, and probiotics.

A broad base of nutritional products has done very well,” Scarlett-Smith explains. “Plus we’ve effectively had another flu season, so the demand for our brands has been strong.

Skincare has been doing well and we’re providing these products on a complimentary basis to the NHS because people are finding it’s rough on their skin with masks and PPE, so there’s been noticeable pick up there. If you’re in healthcare right now it’s going to be a time of high demand.”

NEW WAYS OF WORKING

But that does not mean Thornton and Ross are not facing new

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 23

Hart Press • • •

Lithographic Printing Digital Printing Print Finishing

• •

Direct Mail Storeage & Distribution

We offer a comprehensive range of services covering all aspects of print. Our dedicated and talented team work on an impressive list of blue chip clients offering complete customer service under one roof. We can run to all standard and bespoke sizes upto and including B2.

We run Heidelberg lithographic presses and Konica digital print machines, giving you outstanding performance whether single-colour or complex multi-colour.

Alongside our skilled press minders, we also have our talented bindery / distribution team that monitor our online services pick & pack for next day deliveries, together with our Logistics partners to ensure deliveries are on time, worldwide.

We have a fully working studio to accommodate artwork amends, agency output to full artwork origination & conception.

Hart Press Ltd Units 11-13 Redfields Park Fleet, Hampshire GU52 0RD Tel: 01252 851016 Email: enquiries@hartpress.com

www.hartpress.com

HART PRESS “…working with clients in this highly regulated environment is particularly challenging and so it is extremely rewarding to help them with innovative & successful marketing products…”

Hart Press has been an established printing company for over 30 years, but it is the relationship with Its Pharma based clients that has defined most of those 3 decades…

We have been fortunate in that time to build a loyal & trusting relationship which has formed the Basis for our whole print, production & client led services. It was a direct response from an onsite meeting with Thornton & Ross that we first introduced new digital & online technology to meet the demands required to help keep one of the countries most well recognised brands ahead of the field. It’s also important to ensure the quality of work is kept to those expected levels. So it was with great pride for our own team, we received an invitation as finalists in last years ‘Print Week Awards’. “… the constant evolution between supplier & client helps maintain our productive streamlined workflow…”

Understanding is key…but this comes with the beauty of time. As a print, production & materials management based company, many different directions could have been taken over so many years, & although I don’t like the tag of ‘We Specialise In’, I can’t deny the close working relationship with the Pharma industry over so many years has been that one area where that tag line could be considered appropriate.

Adrian Harris (Director) www.hartpress.com

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THORNTON & ROSS

“LIFE CAN GO ON, AND IN SOME WAYS GO ON MORE EFFICIENTLY. THERE ARE SOME BENEFITS OF CHANGING AND ADJUSTING.”

24 factories in 21 countries worldwide

>86.000.000.000 Closures produced in 2019

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We also see the indications several markets are beginning to crash somewhat, so we have to be cautious about that,” Scarlett-Smith admits.

The pandemic has also forced the company to find some innovative new ways of working.

“We have a sales team of close to 100 people involved in seeing doctors and healthcare professionals to detail about our prescription products.

They’ve obviously been severely restricted in visiting so we’re using it as an opportunity experiment to see how we can use remote meetings,” ScarlettSmith tells us. “Life can go on, and in some ways go on more efficiently. There are some benefits of changing and adjusting.”

Of course, this would not be possible without the close relationships Thornton and Ross maintain with its business partners and suppliers, such as

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 25

THORNTON & ROSS

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THORNTON & ROSS

“THIS NICHE STRATEGY IS WORKING SO WELL THAT WE’RE GOING TO BE QUITE A LARGE PLAYER IN THE UK HEALTHCARE MARKET IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE. OUR BUSINESS IS SEEING GROWTH FOCUSING ON NICHES WHICH HAVE HEADROOM.”

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Oxford Packaging Solutions.

“We are highly reliant on suppliers for our business needs so we must have a productive and transparent relationship with them as partners in innovation.

Within our standard supplier network that’s our mantra,” Scarlett-Smith says. “We’re also keen on partnering with trade partners and customers because we want to grow the product categories we’re in. We offer very specialist benefits. The winner here will be whoever’s best at communicating to specific consumers. We work with the trade to develop their merchandising, their displays.

Those are the kind of key partnership areas we’re looking at. We’re also keen to find ways to partner with external companies for acquisition or co-development of brands. The most recent was to buy some brands from GSK, who are focusing on their big brands.

We’re continually looking for

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 27

THORNTON & ROSS

bolt-on acquisitions and we’re not shy about taking brands that aren’t thriving at this point in time.”

From here, Thornton and Ross have big ambitions for the future, as Scarlett-Smith says, “This niche strategy is working so well that we’re going to be quite a large player in the UK healthcare market in the not too distant future.

Our business is seeing growth focusing on niches which have headroom. Our profile may be a bit different from what you might find in some blue-ribbon organisations. We’re a bit more pragmatic, with no ego, no political issues, everyone just gets on with it. It might be something to do with Yorkshire actually!”

28 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

OUR PROFILE MAY BE A BIT DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU MIGHT FIND IN SOME BLUE-RIBBON ORGANISATIONS. WE’RE A BIT MORE PRAGMATIC, WITH NO EGO, NO POLITICAL ISSUES, EVERYONE JUST GETS ON WITH IT.

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a company you can rely on.

We are one of the UK’s fastest-growing, leading producers of household pharmaceutical products, and own some of the country’s most loved brands such as Covonia®, Hedrin®, Cetraben® as well as the leading disinfectant Zoflora®. Many people in the UK will have a product from Thornton & Ross somewhere at home.

We are also a trusted and reliable provider of prescription products, including emollients bone health products and generics, to the NHS with almost 100 years’ heritage behind us.

Based in the Colne Valley near Huddersfield and close to the dramatic Pennine moors, we offer opportunities to build a career in a company that values an entrepreneurial spirit combined with agility.

Thornton & Ross is part of the STADA group. STADA Arzneimittel AG is a publicly-listed company with headquarters in Bad Vilbel, Germany. The company focuses on a two pillar strategy consisting of generics, including specialty pharmaceuticals and non-prescription consumer health products. Worldwide, STADA Arzneimittel AG sells its products in approximately 120 countries.

Thornton & Ross Ltd, Linthwaite, Huddersfield, HD7 5QH, United Kingdom Phone: + 44 (0)1484 842217 Fax: +44 (0)1484 84730 Email: internationalenquiries@thorntonross.com

www.thorntonross.com

COBALT ROBOTICS

DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WE MAY FIND UNLIKELY ALLIES IN A RANGE OF SECURITY ROBOTS.

THE AGE OF THE

ROBOT PROJECT MANAGED BY: TREVOR GRETSINGER

I’m going to be honest, when you talk to me about “security robots” the first thing I think is “Daleks”. It has to be said that seeing footage of one of Cobalt Robotics’ indoor security robots doesn’t immediately dismiss the idea, the way they smoothly glide across the floor definitely brings to mind the BBC baddies.

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

“B

ut it has to be said that Cobalt’s robots look a good deal friendlier than the sci-fi monsters, and this is no accident.

“One of our biggest concerns when starting Cobalt was cultural adoption,” explains Travis Deyle, CEO of Cobalt Robotics. “Having a five-foottall robot navigating through

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 31

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MISUMI offers multidimensional configurations for millions of products. Configuring components is easy and saves you time. MISUMI provides design flexibility to configure based on your exact specifications. MISUMI’s online configurator allows designers to select components with the exact specifications needed. From materials and surface treatments, to dimension increments as fine as a micron.

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p: +1 734 744 8262 e: customerservice@kcsams.com

www.kcsams.com 32 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

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COBALT ROBOTICS

your space is a new idea; it could be very intimidating, so we spent a lot of time making sure our robots were friendly and approachable.”

Indeed, popular culture is rife with ideas for what not to do with a security robot.

“Hollywood has warped the public’s perception of robots,” Deyle points out. “We’re not trying to build Terminator or Robocop; we are trying to build robots that are friendly and helpful, such as R2D2, Wall-E or Baymax [from Disney movie, Big Hero 6].”

For the same reason, these robots aren’t going to bark “Exterminate”. In fact, your interactions with Cobalt’s robots are likely to be friendlier than a lot of encounters with human security staff.

“Cobalt’s robots are supported by remote human operators who are hired largely from customer service industries, people that are articulate, friendly and customer service oriented,” Deyle tells us. “Besides, most people that interact with the robot are authorized to be in the space, so it’s important that the robot’s demeanour is friendly, approachable and customer service-based -- but easy to escalate into a security posture if need be.”

COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE

Of course, behind the customerfacing staff, there is an elite team of security experts, providing an astounding collective knowledge base that every robot can draw from.

“Our operations team is amazing. Many of our leaders hail from elite military units, drone operations, and intelligence analysis. They’re able to train our remote operators to be on the lookout for suspicious activities and perform key data collection so that weekly and

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monthly reports to the clients contain meaningful insights and actionable suggestions to enhance their operations,” Deyle says. “Plus, you have the collective intelligence of your entire remote operation anywhere you have a robot. It’s not just a remote security officer -- you can access your facilities director, a nurse, a doctor, language support. Cobalt offers the entire comprehensive service: robot hardware, software, maintenance and remote operators through command centres in California and Utah with 22 different

Travis Deyle, PhD CEO & Founder Cobalt Robotics

“OUR OPERATIONS TEAM IS AMAZING. MANY OF OUR LEADERS HAIL FROM ELITE MILITARY UNITS, DRONE OPERATIONS, AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS. THEY’RE ABLE TO TRAIN OUR REMOTE OPERATORS TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES AND PERFORM KEY DATA COLLECTION SO THAT WEEKLY AND MONTHLY REPORTS TO THE CLIENTS CONTAIN MEANINGFUL INSIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE SUGGESTIONS TO ENHANCE THEIR OPERATIONS.” languages spoken by our remote operators. It makes a profound difference in having the collective intelligence of your best people on the spot.”

While Cobalt Robotics produces indoor security robots, their product offering is more in line with a comprehensive security service.

The robots themselves are extremely impressive pieces of technology, backed by human experts, offered as a turn-key security solution.

“We have mobile robots that patrol around your space, building a model of what is normal and looking for anomalies: people,

motion, sounds, open doors, unattended computers, unerased whiteboards, carbon monoxide levels, any number of anomalies. Sometimes the robot responds automatically, and sometimes it notifies a remote human being who can respond intelligently on the spot,” Deyle explains. “As a result, the service is very similar to what you’d get from a manned guard but with superhuman senses, perfect recall and no bias.”

NEW TRICKS

Of course, there is still a challenge in making the case for these robots to customers, and that’s not because of Hollywood

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COBALT ROBOTICS

visions of the Terminator.

“If you look at the security sector comprehensively, over the last 50 years security directors have had the same three tools at their disposal: cameras, access control, and manned guards,” Deyle points out. “When it comes to cost and capability, cameras and access control are two orders of magnitude apart from manned guards, and that leaves a big gap. We provide a new colour that security directors can add to their palette to fill those gaps and create a more efficient security program.

Rather than adding more fixed infrastructure, robots are mobile; they can relocate to provide on-demand coverage with more-capable sensors. At any moment, a remote person (from Cobalt or your own security team) can jump into that robot and have a two-way

audio-visual interaction through the robot – something cameras just can’t do.”

However despite these advantages, for good reason, the security industry has rarely been known for being early adopters, with many companies clinging to their three, 50-yearold tools.

“Our biggest challenge is just the status quo,” Deyle admits.

Of course, recent events have seen “the status quo” turned completely on its head with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the challenges COVID-19 presents us with are ones Cobalt Robotics is uniquely qualified to meet.

“A large number of our remote personnel are able to work from home, so operationally we adapted quickly; it really speaks to the remote nature of the service offering,” Deyle tells us. “This is exactly what

A Cobalt robot patrolling autonomously.

Cobalt’s robots undergoing extensive QA & QC tests before being shipped.

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the product is designed to do: Sitting from the comfort of your own home or office, you can transport yourself to Canada, the US, Australia at the click of a mouse. As premises shut down for the lockdown, many clients extended their hours of coverage or pushed for additional robots.”

But the really valuable application for Cobalt’s robots during the pandemic is turning out to be more than its ability to monitor locations remotely.

“The most profound change lies in back to work capabilities.

For example, our robots have a high-resolution FLIR thermal camera,” Deyle explains. “The robot normally uses that sensor to detect people, leaks and spills and thermal anomalies, but with a simple software update, we were able to provide customers with elevated temperature

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COBALT ROBOTICS

Cobalt Security Operations Center (CSOC), San Mateo, California USA

“AS I LOOK BROADLY ACROSS SERVICE ROBOTICS, THERE’S A LOT OF INTERESTING CAPABILITIES THAT ARE ECONOMICALLY VIABLE RIGHT NOW. SAFETY AND SECURITY ARE OBVIOUSLY INTERESTING BUT THERE’S ALSO CLEANING (ESPECIALLY COMMERCIAL CLEANING), ASSET TRACKING AND INVENTORY, AND DELIVERY.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

screening capabilities on very short notice.”

The is only the tip of the iceberg.

“We’ve been rolling out a host of new capabilities related to ‘back to work’ activities: temperature screening, PPE checks for facemasks, and promoting social distancing. In reality, these adaptations required only slight modifications to the robot’s programming. From a manufacturing perspective, we already have the ability to detect safety glasses as part of our PPE package, so we adapted that to look for masks,” Deyle says. “Enforcing social distancing was a simple question of spatial analysis to see where people are, classifying people too close to each other as an anomaly and saying ‘Hey, can you add a little distance between you to keep everyone safe?’.”

A ROBOTIC FUTURE

It’s not hard to see the demand for these applications during the current crisis, but this could also have long term consequences in terms of how used people are

to seeing robots around.

“As I look broadly across service robotics, there’s a lot of interesting capabilities that are economically viable right now,” Deyle reflects. “Safety and security are obviously interesting but there’s also cleaning (especially commercial cleaning), asset tracking and inventory, and delivery. These capabilities will ultimately make companies more operationally efficient, and we’ll probably see robots providing multiple functions and converge into a common physical platform.”

Deyle is more than ready for this shift, with a PhD in healthcare robots and a passion for the limitless potential robots have waiting to be unlocked.

He tells us, “There are a lot of low-hanging uses cases right now that are economically viable, and that’s exciting. But when you think about the longterm, where you have a mobile computer that can literally reach out and touch the world – that has profound potential.

Capabilities and use cases that were previously considered science fiction will become our everyday reality.”

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THE PASLIN COMPANY

WE LEARN HOW THE MICHIGAN ROBOTICS COMPANY DELIVERS GUARANTEED QUALITY AND IS CONTINUING TO INVEST IN ITS HOME STATE.

THE HOME OF

ROBOTICS PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIM GARWOOD

Since 1937 the Paslin Company has been a full-service design and build an organisation that serves the global automotive industry, providing the concept, design, construction and deployment of complex automated assembly and welding systems. From the very first initial idea through to completion, Paslin has built itself a reputation for high-quality workmanship, industry expertise, and exceptional values through the lifecycle of a project. The company also enjoys advantages due to its status as part of Wanfeng Technology, which has helped it maintain a competitive edge in the global market.

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T

he Paslin Company’s mission is to satisfy its customers, partners and employees while operating a profitable business that delivers reliable automated manufacturing and assembly solutions with exceptional value.

They want to be perceived by all their stakeholders as nothing less than the best-automated manufacturing and assembly

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Welker designs and manufactures innovative, flexible automation components to locate, clamp, slide, lift, eject, position, lockout and dimple. Recognized for outstanding quality and lasting durability for over 45 years, Welker products meet or exceed customer requirements for cost effective, low maintenance solutions.

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(800) 229-0890 38 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

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THE PASLIN COMPANY

solutions provider in the market.

To this end, the company holds a strong commitment to a continuous process of quality improvement, reliability, and maintainability. Paslin’s quality policy is understood, implemented and maintained at every level of the organisation with a system developed to comply with ISO 9001 certification.

ENGINEERING FOR QUALITY

This policy can be seen in action in the range of engineering services the Paslin Company provides. They offer a wide range of complex manufacturing solutions through a process that begins with the company’s Proposals and Estimating Team, whose job it is to transform the customer concept into a costeffective, quality system. Paslin keeps this process internal, meaning they can provide their customers with an absolutely seamless integration process.

Using a seven-step Gate Model methodology, Paslin’s Project Management integrates its cross-functional expertise while minimising communication gaps to ensure projects are successful and delivered on time.

They provide proactive and timely communication on critical project issues and concerns while managing change on all projects through the change management process. Each member of the team has accountability for the technical direction, scope, schedule, and budget while they build partnerships at the technical level.

Meanwhile, the Paslin Company’s Processing Team use the latest analytical techniques to evaluate each project at the crucial stages so that they can validate, improve or create customer proposals.

It is the Paslin Company’s

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goal to take every technical aspect of system layout development into account.

This means evaluating the overall process, management, logistics and organisation of any given facility. The Paslin team addresses the systems requirements and works to maintain cost-effectiveness throughout the system layout development process.

Other services the company provides include robotic simulation. The Paslin Company use state-of-the-art technology to provide virtual robotic simulations that allow Paslin to validate and optimise robot applications while emulating the motions digitally. It’s a process that reduces the time and cost for integration and installation.

The company’s design team also specialise in MIG Welding and BIW Resistance Welding.

The team have built up decades of experience and have become industry leaders that can offer customers innovative and costeffective solutions using a number of CAD software programs to handle projects of all sizes.

The Paslin Company also employs experts in a wide variety of hardware and software systems as part of their Controls Team, who can design a completely integrated solution to meet customer specifications.

Paslin maintains a stateof-the-art machine shop to provide cost-efficient and innovative solutions for manufacturing processes, assembly operations and material sourcing. They partner with their customers from the

very beginning to develop advanced processes that increase productivity within the production plant environment, focussing on processed throughput and increased revenue.

The company offers proven processes, an experienced design department, programmers, robot technicians, and extensive manufacturing and integration capabilities that means Paslin can give customers a final product, delivered on time with quality control from start to finish. Paslin is also committed to working with any robot manufacturer per the project specifications and integrates over 500 robots every year.

The firm has strategically established relationships to provide value with every customer solution.

Of course, no amount of technical hardware or software solutions are any use if you don’t know how to use them, and Paslin provides its clients with comprehensive support documents as a follow-up to its automated system.

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THE PASLIN COMPANY

A BRAND-NEW PLANT

However, the Paslin Company is still looking to achieve even more with the recent investment of a $1 million grant from the state the business is planning to invest a totally $45 million in expanding its operations in Michigan, creating an expected 200 jobs over the next three years. This investment will give Paslin the capacity to supply assembly line robotic systems for electric-vehicle manufacturer Rivian.

Paslin has recently secured a contract to supply vehicle and battery frame assembly robotic systems to Rivian. With the total support of the local community, Paslin’s expansion will offer

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THE PASLIN COMPANY

“PASLIN HAS RECENTLY SECURED A CONTRACT TO SUPPLY VEHICLE AND BATTERY FRAME ASSEMBLY ROBOTIC SYSTEMS TO RIVIAN.”

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jobs that are expected to pay $10 more than the average hourly wage in Macomb County, according to a memo by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Originally Paslin considered building the expansion in Illinois, near Rivian itself, before deciding to stay in their home community.

“The Normal, Illinois investment option would likely consist of a smaller scope project that would be dedicated to only servicing the specific (Rivian) contract until the EV market is more clearly known,” the memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp said.

“Unfortunately, such a delay

may allow direct competitors to secure a dominant position in the electric vehicle assembly system market, jeopardizing (Paslin’s) ability to compete for future EV contracts ... Even small cost disadvantages can mean the loss of current and future contracts which have a direct effect on profitability and employee headcounts in Michigan.”

For a long time, Michigan has been Paslin’s spiritual home, with five locations and 678 employees in the region. While the company has been acquired by the Wangfeng group, this investment shows they’re planning to remain in Michigan for some time to come.

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

WE CHECK BACK IN WITH NUEVO PUDAHUEL TO SEE HOW THEIR AIRPORT EXTENSION HAS PROGRESSED AND HOW THEY ARE OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF RECENT TIMES.

LEADING

BY EXAMPLE PROJECT MANAGED BY: GARY SMITH

Nuevo Pudahuel was started in 2015 to take over the concession of the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Chile. When we last spoke to them, in 2017, we learned about their plans to expand and refurbish the airport. Back then Xavier Lotart-Jacob was the technical officer in charge of the extension works on Arturo Merino Benítez (AMB) International Airport. Since then he has risen through the company to become the CEO of the firm.

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

“N

uevo Pudahuel, first of all, is a concession company whose shareholders are formed by French companies Aéroports de Paris, Vinci Airports and Italian infrastructure company Astaldi each of them adding respectively 45%, 40% and 15%,” he tells us. “If you just focus on Aéroports de Paris and the Vinci Airports they operate 70 airports around the world including Gatwick and Charles de Gaulle, across all these

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airports that represent 500 million passengers. These are two very industrial shareholders with a lot of expertise. It’s good for us because they bring us all the expertise they have and of course, they provide the financing for the project.

“The investment from the shareholders is very significant, about $1 billion for the new airport, of which 50 per cent is financed directly by the shareholders.”

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Escalators

Travelators

thyssenkrupp Elevadores Latin America thyssenkrupp Elevadores Latin America is one of the largest manufacturers of lifting technologies. It is structured to serve the market from subsidiaries in 14 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay) and representatives in other places, like in the Caribbean. The manufacturing park installed in the Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, serves the Latin American market, in addition to local demand. The structure also includes the provision of maintenance services for elevators, escalators and travelators, using specialized technical equipment. thyssenkrupp Santiago: Avenida Del Condor 820, Huechuraba, Santiago - Chile Tel: (+56) 02 27142878 / (+56) 02 898 7300 www.thyssenkruppelevadores.cl

Cranes from Liebherr • Top capacities in all lifting classes • Long booms and jibs with variable working equipment • Cost-effective transport • Comprehensive comfort and safety features • High mobility and short assembly times Liebherr Chile SpA Phone Office: +56 2 2571 0300 E-mail: info.lmc@liebherr.com www.liebherr.com

LIEBHERR LIEBHERR AT THE AIRPORT EXPANSION IN SANTIAGO DE CHILE

The airport expansion project was realized with 23 tower cranes and more than 15 mobile cranes from Liebherr. Liebherr Chile S.p.A has erected 18 different types of high- and flat top tower cranes between 8 and 16 tons, with additional six tower cranes from the Chilean dealer Maquinarias Cruz del Sur. Four different Chilean crane rental companies operated the mobile cranes on the expansion project. Together with the Chilean partners, Liebherr provided the necessary services, assemblies and the crane operators. The tower cranes had a jib length of 45 to 60 m and hook heights of 17 to 45 m. The mobile cranes were in the range of 55t to 450t lifting capacity with a maximum boom length of 85m (LTM 1450-8.1). The right choice of crane types, the positioning and the dimensions were all key factors in project planning. Especially at an airport, where the permitted crane heights and working spaces are very limited, Liebherr cranes can be used versatile due to the high innovation in the product lines. Liebherr mounted a Flat-Top 250 EC-B 12 Litronic crane for example on rails to cover a larger part of the construction site and, when it is not in operation, it can be moved to a position where it can slew freely. New innovations like Liebherr’s VarioBase and VarioBallast in the mobile cranes allow to adapt the crane to tighter working spaces or increase lifting capacity just as needed in every single load case.

Vanderlande congratulates AMB International Airport Terminal 2 on its new state-of-the-art baggage handling system.

www.liebherr.com

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

C Pier exterior façade at Nuevo Pudahuel. It consists of thermopanels and fiber cement.

However, Lotart-Jacob is keen to point out that Nuevo Pudahuel is so much more than its shareholders, the company’s heart and soul are in Chile.

“We’re a local company.

It’s a company working with about 200 people working day and night, 24/7 to provide the best service we can to the community, the air traffic community, the airlines, handlers, cargo operators and at the end to the benefit of the passenger,” he tells us. “Our vision is we want to make Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport into a reference airport

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“PEOPLE IN OUR WORKFORCE LIVE HERE, SO AS AN ACTOR IN THE TERRITORY, WE ARE HELPING THE CITY TO GET THROUGH THIS CRISIS THROUGH SOCIAL ACTION.”

for South America, in respect to its traffic, the passenger experience and also in respect to the environment and sustainability. The last point I want to underline is we are the partner of the territory. We are local partners, we live here, in the city of Pudahuel.”

That sense of local pride has become more important than ever in the time of Covid-19.

“People in our workforce live here, so as an actor in the territory, we are helping the city to get through this crisis through social action,” LotartJacob says.

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

AN EXEMPLAR AIRPORT

AMB International Airport is looking to set a new benchmark for airports in the region, but achieving that is no small task, especially for plans with such ambition. As an engineer, Lotart-Jacob has a precise understanding of the scale of the task ahead Nuevo Pudahuel.

“The architecture of this building is complex. It’s a very nice architecture but complex,” he explains. “It’s huge- the size of the works we’re carrying out is huge so that means we

C Pier Departure Lounge interior at Nuevo Pudahuel

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

have a lot of resources to bring on the site, including human resources, sub-contractors, and materials. When you screw up the consequences are big. So that brings several levels of complexity to the project from an engineer’s perspective.”

As well as being an epic project in its own right, the nature of the expansion also makes it hard to respond quickly to evolving situations.

“One key point of the project is that it is a brownfield project – as opposed to a greenfield one – which means that we are building a new structure in a middle of a zone where we are currently operating a saturated existing terminal,” Lotard-Jacob explains. “We had to relocate many actors to make zones for construction accessible and focused all our efforts on minimising impacts to other stakeholders and passengers.”

Of course we had an obligation of continuity of service, which made it difficult as far as phasing was concerned

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but I would say it’s been a very exciting challenge and we are through it now because we are at 80% of progress. It’s just a matter of production.”

GREEN WINGS

A big part of the expansion and transformation of AMB International Airport is a concerted effort to create a greener, more sustainable travel hub.

“We’re investing in electricity, energy saving, waste treatment, water distribution.

As an example we have changed all the lights in the existing terminal to bring them up to environmental standards,” Lotart-Jacob says.

“We invested in solar panels on the roof of the existing terminal.

We have waste management in the existing terminal and we’re committed to reducing our carbon emissions to 50% of what they are today to.”

Lotart-Jacob frames these efforts are part of a reassessment of how the airport sector as a whole need

Santiago Airport will soon benefit from 2,500 photovoltaic panels with a total power of 825 kW.

“WE INVESTED IN SOLAR PANELS ON THE ROOF OF THE EXISTING TERMINAL. WE HAVE WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE EXISTING TERMINAL AND WE’RE COMMITTED TO REDUCING OUR CARBON EMISSIONS TO 50% OF WHAT THEY ARE TODAY TO.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

L

to address environmental challenges in the current climate.

“I think there is an interesting point where our industry is facing a major crisis, especially in Europe where we are seeing the states bringing into the industry some financial help on the condition they engage with environmental challenges,” he says. “The French state is bringing 7 billion euros to Air France and Air France is now committed to reducing its carbon emissions for the renovation of the aeroplanes by redirecting their investment to green planes. I think that’s important in this crisis, the public sphere will help new investment in sustainability. I hope this will happen also in Chile. It doesn’t change our vision or that we want to go on with our sustainability plans.”

Of course, recently Nuevo Pudahuel has faced new challenges.

“During the past months from March, we have had to pause all

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

Terminal 2 under construction at Nuevo Pudehuel.

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NUEVO PUDAHUEL

“WE HAVE TAKEN MEASURES WITHOUT DELAY TO ORGANISE THE COMPLETION OF THE WORKS WHILE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE NEW SANITARY REQUIREMENTS. AS AN EXAMPLE, WE ORGANISED THE WORK CREWS SO THAT INSTEAD OF ONE SHIFT WE HAVE THREE SHIFTS.” these types of projects because we’re in a crisis,” Lotart-Jacob acknowledges.

The Covid-19 crisis has seen Nuevo Pudahuel massively change it’s working practices.

“We have taken measures without delay to organise the completion of the works while taking into account the new sanitary requirements,” Lotart-Jacob emphasises. “As an example, we organised the work crews so that instead of one shift we have three shifts.”

This will not change the project’s quality, or sustainability targets, however.

“We have no change in our vision, so when things return to normal, we will focus on the development of our business,” Lotart-Jacob says firmly. “It’s not easy but all the main construction risks are behind us. We will enjoy a modern airport in 2021 and will work hard to sustain the necessary growth of the traffic.”

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TELECOM FIJI

WE LEARN HOW TELECOM FIJI OFFERS AND MAINTAINS THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE OF A UNIQUE MARKET.

FIJIAN COMPANY PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIM GARWOOD

Operating for over 100 years in Fiji, Telecom Fiji Limited is now nothing less than the undisputed leader in integrated telecommunications, a summit the company reached by empowering Fijians and revolutionising the way they communicate, interact, entertain and do business with each other.

“A

Charles Goundar CEO, Telecom Fiji

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100 per cent Fijian owned organisation, Telecom Fiji has built a name for itself fostering meaningful and positive changes in people’s lives by offering information and communications technologyenabled services, applications and products.

“We focus on fixed voice, internet and other ICT services.

We serve all major segments of the market - from enterprise, government, residential, to a mix of all the industries and various customer segments,” says Charles Goundar, CEO of Telecom Fiji.

“We are in charge of running and maintaining one of the oldest infrastructures in the country and we have a wide range of networks from mobile, fibre, microwave and satellite covering the entire Fiji island group. We provide services in telecommunications voice and data.”

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YOFC Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (also known as ‘YOFC’) was established in Hubei, China in May 1988. It’s a technologically innovative and leading company specializing in optical fibre cable, copper cable, submarine cable, datacenter and FTTH Full turnkey areas. YOFC has been supplying its products and services to over 150 countries and regions around the world.

In the Oceania countries, YOFC has been the key supplier to New Zealand Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) project for more than 10 years, our Aerial ADSS cable, Air Blown Fibre (ABF) cable solution have been largely deployed throughout the nationwide areas. YOFC is also supplying to Australian Telco market, our Nylon sheath duct cable providing the minimum diameter for our customer to reduce the lease cost on of the duct, Data Center solution provide the most high density, reliable and fast lead-time to our customers. In Fiji, YOFC has become the key fibre cable supplier to Telecom Fiji since 2018, our fibre cable has been used in their backbone, distribution network and FTTH network.

Adhering to the mission of “Smart Link Better Life”​, YOFC devotes itself to becoming the leader in information transmission network. We are looking for a full cooperation with the partners in the Oceania countries to deliver the better network and services to their people.

en.yofc.com

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TELECOM FIJI

Telecom Fiji has a long and proud history that both tracks and underpins the ways technological advancement has significantly changed the way Fijians do business, with the company’s offers expanding regularly to match the evolving needs of their customers.

However, throughout that story, the one thing that hasn’t changed is Telecom Fiji’s commitment to keeping the country connected, a promise that remains at the heart of everything it does.

The company’s roots go back as far as January 1st, 1900 when the business of the Department of Posts & Telecommunications was transferred to the new company, Fiji Posts & Telecommunication Limited, the firm that would eventually become Telecom Fiji.

“WE FOCUS ON QUALITY, THAT’S SOMETHING THAT WE HAVE TRIED TO ENTRENCH INTO OUR CORE VALUES AND WE DON’T NECESSARILY COMPETE ON PRICE.” Since then the company has grown and developed alongside the telecommunications industry itself, introducing and updating various technological innovations and platforms in the country over time.

A recent example, in 2018, Telecom Fiji completed and commissioned a project that deployed a high-speed telecommunications optic fibre infrastructure spanning 90 km through the Rakiraki-Korovou domain along the King’s Road on Viti Levu. This is the most recent addition to Telecom’s existing optic fibre network of over 1,500 km that mainly covers the Queen’s Road corridor and business-centric areas. It forms

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a part of an overall greater project to extend their fibre network to most of Fiji and provide enhanced resiliency to their existing high-capacity transmission network.

Telecom Fiji is no slouch when it comes to the software side of services either, as reflected when they officially became a Gold Partner of Oracle in 2019, allowing them to greatly increase their specialisation and service provision on that front.

MORE THAN THE JUST THE BOTTOM LINE

Their national broadband strategy to ensure greater accessibility, availability and affordability of internet and high-speed broadband connectivity to the people and businesses across Fiji; ensuring services match international standards, isn’t limited to just increasing profit margins.

Many remote and maritime regions in Fiji have access to the internet and other ICT services thanks to Telecom,

despite it not necessarily being directly profitable. This is all in the service of reducing the digital divide, an issue prevalent in many countries around the world where technology is implemented at different paces in different places, whether due to remoteness or socioeconomic barriers.

“We believe in doing work that is about more than just the bottom line or making a profit.

We also want Fiji to thrive in the digital age,” explains Goundar.

“Many of our projects, especially in extending telecommunications access to remote areas of Fiji, aren’t about making huge profits. Fiji has the potential to become the digital hub of the South Pacific, and we want to ensure that Fijians are not limited by a lack of access and have access to ICT services on par with global standards.”

Telecom Fiji takes its corporate social responsibilities very seriously and is an active participant in both community efforts, and their own initiatives

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TELECOM FIJI

such as their Telecom Fiji Ambrose Golf Tournament which contributes to charity.

The most recent example was their bundle of COVID-19 relief packages which was notable for its deferment of disconnections in the case of customers unable to pay due to financial difficulties caused by the pandemic.

Throughout a century of work, however, there is one thing that hasn’t changed.

“We focus on quality,” Goundar says simply. “That’s something that we have tried to entrench into our core values and we don’t necessarily compete on price. We come under pressure in different customer segments where price is more of a differentiator, yet we try to maintain a certain price point because we believe quality comes at a cost and our focus is good quality service to all our customers, whether residential or enterprise.”

instances, we just have to live with the pricing. There’s not much we can do about it. We try to have a multi-vendor strategy, not only focusing on a particular supplier but having multiple suppliers so we can get a better sense of benchmark pricing. In other instances, however, we just have to accept that this is the way it is and live with it.”

The other side of that challenge is that, with larger and more lucrative telecommunication companies working elsewhere, Fiji has to work hard to build its talent pool and incentivise it to stay at home.

“We have staff who move to greener pastures neighbouring countries for better opportunities. There are times when we’ve lost a lot of technical resources overnight and in telecommunications losing experience is really hard

to replace,” Goundar says. “It can take years of training to build that sort of capability so losing it is tough.”

The company has developed HR programmes to attract graduates from university, alongside training programmes and benefits to incentivise staff to stay for a longer duration with the company.

“But it’s something that we have accepted - people will move on and so what we’re doing is just making sure we have full pooled resources in all the critical areas to fill in when the need arises,” Goundar says. “That’s one of the strategies we have.”

THE NEXT BIG CHANGE

Of course, perhaps the biggest challenge facing Telecom Fiji right now, as well as businesses all around the world, is the global COVID-19 pandemic.

A BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND

That said, while Telecom Fiji is proud of their homeland and the part it plays in their company’s identity, working in Fiji brings with it unique challenges that aren’t faced by other national ICT providers.

“The fact that we’re in Fiji is a challenge in itself. We’re a big fish in a small pond without the scale to negotiate on pricing with our suppliers,” Goundar admits. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the volume to say we would like the pricing to be better than what it is, compared to other markets with large volumes to get lower cost of sale.”

While for a large part, the pricing challenges are simply an occupational hazard, Telecom Fiji has developed a number of strategies to ensure they receive and can offer the best prices possible.

Goundar explains, “In some

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TELECOM FIJI

TFL senior management team receiving a prestigious award locally in Fiji - Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Service.

As part of its Pandemic Management and Response Plan, Telecom Fiji rolled out the aforementioned COVID-19 relief packages to ensure that its customers stay connected and all telecommunication services and infrastructure remain operational.

This includes continuing to provide services such as fibre backhaul to mobile operators to ensure that they, in turn, can continue providing services to their customers.

The company has given a number of extra services to its customers at zero cost in order to help them get through this time of isolation a little easier. Several of these packages include extra data, going as high as twice the amount of data customers paid for, flexibility on payment options and free software suites to maintain productivity for enterprise customers.

“We will continue providing normal services to all customers as much as

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reasonably practicable without compromising health, safety and well-being of our staff and their families,” Goundar insists. “We have already issued protective gear to our frontline and customer-facing field operations teams and have already got certain sections of the company working from home.”

The company has comprehensive protocols in place to protect its staff and has also put in place precautionary measures for field operations teams to be mindful of when attending to complaints at customer premises.

But beyond the pandemic, Telecom Fiji has grand plans.

“We are exploring the developments around AI, IoT and 5G obviously,” Goundar says. “We’ve got a part to play in the development of the country and will keep rolling out services to customers and ensure the market is matching neighbouring markets in terms of what’s available to the public.”

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A Float installation from Haven Life Insurance’s New York office.

CLARUS

CLARUS CREATES INNOVATE GLASS PRODUCTS FOR WORKSPACES, BUT WITH THE ADVENT OF COVID-19 THEIR TALENTS ARE FINDING APPLICATIONS IN UNFORESEEN PLACES.

GLASS

HALF FULL PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIM GARWOOD Clarus is an industry leader in creating innovative glass products for marketplaces such as corporate offices, healthcare facilities, and higher education centres. They have made a name for themselves pushing the boundaries of design.

“W

Marc Mansell CEO, Clarus

e’re focused on innovation and design.

We also service the industry very well because we manufacture our own products which is a competitive advantage for a company like ours,” explains Marc Mansell, Clarus’ CEO. “We manufacture the products we design and develop allowing us to service customers directly and quickly. This is especially useful in the industry of building out workspaces.

The ability to have our products delivered on time at high quality makes us a trusted partner in the industry to those who want to bring those workplaces to life.”

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Established in 1952, Cardinal Paint & Powder draws on more than 60 years of experience. A leader in the manufacture of high quality coatings, we offer a wide range of liquid and powder coating systems. These were developed to meet and exceed the most demanding performance and emission standards. Cardinal’s reputation is based upon our dedication to solving customers coating challenges. From facilities across North America and Asia, we are ready to provide the solution to your coating challenges.

Contact: 1900 Aerojet Way North Las Vegas NV 89030 USA 1-800-998-9826

Cardinalpaint.com Shop.cardinalpaint.com

CARDINAL PAINT Founded in 2009, in a little over a decade, Clarus has grown to be the largest manufacturer of glassboards in the world. This vision and determination are why Cardinal is so proud to have been there for Clarus since the beginning. Cardinal Paint and Powder, Inc. is the main supplier of liquid and powder coatings to Clarus, and the two companies have grown together and have developed a special relationship. This relationship is based upon Cardinal’s three guiding principles: Technology, Quality, and Service.

Getting paint to adhere to glass is no laughing matter, and that’s where Cardinal comes in. Cardinal has been an innovator in the field of industrial coatings for over six decades, and we have worked to develop a range of glass coatings that meet the performance requirements for Clarus’ glassboards. From the original meeting, which took place in Clarus’ founders’ garage, we have shared our resources, knowledge and technology to enable them to reach their goals. We have even worked side by side with their production team to test new technology. This technology has led to the development of new high-quality glass coatings.

With glass becoming an increasingly popular option for architectural, consumer, and industrial projects the need for high-quality glass coatings has increased dramatically. Cardinal’s reputation has been built upon the quality of the liquid and powder coatings we manufacturer. We like to think that these exacting standards are one of the reasons why Clarus’

Of course, if you are reading this there is a good chance you have not been to your workplace for a while. Barring the most essential key workers, most of us are either furloughed or working from home.

“Right now the global pandemic is high on our list of challenges,” Mansell says.

“I was just speaking with my site manager in Belgium over Zoom this morning and we had a conversation about our goals for the year. When we were looking at these goals late last year nobody saw the effects of a significant economic downturn and global pandemic where workspaces are being closed, people are working from home, even borders are being closed.”

SHIELDING THE WORKFORCE

Clarus’ work, however, is more crucial than ever.

“Right now like many companies we are considered an essential business in how we support healthcare and government agencies,

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glassboards are so reliable. However, even with the highest standards problems do arise from time to time, and that is when Cardinal is there to help customers resolve their issues.

Technology and Quality are two of Cardinal’s guiding principles, but perhaps the most important is our dedication to Service. No matter the size, Cardinal is always prepared to offer assistance to our customers.

Our relationship with Clarus has relied heavily upon this guiding principle.

From our very first meeting, a special emphasis was placed upon this relationship that made all of our resources available to Clarus. They were assigned a technical service representative to ensure any issues were dealt with straight away, and Cardinal’s Liquid Technical Director was known to take after hours phone calls.

Cardinal has been there for Clarus since the beginning, and as they grow, we will be with them whenever they need us. Whether it is to provide them with the latest glass coating technology or to help them resolve an issue.

We at Cardinal look forward to a long and productive relationship with Clarus.

WWW.CARDINALPAINT.COM

operating in the face of really big challenges,” Mansell explains.

From the very beginning, Clarus was at the vanguard ensuring workspaces and healthcare environments were clean and safe.

“Early on we started to see the marketplace considering how to keep workspaces and healthcare clinics as clean and sanitised as possible,” Mansell recalls. “Glass is a good material candidate for surfaces you need to clean and disinfect because it’s non-porous. It is very simple to use bleach or whatever cleaner you want, and it will look just as beautiful and last just as long, unlike other materials. Knowing glass had really good qualities we started looking for applications. We got a call from an administrator at VA Medical Centres in Seattle who were setting up a COVID clinic. They reached out to us for products for their COVID clinic directly because we are known for glass products and

“WE WENT FROM IDEA TO DESIGN TO SALEABLE PRODUCT IN SEVEN DAYS.” have supported the healthcare industry for a long time now. In a matter of days, we were able to get them what they needed.”

However, while Clarus was working hard to ensure frontline healthcare workers were safe, the company also had to ensure the safety of its own staff.

“In early April we decided it was in the best interests of employees to begin doing temperature screening as people entered our production facility,” Mansell says. “The Catch 22 situation was that in order to be able to take an employee’s temperature with the handheld infrared thermometers you need to get close enough to take their temperature, breaking distancing guidelines.”

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CLARUS

Custom, vertical, blue Float boards for BVA (Ball Ventures Ahlquist), a commercial development and strategic capital investment company.

Fortunately, Clarus was equipped with the resources and ingenuity to tackle this problem head-on.

“Our operations team took one of our vertical go! Mobile products, a glass board on wheels. Usually, it has a white surface you write on, but on this design they used clear glass and cut a hole in it to reach through and take someone’s temperature,” Mansell explains.

It was a discovery that would open the door to a whole new product line for Clarus.

“Frankly, when we saw the video of the process, we

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realised many companies will be moving to this temperature screening process and might benefit from that. So we turned to our design folks and gave them the challenge of coming up with a product inspired by the needs of our production facility,” Mansell tells us. “We went from idea to design to saleable product in seven days.

It is called be! Clear, a vertical clear glass shield for taking employee temperatures with a vertical slot where you hold the thermometer, taking the temperature of the employee depending on their height.

That product has evolved into a series of other products we are calling be! Shields because as people prepare to come back to work, they are asking for products like the glass shield to create barriers. It’s an example of how innovation can come from anywhere.”

BEYOND COVID

While the challenges COVID-19 brings with it are new, Mansell believes that the solutions are ones we have always had.

“The challenges we face today with the virus and the efforts to bring back the workforce are just

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CLARUS

creating a different perspective on collaboration,” he says. “We want to help people collaborate safely now, sometimes in creating spaces for people that want to create a bit of a shield between each other. We still intend to be a company that supports people working together, collaborating and creating great ideas together.”

Indeed, when this year began Clarus had big plans for its own expansion, and while they might be temporarily on hold in some cases, they have not changed.

“We are viewed as an industry leader and we aspire to extend that into Europe.

Europe continues to be a major target market for us where we would like to fuel our growth,” Mansell says. “We want to expand our sales capabilities in Europe and the Middle East. We opened

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our factory in Belgium last Fall and we have been able to bring more and more products to that which can be manufactured locally. We intend to continue to expand our geographic reach, driving an innovative and desirable product line and be a trusted partner in the industries we service.”

While COVID-19 will certainly change things, possibly on a large scale, Mansell is optimistic.

“I continue to remind people that in the life cycle of a company this is just a bump in the road,” he says. “It feels big but in the long-term scheme of things I have got a lot of trust in science and countries and industries and medicine to get past this. There might be a new normal but a bright normal on the other side of this.”

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DAKERYN GROUP

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS AFFECTING EVERY BUSINESS, BUT THIS ISN’T THE DAKERYN GROUP’S FIRST RODEO.

KNOCK ON

WOOD

PROJECT MANAGED BY: JAMES RICHARDSON

Dakeryn Industries started out as a lumber wholesaling company with a staff of three people in 1990. Over the next 30 years, it grew to a staff of 150 people with a whole portfolio of divisions, markets and customers around the world. It is a journey that Rob Chimko, the President of the Dakeryn Group, has seen first-hand since he joined the company in 1994. He’s also seen that as the company has gone from strength to strength, there has been one consistent ingredient in its success.

“O

ur staff is critical to our success. We hire team players and commit to the strength of our group versus any one individual,” Chimko says. “This high-caliber team has enabled us to drive steady growth and diversification over the years. It has also given us the ability to acquire a few suppliers along the way and enhance our vertical integration in the industry.

The company is Canada based but has a long history of serving markets in the US. However, this international trade can bring challenges with it.

“We’re in Canada but we’ve always shipped to the US. It’s been a significant market for us for the last 20 years,” Chimko explains. “But there is a false perception among Americans

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that we’d been dumping lumber into their market, so we’re fighting anti-dumping duties. There have been three episodes of that in the last 20 years that have had an impact on our business, that’s always been a challenge.”

THINK FAST

Dakeryn is able to weather turbulence like this thanks to its nimble and adaptable approach as a company.

“When we are up against substantial anti-dumping duties like we are now in the US, we pivot and ramp up operations domestically and abroad where we don’t face the same obstacles.“ Chimko points out.

“Two years ago we brought in a well-established export team.

As a result we now ship to over

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DAKERYN GROUP

30 countries worldwide in taxfree duty-free markets.”

Of course, over the last 30 years, this hasn’t been the only challenge to hit the lumber industry. Dakeryn’s story spans a period of time that includes the global economic crisis, 9/11, the mortgage crisis, all of which have hit businesses in different ways.

“Our business is constantly shifting and evolving in tandem with market conditions. We navigate a housing crisis in much the same way that we navigate the introduction of duties; we refocus our attention from challenges to opportunities, in this case retail.” Chimko says.

“When housing is weak we focus on the retail or big box sector.

If consumers are short on cash they move to renovations and DIY projects. These projects

take a lot of material and we can grow our business in that segment.”

The trick is to keep responsive and agile, as Chimko tells us, “Part of our success is we react quickly.

We’re a lifeboat on the Titanic rather than the Titanic itself.

While we can’t always forecast these conditions, we can swiftly change course as needed.”

Of course, there are no prizes for guessing the most recent crisis to affect Dakeryn’s business.

COVID-19 has obviously had an impact on Dakeryn, although its timing has turned out to be somewhat fortuitous.

SWITCHING TO DIGITAL

“We were in the process of going paperless prior to all of this,” says Chimko. “We’re old

The Gorman Group would like to congratulate Dakeryn on being a lumber industry leader and share their support for a valued partner in business.

3900 Dunfield Road, West Kelowna BC, V4T 1W4 Canada Tel: +1 250-768-5131

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www.gormanbros.com

“WE HAD 7,000 SQUARE FEET, AND ONLY FIVE OR SIX PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WORKING THERE.” guys in the lumber business, far from IT wizards. We had committed to being fully digital within six months but by the third week of March we had no choice but to shut down the office and immediately go paperless. We bought the last twelve laptops our supplier had and trained all staff to work remotely within a few days. By the end of March, 95% of us were successfully working from home.”

The lockdown was also a bizarre experience for Dakeryn as it coincided with their move into a new and much larger office.

“The timing was weird because March 30th we moved into a new office with double the square footage of our previous space. We had 7,000 square feet and only five or six people working there.” Chimko says.

Rapidly bought laptops and a suddenly very spacious working environment aside, however, Dakeryn seems to have avoided the worst of the COVID-19 knock-on effect.

“We saw a slight drop in business in the 10-15% range.

It has affected all markets, but lumber and construction are considered essential. Any housing development started in January, February and March continued, those projects are still going on,” Chimko points out.

“New business going forward into Q3 and Q4 could slow down and we may see a more significant drop in demand then, but other markets around the

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DAKERYN GROUP

world are starting to open up.”

Even now though, Dakeryn’s staff are adapting to new ways of working. Although typically sales don’t take place in person, the company has always valued the communication that takes place when your team is in the same room.

“We don’t have the instantaneous communication when someone shouts across the floor ‘I’ve got this for sale’ and others can work with that information,” Chimko admits.

“The internet is fast, but when you’re in a room with 16 people, stuff happens. That change in

Rob Chimko President of Dakeryn Group

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atmosphere of being distanced, has an impact. We’ve added platforms to give us that active environment such as Microsoft Teams where traders can share what they’re working on. We’ve started holding weekly zoom meetings. We’ve implemented

“WE PROVIDE A GOOD WORKING ENVIRONMENT, TREAT EVERYONE WITH MUTUAL RESPECT, AND COMPENSATE OUR PEOPLE WELL FOR PERFORMANCE. NOT SOLELY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE BUT TEAM PERFORMANCE."

different solutions to deal with it, but it’s difficult when 16 people in 16 places try to do everything without that instant communication.”

Fortunately, Dakeryn’s team is a close-knit one, built over many years through word of mouth and personal recommendations.

When I started at Dakeryn, I had already been in the industry for five or six years. I’d developed quite a few contacts and brought on three or four people I’d been working with at various companies. Five years of working side by side is a pretty long interview, so by that time I was very confident in hiring them.” Chimko recalls. “we provide a good working environment, treat everyone with mutual respect, and compensate our people well for performance. Not solely individual performance but team performance. Dakeryn’s overall success depends on working as a cohesive unit to shine as a leader in our industry.”

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WATPAC

THE ACQUISITION OF WATPAC BY THE INTERNATIONAL BESIX GROUP HAS OPENED A WORLD OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES AMID AN ERA OF UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES.

BRINGING THE BEST

TOGETHER PROJECT MANAGED BY: NEIL STOWE

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WATPAC

Watpac is a company in transition.

It is on a mission to diversify and take on larger, more complex building projects by leveraging its new financial and engineering strength delivered by BESIX.

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“W

ith nearly 40 years of history in Australia, Watpac has built its own solid reputation for reliability in the key sectors of building, stadiums, defence, and public infrastructures such as health and education. Now, despite the global challenges of COVID19, the strength of BESIX is opening a new world of opportunity for Watpac.

“We’ve been targeting bigger and bigger projects,” says Jean-Pol Bouharmont, CEO of Watpac. “We’re moving from $50 - 200 million projects to $200 - 500 million projects.”

The BESIX takeover has been a real integration of the best of Watpac and its new parent.

Watpac now has the financial strength to genuinely compete as a Tier One contractor. They

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Formtec Group is a leading Formwork Contractor, servicing Sydney and surrounding suburbs established over 20 years ago.

Formtec Group specialises in major commercial, residential high rise developments, shopping centres, hospitals and all large scale projects, and build in excess of 750,000 m2 of formwork per year.

Always focused on the delivering the highest benefit to each of its projects, Formtec offer a wide range of Formwork solutions to meet the specific needs of its clients. The types of formwork offered

by Formtec include conventional and system table formwork, metal decking systems, prefabricated stair & column forms, custom designed shuttering, hydraulic and crane operated jumpforms, hydraulic and crane operated safety screens as well as forklifts, formwork hoists and the like.

Through successful planning, experienced management and a dedicated workforce our team can work with any builder or developer to implement the most efficient and cost effective structural solution for any sized project.

Formtec have a long standing history with Watpac, working on a number of projects over our 20+ years in operation, including Watpac’s former office tower at Sydney Olympic Park, the Rosehill Racecourse redevelopment and the 40 level York & George St Tower in Sydney’s CBD. Formtec are currently engaged on two Watpac projects: - Natura Apartments - 2 x 20 level apartment towers in Macquarie Park - Poly Centre Tower – 29 level office tower in Sydney’s CBD

Formtec Group Suite 2 - Level 1, 49-55 Lakemba St, Belmore, NSW Australia 2192 t: + 612 9784 3900 f: + 612 9759 5559

e: formwork@formtec.com.au

www.formtec.com.au

CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Proud to be working with Watpac.

Great culture and a true team player in the building industry.

CIVIL

STRUCTURAL

BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY SERVICES

www.northrop.com.au +61 418 689 704

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WATPAC

“WE’VE BEEN TARGETING BIGGER AND BIGGER PROJECTS. WE’RE MOVING FROM $50 MILLION PROJECTS TO $200 MILLION OR $300 MILLION PROJECTS.”

John Laing are investors and partners behind responsible infrastructure projects which respond to public needs, empower sustainable growth and improve the lives of the communities in which we work.

John Laing is proud to be partnering with Watpac to deliver such infrastructure in Australia.

T: +61 2 8999 9104 E: enquiry-APAC@laing.com

www.laing.com

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also now have an in-house complex engineering capability which is unique in the Australian market.

“Our in-house engineering department can leverage the BESIX Group’s engineering department to target our traditional sectors as well as two additional sectors,” Bouharmont explains. “The first is in the building specialty sector, to go to more complex and bigger projects where we can really add value with our engineering capability and our national market exposure. This includes, for example, going into major metro stations, major architecture like museums, airport terminals, complex

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WATPAC

commercial developments.

That’s the first sector we want to move Watpac into.”

The other sector Watpac is keen to get into is the civil and marine sectors.

“BESIX has been successful in marine projects all over the world and we know we can find success in that part of the business in Australia,” Bouharmont explains. “It means not only marine works but over water developments and bridges. In the civil space, we are pursuing industrial projects and water treatment plants. We will leverage the international

Jean-Pol Bouharmont CEO, Watpac.

BESIX capability to open those additional sectors. The new Watpac has a lot to offer to Australia and New Zealand.”

A WINNING PARTNERSHIP

The BESIX takeover of Watpac is really more like a partnership and Watpac’s clients will benefit from a degree of transparency and collaboration that has been absent in the Tier One market.

Watpac is keen to collaborate with clients either through Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) or as Managing Contractor (MC).

“As BESIX has demonstrated internationally, our engineering department adds maximum

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WATPAC

“OUR APPROACH MINIMISES RISK” value if we are involved in the project early,” Bouharmont explains.

“We can apply our methodology with the designers. We know what the sub-contractor may face on the field. Therefore, we have people at project management level who can make sure the constructability and methodology are adding value through improving designs.

Above all, our approach minimises risk.”

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As well as supporting Watpac with capital and expertise, BESIX and Watpac have been collaborating in the other ways.

“There’s a good mix of DNA between BESIX and Watpac because Watpac has already demonstrated the value it brings as Managing Contractor,” Bouharmont points out. “I really think we have that right balance here. Clients have seen the benefits of our early involvement and the comfort that provides in managing risk.”

Bouharmont believes early involvement and collaboration will be even more important in the post-COVID world.

“There’s a possibility of accelerating the project route to market and to start work onsite sooner by having that early contractor involvement in the design,” he points out. “It means we’re able to fast track the start of activities and get workers employed again. The current method of establishing the design, then going to tender for construction, and then finalising design before any site works commence is simply too slow.”

A key reason why the BESIX takeover of Watpac has been successful is the international company’s commitment to the Australian market.

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WATPAC

“I think the approach of BESIX is different from other major international groups.

They have much more understanding of how the Australian market is working and how we can add value by coming into the market the way we do,” says Bouharmont. “Until now we have been resistant to going into megaprojects where we feel the risk allocation is not done properly and the big players are going into those tenders without a good assessment of the risk. Most of the time it ends with a project where there is a major dispute. That is not the way BESIX works. They go into projects where they know they

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will add value and the risk is clearly identified so there are no major surprises to any party in those contracts.”

DEALING WITH COVID

The biggest obstacle to growth continues to be the global COVID-19 pandemic. In many ways, Australia has been fortunate during the crisis, but it still poses businesses a challenge.

“The situation in Australia has been less difficult to manage than in other parts of the world,” Bouharmont admits. “Australia is fortunate to be an island, albeit a big island and the crisis has been well managed.

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WATPAC

close,” Bouharmont points out.

“The stimulus and the way it’s delivered is important. The first action has been more towards taking care of people who have lost their job and then the second series is more to aid small contracting companies which I understand, but I really think it is important too to support the major contractors who are the big employers.”

COVID is not the only big environmental or social issue that Watpac will be addressing.

The company has put in place a wide agenda focusing on its footprint and social impact.

“Our sustainability agenda is really a big work in progress within Watpac. Firstly, in the area of local employment and Indigenous empowerment,

I have had the chance to participate in the execution of the Townsville Stadium where Watpac has done a great job and all the works have been executed by local workers.

We also achieved more than our target on Indigenous employment,” Bouharmont says proudly, but acknowledges there is still work to do. “We now have to learn from what we’ve done well and apply that knowledge in each tender to maximise outcomes. On the environment, this is where BESIX brings valuable experience in areas such as water treatment and the new wave of renewable energy including hydro and waste to energy. Watpac will grow into this exciting sector. It’s an exciting work in progress.”

The population has been less affected and construction projects have continued thanks to stringent COVID safety precautions on all sites. There were early concerns about the supply chain, but we are pleased to say we’ve not been greatly impacted by COVID-19 so far.”

However, that does not mean that Watpac is not cautious about what the longer-term repercussions of the pandemic could be.

“The concern is much more about the bottom part of the socalled V curve and how quickly the Australian contracting world can secure new projects to replace those coming to a

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 75

Q-SOURCING

Q-SOURCING IS REVOLUTIONISING COMPANIES’ SKILL SETS BY DEMONSTRATING WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH WORLD-CLASS TALENT.

BRINGING THE

TALENT PROJECT MANAGED BY: ETHAN THOMPSON

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Q-SOURCING

Q-Sourcing is not just leading recruitment, human resource management and integrated project management outsourcing company.

The businesses they work with have found them to be a critical solutions partner.

“Q

-sourcing is a place where people with skills who are looking for opportunities come to either get connected to opportunities that fit their profile and ambition or get skills that would enable them to get

employed, get a more rewarding job or even find their own dream in terms of self-employment,” explains Patrick Kabahanga Mbonye, Q-Sourcing’s CEO. “We do manpower management as well as skilling, we ensure we give you the best not only locally but to international standards.”

Of course, their work is twosided, not just finding talent the place it wants to be, but businesses the talent that they want, and Q-Sourcing serves a range of corporate clients looking for people who meet their needs, as well as helping to up-skill their own employees. It’s a job Q-Sourcing does while maintaining the very highest standards.

“We don’t settle for the expected from the market,”

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Mbonye says. “We look for what is available in the market and ask ‘Does this meet the standards you would get anywhere else in Africa or on the international scene?’

We ensure we give that feedback to clients so that they are able to move to that level of expectation.

That’s our distinguishing factor.”

The evidence of those standards can be seen in the enormous range of trade skill accreditations on the wall of the training arm of the business.

RAISING STANDARDS

However, educating businesses about the importance of maintaining those standards can be a challenge.

“While the multinational corporates appreciate this agenda we have, the local businesses still look at it from locally owned company’s

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Q-SOURCING

perspective,” Mbonye tells us.

“They look at the hire skill fit and look at it as nice to have, not critical to have. It’s only companies that have stood that test of time that appreciate the advantages of having all quality staff. Our sustainable clients tend to be those looking to the long haul for their brand.”

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the Q-Sourcing way of doing things, Mbonye draws on the success stories the company’s clients already have to tell.

“We allow our marketing department to share stories of companies that have grown into global brands with our services so that potential clients can appreciate that this is how you build a brand,” he says. “We also have some industry leaders come in to see and appreciate

“OUR SUSTAINABLE CLIENTS TEND TO BE THOSE LOOKING TO THE LONG HAUL FOR THEIR BRAND.” Our engineering, maintenance solutions and operations are designed to cater to clients within Uganda and beyond.

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why we push for this agenda, talking not just about us but the importance of skilling. In our marketing, we talk not about our sales but the importance of quality staff and quality skills and talent management. It’s slow, but it’s picking up”.

Of course, simply knowing the value of international skill standards isn’t enough.

Implementing them requires a wealth of materials and technology.

“The international standard for skill fits requires access to technology, input materials and resources in terms of reading material and more,” Mbonye says. “We tend to be the pioneers in that space when it comes acquiring that and bringing it into the local playing

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Q-SOURCING

field, but the cost of bringing that in is our cost and our competition then builds on what we have already done. That’s an inevitable challenge.”

This means that Mbonye himself feels he personally has to stay abreast of the very latest developments.

“First of all myself I keep reading. I keep in touch,” Mbonye says. “I went to Stanford Business School, and that programme exposed me to people I am still in constant communication with.”

But ultimately, any talentbased organisation is only as good as its people.

“The final challenge is keeping a good pool of human resources to lead this agenda, because you develop such a high quality of human resources a lot of foreign entities are looking to acquire these people,” Mbonye points out. “You are in danger of becoming a shopping centre.

You have to keep increasing the adhesive factor for the staff to the company.”

Q-Sourcing achieves this by showing its people the wealth of opportunity that exists within the company.

“I always tell my managers to read and let them know any new innovation they want to try out I will back them up,” Mbonye insists. “That is how I keep them interested and hungry for more.

So they move away from thinking about outside opportunities and look at the opportunities that lie ahead with us.”

NEW WAYS OF WORKING

Innovation has become even more essential at the moment, with the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changing the way many companies do business.

“Fortunately for us, we had an agenda of going digital before this started, because we work across borders,” Mbonye says.

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

“We’re in five countries and we want to spread to the rest of the continent, and to maintain the operational business model we needed to quicken that process whenever we enter a new market.

So when COVID hit it was easier to sell this change because we’d already started the jump.”

The real challenge, Mbonye tells us, was still the one of making businesses understand the importance of up-skilling and recruiting staff with international-level standards.

“The challenge was in continuing to relate with our clients,” he says. “The corporates and international companies, that was a lot easier. They could see we were speaking the same language while the locals had the same challenge I mentioned before.

But they are coming around.”

There’s an old joke about marketing, “Half of our advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t know which half”. Q-Sourcing faces a similar dilemma in trying to spread the word.

“How do we measure the quality of a marketing strategy?

That skill is very strange territory for us. We don’t find good resources locally that can help us, especially in the space that we’re in because it’s a new space for the people productivity sector,” Mbonye says. “It’s still a multinational corporate space, and skilling, again, is also still a corporate space. So we’re speaking to the locals who are the bigger market opportunity. There is no crystal ball solution yet. We’d really like to see some growth there.”

Indeed, Mbonye has big plans for Q-Sourcing’s future.

“We will be working with bigger brands on the continent and eventually international brands with the objective of bringing international ingredients into the African continent and to local labour,” he says. “Our goal is to be able to go anywhere and set up shop and deliver international standards training.

I want the brand to be breaking boundaries.”

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EPCM HOLDING GROUP

WE LISTEN TO EPCM AS THEY TELL US ABOUT THE TRIUMPH AND TRIALS OF A RAPIDLY GROWING BUSINESS.

HANDLING GROWTH PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIMOTHY GARWOOD

EPCM Holdings is a global engineering project and product development house. Their expertise stretches over all phases of project development in the oil and gas, mining, infrastructure, energy, and health sectors. Their clients include leading government and private-sector companies, with whom they have formed successful and sustainable relationships.

“E

PCM is doing key projects focused on the oil and gas sector, predominantly focused on the African continent but also other areas and industries,” explains Group CEO, Tom Cowan. “We do everything from concept stage to commissioning and maintenance afterwards.”

The turnkey solutions that EPCM offers have granted them a competitive position in the marketplace.

“We are effective,” Cowan points out. “We are definitely able to deliver the sort of robust system in the African environment without all the flaws and fuss while being very cost-effective.”

GROWING PAINS

However, Cowan also readily admits that success brings its own challenges with it, and as EPCM has grown it has also been forced to adapt.

“We are a growing organisation and growing quite quickly means really adapting to the challenges of being a

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growing organisation,” Cowan acknowledges. “In the early days cashflow was a challenge, it’s not so much anymore but attempting to manage the growth has been a challenge.”

The company is growing so rapidly because it has brought a truly unique service to the market.

“The reason we’re growing so quickly and in such a disruptive way is we’ve changed an old market with consulting engineers and contractors turning it into a turnkey market, which in our region was not really the way guys do things,” Cowan points out. “We’ve turned the market upside down, being the first to offer a turnkey solution like that which is why we’re growing and expanding so quickly. We want to take that model into America and Germany where their approach is very different from the turnkey one-stop-shop approach.”

EPCM has been able to meet the challenges that come alongside growth thanks to the culture instilled in all of their staff.

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EPCM HOLDING GROUP

Tom Cowan CEO, EPCM Holding Group

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BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 81

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LPL South Africa is proud to be EPCM Holdings’ preferred Project Logistics Provider.

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EPCM HOLDING GROUP

“WE ARE A GROWING ORGANISATION AND GROWING QUITE QUICKLY MEANS REALLY ADAPTING TO THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A GROWING ORGANISATION. IN THE EARLY DAYS CASHFLOW WAS A CHALLENGE, IT’S NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE BUT ATTEMPTING TO MANAGE THE GROWTH HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE.”

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“We have got a culture that embraces change. Obviously, what we’ve done is appointed really sharp youngsters to work with us and they are growing within our business, almost running their own little businesses within our business,” Cowan explains. “That has made us a big business growing to where we are now.”

NURTURING TALENT

Acquiring and nurturing new talent is something that EPCM has always taken extremely seriously.

“We are close to a lot of the universities in South Africa, specifically the University of Pretoria,” Cowan says. “We sponsor their final year projects and give them projects to help us with and they do research and development for us. We identify really good youngsters that can perform well within our organisation. We give them holiday and vacation work when they’re studying so they get used to our environment. Then

when they finished there’s an interview process to get them on board and that’s a great way to attract good talent.”

It is not just about bringing talent into the company; however, Cowan believes strongly in investing in EPCM’s people.

“We’ve got a lot of internal training. We spend a lot of time every Friday in a tech talk session with internal training within the company,” he explains. “We use a lot of our processes and how to do things using YouTube and videos to get people up to speed quite quickly. We also pay for a number of our people to study, giving bursaries in that space as well and embrace especially MBAs which a lot of companies don’t invest in.”

ADAPTING TO COVID

Of course, while the company has seen impressive growth in recent times, like all businesses they have had to reckon with the fallout of COVID-19. Fortunately,

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EPCM HOLDING GROUP

the wide range of services EPCM offers means they have been able to stay in operation.

“So it has an effect on us obviously. Some of our construction sites have been closed. They’ve now all opened up again,” Cowan says. “The most important thing with the COVID issue has been to be diversified enough in locations and services. We do engineering and procurement as well as construction, so our work in engineering and procurement could continue while construction was stopped.”

The company has also looked into how it can use its tools and skillsets to help combat the virus.

Cowan explains, “We spent quite a bit of time and effort developing ventilators for

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Africa because we saw that was a big shortcoming in our region. It’s actually opened up a new avenue of business for us.

When you’re out of your comfort zone sometimes you come up with your best ideas and we’ll survive and go forward from here.”

Looking through the other side of the COVID crisis, EPCM still has big plans for further growth.

“I think we’re growing very nicely within the African footprint. We’re everywhere from South, East, West and North Africa and will continue to grow in those avenues. We’re seeing quite a bit of scope that’s been added in countries where we’re already working in on other pieces of infrastructure,” Cowan says. “We’re quite established in that location. Then it is baby

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EPCM HOLDING GROUP

“THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WITH THE COVID ISSUE HAS BEEN TO BE DIVERSIFIED ENOUGH IN LOCATIONS AND SERVICES.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

steps because we have opened up the business in Germany and the USA and we are driving hard there to get the business established. I see a lot of growth for the next few years in additional scope and location.”

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Bill Ireland CEO, Logan Energy

LOGAN ENERGY

WE LEARN ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL ROLE HYDROGEN CAN PLAY IN THE ENERGY MIX.

HYDROGEN-

POWERED PROJECT MANAGED BY: ANDREW BOURKE

Logan Energy is an energy solutions provider based around hydrogen, looking at energy strategies for businesses.

“We look at what our customers’ drivers are, whether it’s carbon reduction, the security of supply, CSR, legal compliance or economics,” explains Bill Ireland, Logan Energy’s CEO. “Then we look at what solutions we can provide for them, from feasibility all the way through design, manufacture, integration, operation, and maintenance. We go the whole way, selecting the right equipment, from electrolysers to compressors, sourcing components from the right companies and then we manufacture complete systems. We are also converting conventional vehicles to use hydrogen as a renewable fuel. We offer the whole alternative energy solution from an independent supply chain.”

“O

f course, when it comes to discussing energy the conversation tends to quickly polarise into fossil fuels and renewables, but as Ireland explains, Hydrogen occupies an important niche in filling the gaps left by other sources of power.

“Hydrogen allows you to effect a shift from a particular production of electricity at a particular time,” he says. “When you don’t necessarily want the electricity or the energy you can store it and time shift. You can take it from wind or solar production then shift it to a transport, heating or cooking fuel, even using it in industrial

processes. You are shifting sectors from that point of view, as well as time. Hydrogen can also be produced from nonrenewable sources, such as steam reformation from natural gas, which is currently the norm and cheapest.”

THE CASE FOR HYDROGEN

It is a subject Ireland is clearly passionate about, believing hydrogen power can not only improve energy efficiency but save lives.

“Other aspects of renewable hydrogen aren’t given a monetary value at the moment, but there are far more deaths from air pollution from fossil

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 87

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LOGAN ENERGY

fuel than from the COVID-19 epidemic,” he points out.

“There’s no price put on that, but the economic effect of shutting everything down is colossal. It is the right thing to do because COVID is a real threat, but we are not cognizant of other things that knock us on the head every day. As an alternative to renewable generation, we can also produce hydrogen from fossil fuels but this releases CO2 in the process. However, in conjunction with carbon capture and storage, this can reduce the greenhouse gas effect. But this is still from fossil fuel. You can also generate hydrogen from biogas which is, in effect, renewable hydrogen despite emitting CO2. If you capture this CO2, you could actually be carbon negative.”

Logan Energy is a company perfectly positioned to make the case for energy generation using hydrogen, having more experience across all sectors of the hydrogen energy sector than any other company in the world.

“We have been involved in both fuel cells and hydrogen for decades. More recently we turned to the renewable hydrogen generation and energy storage sectors because of the advantages of displacing petrol and diesel in transport.

“OUR STRENGTH IS IN INTEGRATION AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE WHOLE ENERGY CYCLE. BEING MANUFACTURERINDEPENDENT, WE CAN SELECT THE RIGHT KIT FOR THE RIGHT APPLICATION. INDEPENDENCE, EXPERIENCE, & DELIVERY.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

Nobody has the experience we have of providing the whole package,” Ireland says. “Our strength is in integration and knowledge of the whole energy cycle.

Being manufacturerindependent, we can select the right kit for the right application.

Independence, experience, and delivery.”

But in putting that experience to use Logan Energy faces a two-fold challenge.

“One is the struggle to get hydrogen accepted as an alternative energy source, but this is beginning to change,” Ireland says. “The other is the ongoing struggle to have an even playing field. Wherever you look energy is subsidised in one form or another. If there is a subsidy there, where there is not necessarily for hydrogen, it makes cheaper for that source?

So why change?

Staying commercially competitive in a non-level playing field is a big challenge.”

At the same time as making the case for hydrogen power,

as a smaller business Logan also has the challenge of demonstrating its expertise against larger competitors.

“We have a small voice, but we know what we’re doing,” explains Ireland. “There are a lot of bigger companies out there with bigger voices and bigger contacts that customers believe are more secure and informed.

But innovation generally comes from small businesses and that’s where we’re coming from.”

Logan Energy has been engaged in a decades-long campaign of education, in terms of what hydrogen power and Logan Energy itself is capable of. Ireland’s own career has uniquely suited him to spread the message.

“My background is in the building sector and was trying to inform people how to provide better buildings from the start taking a holistic approach,” he says. “Once you reduce the energy a building or process needs you still need energy.

You can get that from the grid

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LOGAN ENERGY

or generate it yourself, one way or another. When I moved into fuel cells that basically got me into the hydrogen sector.

Throughout my career, I’ve been trying to improve energy efficiency and comfort in buildings and the environment.”

Logan Energy has been growing its reputation organically by investing its profits back into the company, developing knowledge, experience and designs over the years.

“We’ve recently had investment from a Chinese company into Logan and as part of that we will be establishing a joint venture for the Chinese market and we’re looking for further investment to grow faster to meet the demand and compete with larger businesses,” Ireland tells us excitedly.

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While Logan Energy continues to grow, global circumstances have thrown a challenge in their path in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown.

“We looked at it a while back and shut the business down for a few days,” Ireland remembers. “Then we realised this would go on for a while.

We have the space to have people working while social distancing, so we brought back those that are experienced and can work on their own. They are separated, we have sectioned up the workshop so people are working in their own area, not exchanging tools, using alcohol sanitiser, etc. We have suffered from being in a growth spurt and taking people on when the lockdown was introduced.

One of the guys has worked for us for a day and has been furloughed. But we have not

“WE’RE LOOKING FOR FURTHER INVESTMENT. WE’VE HAD A MILLION QUID INVESTED IN US LAST YEAR TO EXPAND AND RECRUIT AND NOW WE’RE LOOKING AT JUMPING THAT UP A FACTOR OR SO TO ENABLE US TO EXPAND USING OUR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

LOGAN ENERGY

“WE HAVE A DECENT BASE OF EXPERIENCED DESIGNERS, A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THEY CAN DO HYDROGEN BECAUSE IT’S JUST ANOTHER COMPRESSED GAS BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF SPECIAL ASPECTS HYDROGEN HAS COMPARED TO OTHER THINGS. THERE IS A LACK OF SKILL AND UNDERSTANDING THAT HYDROGEN IS SPECIAL.” been supported as he started after the cut-off date despite taking the job in January. But we are still paying him his salary, as that is the responsible thing to do, but it has a direct effect on us. Other areas have suffered from reduced manpower.”

However, even under these circumstances, Logan Energy is finding ways to do their jobs, at a time when energy supplies are all important.

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

“Everyone who can is working at home, admin, finance, design all working at home. Early on we decided to keep working by keeping social distance, we’ve multiple facilities for loos and kitchen, and we have staggered breaks,” Ireland says. “We’re working less efficiently at the workshop and in the office and at higher costs. It’s affected us but we’re still keeping going.”

Beyond the pandemic, Ireland

is hoping Logan Energy can continue to grow.

“We’re looking for further investment. We’ve had a million quid invested in us last year to expand and recruit and now we’re looking at jumping that up a factor or so to enable us to expand using our knowledge and expertise,” he says.

The one thing he wants people to understand is Logan Energy’s value lies in the extensive and specific knowledge they have of hydrogen energy and whole energy systems.

“We have a decent base of experienced designers, a lot of people think they can do hydrogen because it’s just another compressed gas but there are a lot of special aspects hydrogen has compared to other things,” Ireland says.

“There is a lack of skill and understanding that hydrogen is special.”

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TM GEOTHERMAL

WE TAKE A LOOK AT HOW ETHIOPIA’S FIRST GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT TO BE DELIVERED BY THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS SHOWING THE WAY FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN THE COUNTRY.

BRINGING GEOTHERMAL POWER TO ETHIOPIA PROJECT MANAGED BY: NEIL STOWE

In December 2017, TM Geothermal Operations (TMGO) was established, signing a Power Purchase Agreement and Implementation Agreement with the Ethiopia Electric Power and the Government of Ethiopia, establishing the company as one of the first independent power projects in the country.

“I

t’s been a bit more of an engineering challenge because we’re building on an old lava field,” explains the company’s CEO, Darrell Boyd.

“Well, geologists say it’s young as it’s only 100,000 years old!”

The company is contracted to deliver 150 megawatts of geothermal energy into the grid over two phases, sponsored by Meridian Infrastructure, a public sector infrastructure long term view investor, and Reykjavik Geothermal Ltd, a geothermal business based out of Iceland.

It is a $260 million investment for Phase One, with a projected

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budget of $800 million for both phases.

Over the last two years, TMGO has done a lot of work putting infrastructure into place to support geothermal exploration drilling, including water, roads, and 16 km of carbon steel teninch pipeline.

“We’re engaging with all the environmental and social matters linked to the project with high standards of community engagement,” Darrell insists. “Our project is in a very rural area with no access to electricity and limited access to water as well as poor

Darrell Boyd, CEO, TMGO

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MIKADA Engineering and Trading P.L.C is a GC 1 Company.

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W: www.varelengineering.com T: + 254(0)706659528

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TM GEOTHERMAL

road infrastructure and telecom coverage. So, we’ve either already helped to improve these issues or have very firm plans to do so over the next six to twelve months.”

TMGO has also recognised the importance of finding the right partners to work with on a project of this scale and importance.

“We’ve appointed Kengen as our geothermal drilling contractor, and we’re very pleased to have them on board,” Darrell says. “Their experience drilling themselves or contracting out drilling is impressive, with 300 successful geothermal wells over 40 years.

In terms of science, there are potentially a lot of similarities in terms of the geology of the areas Kengen has worked in and our own license area.”

“IT’S BEEN A BIT MORE OF AN ENGINEERING CHALLENGE BECAUSE WE’RE BUILDING ON AN OLD LAVA FIELD. WELL, GEOLOGISTS SAY IT’S YOUNG AS IT’S ONLY 100,000 YEARS OLD!” TMGO has performed many years of surface studies, research and investment but as Darrell points out “The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we’re fingers and toes crossed that in six-to-eight months’ time we’ll have strong evidence of the geothermal resources there, which will be a big milestone for Ethiopia, our customer organizations, sponsors and investors.”

THE VANGUARD

This project is the first of its kind in Ethiopia, not just its first private sector developed greenfield geothermal investment but

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Drone photo of the Tulu Moye Project site

Ethiopia’s first independent power producer. But Darrell believes it will lead to big things for the country to support its ambitious reform and continued growth agenda.

“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed actually tweeted that it’s the first project of its kind built around the public-private partnership model in Ethiopia,” Darrell tells us. “The Ethiopian government has done great work putting the legislative framework in place for PPPs, foreign direct investments, and in recognising it wanted to attract investment to major infrastructure projects. We are very much at the vanguard of that and mindful of the responsibility that comes with it. We’re working collaboratively with our customer partners because that may well influence investors and lead to more money flowing to support Ethiopia’s continued economic growth.”

Darrell is quick to sing the praises of Ethiopia as a site for investing in

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infrastructure projects.

“It’s my second time working in Ethiopia,” he says. “I’ve worked and lived in 13 countries around the world and Ethiopia is the only place I’ve come back to. I love their values what they stand for and I’ve seen them tested and they’ve always come good.”

This has been particularly true over the last decade, Darrell points out, “In the last ten years Ethiopia has been the fastest growing economy in Africa. Ethiopia is also pretty fantastic in terms of what it produces from renewable energy sources, competing with Iceland, Norway, in terms of renewables. We’ve strong governance from our sponsors and board and for me, it’s fantastic that they come to meet the team every three months and see things first-hand and get a real flavour for the culture and excellence of what we’re doing on the ground.”

However, while the country has a great deal of potential, Ethiopia is still in the process of

“IN THE LAST TEN YEARS ETHIOPIA HAS BEEN THE FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY IN AFRICA. ETHIOPIA IS ALSO PRETTY FANTASTIC IN TERMS OF WHAT IT PRODUCES FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES, COMPETING WITH ICELAND, NORWAY, IN TERMS OF RENEWABLES”

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TM GEOTHERMAL

adapting to new ways of doing business, and there is a distance between putting new laws and regulations in place and having them in practice through all the country’s institutions.

“I mentioned all the legislation and governance put in place to attract foreign investment and participation. The energy proclamation and the updated investment proclamation, but they’re all new to the institutions administering them, so just the newness of it all is a challenge,” Boyd says. “We have a lot of consultation to help with that.”

GIVING BACK

While Ethiopia is growing in appeal for foreign investment, Darrell is also keen that TMGO ensures that investment pays off for the people of Ethiopia itself.

“We have a strong social license that’s taken a lot of resources and effort but it’s something we’re very committed too, and we and our

local communities are hopefully seeing the benefits of that,” he says. “We’re working in a pretty rural area, so we’ve already cut journey times for people to market by upgrading and fixing up the road and building new road sections. We have got water quality testing we hope to share with communities along the route, we’ve plans around electrification. People will not look at a shiny new power plant and think ‘Where’s mine?’ We have electrified a local health centre already and are working on plans for our local communities to receive access to electricity. Telecoms coverage is quite far away, weak or intermittent so we are working with EthioTelcom to extend that. We’ve also achieved zero resettlement in our drilling infrastructure buildout to date.”

That investment will also help TMGO grow local talent to help fuel future projects.

“We’ve taken 40 young people from the local area, with three-year apprenticeship schemes, learning skills. We don’t just want them to be casual labourers, we want it to be high value for them,” Darrell says.

“We want to create electricians, plumbers, technicians, mechanics, engineers, and we hope they will come back after completing those vocational qualifications and come to work on our project. We have created 400 jobs in the local area. They have fantastic skills here, the number of people who go to university is high compared to the rest of the continent, with geothermal drilling specifically they do not have a lot of experience. We have found some fantastic individuals for our team, real talent, some of whom are potential future CEO candidates. So, I try to create an environment for them to be empowered and enthused and take the initiative.”

TMGO Employee team at project site at the start of drilling

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UMGENI WATER

UMGENI WATER IS KEEPING THE KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE SUPPLIED WITH WATER EVEN IN THE FACE OF GROWING CHALLENGES.

RISING WATER PROJECT MANAGED BY: ETHAN THOMPSON

Umgeni Water, the government-owned entity within South Africa, is the second biggest water utility in Africa, primarily supplying the economic zone of the province of KwaZuluNatal. In that area, Umgeni Water supplies approximately 7 million people with potable water as well as providing water to the industries of the region. Since it was formed in 1974 Umgeni Water has complied with all the regulations as outlined from the best practice national legislation in South Africa, as well as requirements in terms of infrastructure and maintenance to ensure a supply of water of the right standard for residents and industry.

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UMGENI WATER

“W

e pride ourselves in terms of our strategy and the implementation of that strategic direction which make us the institution we are,” says Thami Hlongwa, Umgeni Water’s CEO. “You can see this in the offering we give our clients and the reliability of the products we produce. The strategy we have in place makes us able to provide potable water at any point in time as required by our communities and consumers.

In a nutshell, we are an entity that invests in our people and skills to ensure our employees are dedicated and loyal to the cause. We use innovation and technology, investing in new ways of doing things, particularly concerning climate change and the topography of the areas we supply. We also invest a lot in our relationships and partnerships with

Thami Hlongwa CEO, Umgeni Water

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our customers and our suppliers.”

Umgeni Water has positioned itself through an aggressive, agile and innovative strategy.

The company impresses upon all of its staff the importance of innovation, inspiring growth, so that Umgeni Water’s customers, stakeholders and communities benefit from its strategy.

WATER FOR CITY AND COUNTRY

Supplying such a large, not to mention diverse, region with water brings its own challenges, as Hlongwa points out, “The biggest challenge is the fact that as an entity producing 1300 million litres a day of water, we need enough capacity to sustain growing urbanisation.

We already have more than 60% of the population in cities. There is growing demand there.”

Paradoxically, however, the other big challenge Umgeni Water faces is ensuring that there is sufficient infrastructure and maintenance in place to serve the less populated areas of the region.

“We need to make sure the areas people are migrating from are also well equipped in terms of development.

We need to make sure economic development is maintained,” Hlongwa says. “We need to grow and enhance economic development as much as possible in the right areas. The challenge is how do you ensure you invest in the development in those areas with less population than the urban areas and serve the population?”

The manner in which the communities are arranged can often lead to more infrastructure requirements for areas containing very few households.

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SOUTHERN AFRICAN CHLORINATION – SAC PTY LTD. SAC has more than 35 years-experience and association with the Wallace & Tiernan range of products. Wallace & Tiernan have been in the business of water treatment and disinfection systems for over 100years.

Due to dwindling supplies of clean water, the demand for cost effective, reliable and safe treatment as well as the disinfection of water it is essential to our ever growing society that the development of more compact modern on-site systems are vital and crucial.

Generators such as the hypochlorite On Site Electrolytic Chlorination (OSEC) system, gas chlorination systems, our full range of analysers, process controllers, chlorine dioxide generations and many more, allows us to supply from the very large to the smallest in every industry.

We offer full turn key systems, to supply of the plant and components, to spares and all the way through commissioning and building of the infrastructure and finally, full support and training.

Our areas of disinfection include: District and local Municipalities, National and regional Water Authorities, Metals & Mining Industries, Aquatics & Leisure parks, Industrial Water and Chemical Processing to name a few.

The positive relationships developed over many years with these authorities confirms our commitment to the back up and on going training we have offered them.

The business footprint will reach deep into Sub Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

Due to demand, regional and local, business partners are being established in all of these countries as they have indicated the need to enhance their supply of clean, uninterrupted quantity and quality water with total accountability in the Water Purification Industry.

We as their business partners stand firmly behind them in working towards goal achievement.

www.sachlor.co.za

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PIPES VALVES TANKS

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The Water sector’s service offerings encompass the entire water cycle including source, storage, treatment, conveyance and reclamation.

Services capabilities:

- Desalination - Wastewater re-use - Hydraulic model studies - Storm water assessments - Water supply and storage - Water treatment processes - Sanitation (including on-site) - Catchment management plans - Bulk sewers and pumping systems - Flood studies and floodline mapping - Groundwater resource development - Wastewater treatment process design - Network modelling and reticulation design - Sewer network modelling and reticulation design - Infrastructure including pipelines, pumpstations and reservoirs - Hydrological, yield, systems modelling and water resources studies - Dams (pre-feasibility to detailed design and construction supervision) - Geology, seismic studies, geotechnics, underground and tunnel engineering - Hydro power (pre-feasibility to detailed design and construction supervision)

Web: www.gibb.co.za Tel: +27 11 519 4600 @GIBB_Eng

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UMGENI WATER

“WE PRIDE OURSELVES IN TERMS OF OUR STRATEGY AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THAT STRATEGIC DIRECTION WHICH MAKE US THE INSTITUTION WE ARE. YOU CAN SEE THIS IN THE OFFERING WE GIVE OUR CLIENTS AND THE RELIABILITY OF THE PRODUCTS WE PRODUCE.”

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“How do we invest if there might be a limited return on investment?” Hlongwa points out. “We’re searching for more immediate earnings to ensure the future of these areas is properly sustained.”

It’s a challenge that can only be overcome with extensive long term planning, and this is why Umgeni Water prides itself on running a 30 cycle of production planning, trying to predict as much as possible what the year will look like from a demand perspective ahead of time.

“We plan for tomorrow but also for future augmentation or future infrastructure and demand,” Hlongwa explains.

“It means at any point in time we have a blueprint anyone can take a leaf from in terms of how we prioritise infrastructure improvement and maintenance.

It also assists in the operational requirements including the skills requirement, the effort

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“WE PLAN FOR TOMORROW BUT ALSO FOR FUTURE AUGMENTATION OR FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEMAND”

in supply, even the quality and quantity of water itself because we face climate change phenomenon. It allows us to make sure the supply chain is maintained. We’re looking at desalineation, underground water, surface water and cloud seeding, in order to understand the different water sources.

This allows us to have enough time to look at all the options before implementing a project.”

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UMGENI WATER

“WE CANNOT AFFORD TO HAVE SUPPLY OF WATER DISTURBED. SO HOW DO WE MAKE SURE THAT COVD-19 DOESN’T COMPROMISE OUR ABILITY TO SUPPLY WATER? WE ARE WORKING USING A THREE-TEAM ROTATION. IF ANY MEMBER OF A TEAM GETS INFECTED, WE CAN USE ANOTHER TEAM TO CONTINUE WITH PRODUCTION.”

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KEEPING THE WATER FLOWING

Planning couldn’t have been more essential than it is right now, with people facing a crisis on a literally global scale in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While many industries are shutting down, obviously even during a pandemic people are going to need water, and Umgeni Water is more important than ever.

“We cannot afford to have supply of water disturbed. So how do we make sure that COVD-19 doesn’t compromise our ability to supply water?”

Hlongwa asks. “We are working using a three-team rotation.

If any member of a team

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“WE ARE GOING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH IN TERMS OF INFRASTRUCTURE.” 104 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

gets infected, we can use another team to continue with production. We have divided our production team to three teams, to make sure we have enough contingency to keep delivering even if anyone of us is infected. We are limiting the number of people coming into the office and treatment works. I’m working from home, my office staff is working from head office, we don’t

have all people in one place.”

Indeed, pandemic aside, Umgeni’s plans see the company growing and increasing its capabilities.

“We are going from strength to strength in terms of infrastructure. We are currently generating net profits of 1,4 Billion rand while ensuring we have enough capacity for future requirements,” Hlongwa says. “We have a lot of future

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UMGENI WATER

plans to meet infrastructure requirements.

We’re also focusing on building a pipeline of future leaders with capacity among young professionals so we have people we can take lead the organisation in the future.”

However, Hlongwa also wants people to realise just how essential water and water infrastructure are, especially during times of crisis, when so often the focus can be

“WATER IS NEEDED TO FUEL ENERGY, TRANSPORTATION, AND DEVELOPMENT. WATER NEEDS TO BE AT THE CENTRE OF THE AGENDA AT ALL TIMES.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

on other infrastructure that nonetheless still relies on a consistent water supply.

“Let me just say I think a critical aspect, from a community perspective, is the manner in which we downplay the importance of water services,” Hlongwa says. “One will find there’s a lot of attention

on energy, on other related services, transportation, mining, but there’s little attention to what we need to fuel all those requirements. Water is needed to fuel energy, transportation, and development. Water needs to be at the centre of the developmental agenda at all times.”

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Mr. Omar Hammoud, President & CEO of APGN

APG NEUROS

WE LEARN HOW A MANUFACTURER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY TURBO BLOWERS AND COMPLETE AERATION SYSTEMS ARE POWERED BY INNOVATION.

BRINGING INNOVATION

TO MARKET PROJECT MANAGED BY: ETHAN THOMPSON

Sometimes innovation can be a light bulb moment, an idea that comes out of the blue. Other times it can simply be a question of taking hard-earned knowledge from elsewhere and finding a new context to apply it to. This is how Omar Hammoud went about founding his business, APG Neuros 15 years ago.

“I

started APG Neuros in 2005 as a technology and innovations development company where we bring in technologists and from the aerospace industry,” Hammoud recalls. “I’ve been working with world leaders for over 25 years in the aviation and power generation sectors, so I took my innovative ideas from those years and brought them into work to develop new, innovative products during the past 15 years. We introduced our first new product in 2006 to a rather conservative industrial and waste-water-treatment

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community. We were pleased that we met a good reception thanks to the high operating efficiencies and reduction of carbon footprint the product provided.”

Over time APG Neuros grew to become the market leader in North America, then expanded into the UK, working with Wessex Water, Thames Water, Welsh Water, Severn Trent and Anglian Water. They continued to expand into continental Europe, with installations in France and Italy, and into the Middle East with installations in Bahrain and the UAE. “Through the years our customers expected more from us, so we kept innovating our product and inventing new products as well as continually innovating our way of doing business. The way we do business is to create support solutions that adapt with our customers’ needs to operate and maintain our product at high availability level and to be responsive to customer

concerns regarding asset replacement due to reliability issues and due to product ageing and obsoletion,” Hammoud explains. “So we developed support plans that combine preventative maintenance and modernization that proved effective in maintaining above 99.5% reliability level and maintains their product in the current production standard.

It is APG Neuros’s commitment to innovation and developing solutions fit for a wide variety of needs that has seen the company attain the levels of success it has.

“With our new innovative product solutions, we help our customers to take their wastewater treatment plants to waste recovery centres. We provide them with new technologies that can use biogas productively to power a new generation of turbo blowers that are driven by gas turbine engines. Our new product can operate using biogas or natural gas as the fuel,” says Hammoud.

“Our unique selling point is

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an innovative technology and customised solutions to challenging customer issues.

We provide a turnkey solution, where we work with our customer help them define the challenge and we develop the most effective solution to have them accomplish their objective while saving on operating costs and improving efficiencies.”

KEEPING THE INNOVATION FLOWING

Of course, defining your business through innovation and a pipeline of new solutions and technologies places a great deal of pressure on a brand to continue innovating.

“There will always be challenges, starting with technology development. We have to bring in successful technologies from other sectors

APGN Turbo Blower Equipment Cores

Brayton is proud to be a contributor to the APG Neuros Team for the Gas Turbine Blower • Turbomachinery design • • Combustion • • Gas turbine recuperators •

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such as aerospace, defence, high-speed rail and power generation,” Hammoud says.

“We do it with our investment and that puts a challenge and burden on us. We managed to overcome this with our customers’ loyalty. Many of our customers are willing to take our first product into operation and that helps us finance the product launch. We also have partner investment companies and banks that see our vision and our strategy and give us the support we need.”

At the same, APG Neuros needs to ensure their customers can trust even the most cuttingedge ideas they have to offer, as Hammoud points out, “On the one hand we have to work hard for many years at a time to develop and make those technologies work, and on the other hand we need to convince our customers to be confident they can trust new technology.”

Even when potential customers can be convinced of the benefits of APG Neuros’ new solutions, there are still challenges in an environment where public tenders are often obliged to go for the cheapest option.

“Even if they wanted the new technology, they can’t necessarily have it because they have to obey the rules of the tender that require them to buy at the lowest price,” Hammoud says. “That means lower quality products, stripped-down configurations that don’t work as well in the long-term and a lot of low-cost products that end up having

“OUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT IS AN INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY & CUSTOMISED SOLUTIONS TO CHALLENGING CUSTOMER ISSUES.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

APG NEUROS

APGN Plattsburgh Facility New York, USA

trouble in a few years and have to be replaced anyway, so it’s a vicious cycle. Unfortunately, they end up replacing and paying more money for it.”

To fix that, Hammoud believes reform is essential in government procurement practices.

“Government procurement offices can be reformed,” he says. “The way they enforce regulations on local municipalities can be changed to help municipalities innovate their products, reduce their costs and their carbon footprint. By doing so the whole community will benefit and taxpayers will pay less in the long term than they would today under existing rules.”

To overcome that hurdle APG Neuros worked hard to build their customers’ strong confidence in their products and support services.

“We overcame this with persistence, to make our customers feel very comfortable that they will have a product that works and feel more comfortable with our team and support capabilities,” says Hammoud.

It paid off, as Hammoud describes, “When we brought potential customers to see

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the APG Neuros product in operation at the Buffalo wastewater treatment facility they were told the Buffalo’s operations team reaction during the first year was ‘this product seemed too good to be true.”

A year and a half later, their reaction is “It still seems too good to be true, and it works. The new customers are extremely impressed and have decided to take the same technology for their facility.”

GETTING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

At the same time, the company has recently run into the same

new challenges we all have, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Covid-19 came at a time when we were about to complete the development of a major product line and we saw a slow cycle of completion for that development because of it,” Hammoud says.

Moving beyond the pandemic, Hammoud has big plans for APG Neuros’ future.

“We’re optimistic that the future looks bright for us, We’ve managed to transform a market over the last 14 years and along the way gained strong recognition, built a strong brand and a market of hundreds of customers, while we have two product lines coming out soon,” he says. “We’re approaching the completion of our gas turbine blower development, we’re at the final stage of testing and hope to deliver the first units by the end of 2020.”

APG Neuros already offers complete turn key aeration solutions that combine blowers with aeration diffusers and aeration instruments, control valves, control automation and Model Predictive Control.

We also add to the complete Aeration solution the design and supply of the blower room, indoor or outdoor drop in place installations.

APGN Headquarters Blainville, Quebec, Canada

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BOKOMO BOTSWANA (PTY) LTD

WE LEARN HOW BOKOMO BOTSWANA IS HELPING STIMULATE HOME-GROWN RAW MATERIALS & ADAPTING TO A POST-COVID WORLD.

A-MAIZE-ING

PROJECT MANAGED BY: JOHN HOLLIMAN

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BOKOMO BOTSWANA (PTY) LTD

Bokomo Botswana is a joint venture between a South African company, Pioneer Foods, which has recently been bought by PepsiCo International, and a local investor Brink Holdings (Pty) Ltd. The history of the business is a storied one. The company was established in 2003 as a milling facility for wheat and maize.

Between 2004 and 2016 the business acquired several poultry businesses, commissioned a sugar packing plant and opened a distribution depot in Francistown. The poultry business was disposed of in 2017 as a stand-alone and sustainable business in order for the company to focus more on its core business, being milling. Bokomo commissioned a mix-full flour batching plant in 2018, a sorghum mill in 2019 and began construction of additional warehouse space in 2020 in line with a growth strategy. Bokomo Botswana is also the distribution agent for the Pioneer Foods’ range of products in Botswana.

But throughout all of this, three things have remained consistent.

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I

t’s a combination of quality and service to customers while remaining focused on our mandate of supplying food to the Botswana nation.

We focus on quality (a nonnegotiable) first, and then on volume, making sure we have the capacity to supply the market as per demand,” says Werner de Beer, Bokomo Botswana’s CEO. “Thirdly we look at doing these in the most cost-effective way.”

The company is aligned to the economic growth of the country, as explained by de Beer: “Bokomo is very aware of its responsibility towards the achievement of national objectives and does so through its continued contribution towards food security (ongoing capacity upgrades), the development of the local labour market (job creation, localization, labour development and above minimum prescribed compensation), SME and local farmer support, transport and packing industries growth, the reduction in the importation bill of the country, re-investment

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Together into a bright future.

Bühler (Pty) Ltd Juice Street, 5 Star Business Park Honeydew, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Innovations for a better world.

BÜHLER PTY LTD Founded back in 1860, Bühler is still a 5th generation family owned business today with current CEO Stefan Scheiber. We operate in 140 countries with over 30 production sites and 100 service centres.

Bühler operates in a truly global network. Although many things can be done online today, a physical presence is irreplaceable to cover regional market requirements and support customer performance.

As a globally relevant industrial solution provider, Bühler want to contribute to a better and more sustainable world with collaborative innovation, new technologies, training, and services.

Bokomo and Bühler have a long standing relationship built on trust and mutual respect. Bokomo currently have a Bühler 5t/h wheat mill and are currently upgrading the capacity. They also have a Bühler 12t/h maize mill. The plant will soon be a completely Bühler supplied mill.

We continually discuss future plans with Bokomo and endeavour to provide them with the optimum solutions for business growth and continuity.

BOTSWANA LOCAL AND CROSS BORDER ROAD FREIGHT

• 8 to 36 tons •

• Bulk Transport (Tippers) • • Contract Distribution Services • • Refrigerated Trucks • • Consolidations from Johannesburg • • Crane Trucks • • Truck and Front-end Loader Hire •

TRUCKHIRE (PTY) LTD T: +267 393 2117 / 393 2073 | M: +267 72123005 / 72320063 kevin@truckhirebots.com | amogelang@truckhirebots.com moroka@truckhirebots.com

www.truckhirebots.com

WWW.BUHLERGROUP.COM in the economy, numerous sponsorships and social responsibility support towards the communities within which we operate and draw our labour force.”

De Beer attributes the success of the company to try to exceed the expectations on all its five stakeholders, but in particular to support received from its shareholders and the commitment and loyalty of the Bokomo team members.

He

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Offices in Johannesburg

“PEOPLE SAY BOTSWANA’S LANDLOCKED, BUT I’D REFER TO IT AS LAND-LINKED.” is particularly keen on the importance of keeping the company’s merchandising team in-house, telling us, “We feel that if you have your own merchandising team there’s a sense of belonging and pride, resulting in more focus on making

sure products get to stores, even pushing store managers to order “their” products that are low on the shelves.”

BOTSWANA OPPORTUNITY

Bokomo has built itself into a well-respected and recognised name, but it still faces challenges from time-to-time.

But where there are challenges, there are also opportunities.

“The biggest challenge and opportunity for Botswana is

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BOKOMO BOTSWANA (PTY) LTD

access to raw materials, namely grains,” de Beer says. “There is not sufficient maize and wheat produced in Botswana to cater to the production capacities of the millers, which are aligned to the demand of the consumers.

As a result of this, most raw material needs to be imported.

The COVID-19 situation has resulted in cross border supply delays, which has put continuous production under severe pressure.”

For a while now Bokomo has been involved in programmes to stimulate an industry of homegrown suppliers of raw materials.

“We’re part of the Millers’ Association in Botswana, working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board and with financial institutions to assist local farmers with producing more maize and wheat,” de Beer explains. “The Millers’ Association has given the undertaking to Government and these SMEs that whatever they produce locally will be procured by the local millers.”

Talking with de Beer it’s obvious how much faith he has

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in Botswana as a country and the opportunities it can provide.

“It’s not a highly industrial country yet,” he admits.

“People refer to Botswana as a landlocked country, but I’d refer to it as land-linked. We’re ideally situated, bordering four countries as a very politically stable country with huge opportunities.”

While Bokomo is working towards the creation of a homegrown supply chain of raw materials, there is no shortage of talent in the country.

“Local skills in terms of Human Resources, Sales and Finance are readily available in Botswana,” de Beer points out. “Technical skills required to operate and maintain the highly specialized milling machinery is at times a challenge because there are only a couple of millers in Botswana. We rely on our performance management and succession plans to identify potential talent and these team members are put through a fast track programme through our talent management process.”

The staff of Bokomo Botswana are all invested in the fortunes of the company, with a reward system that focuses on the

Werner de Beer CEO, Bokomo Botswana achievements of individual and group targets.

“We make sure that every team member understands the vision of the company. This provides a clear direction and purpose.

Through the alignment and cascading of performance scorecards, we make sure that everyone is pulling in the same direction towards the achievement of company objectives.

This linking of individual and departmental scorecards also ensures that leaders take the

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BOKOMO BOTSWANA (PTY) LTD

necessary effort to ensure every team member under his leadership are full performers.

The leader must avail the necessary means, make sure that the individual has the ability and also assist with the member’s willingness to do his/her best. Our performance management system is geared to highlight team members that aren’t full performers yet, identify development needs through one-on-one discussions and then address these shortcomings by means of in-house or external training, coaching or mentoring process.”

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COVID PRECAUTIONS

Of course, the COVID-19 crisis has affected businesses around the world, and like everyone Bokomo has had to adapt to the new status quo, especially as an essential part of the food chain.

“There are a lot of procedures and protocols that had to be put in place in terms of sanitisation and stakeholder protection.

We’re in the food supply chain so it’s vitally important we maintain operations on a 24/7 basis, thus having to make sure our team members remain healthy as well as our transporters that transport raw grains from South

Africa. We’ve been liaising with various ministries on getting processes in place so that drivers that come across are tested and screened in a way that leads to minimal delays in our production processes.”

The precautions are extensive, but necessary and talking to de Beer it’s clear he’s already looking forward to the opportunities waiting for Bokomo, and Botswana, when they get through to the other side of this crisis.

“We find ourselves in challenging times, but the African tenacity will prevail and Bokomo will emerge stronger.

The pandemic has pulled the team tighter and has made us more determined to reach even greater heights than in the past. We are very excited about being in a joint venture with an international giant like PepsiCo Inc., following the recent acquisition. We are eager to adopt some of their international best practices and are hopeful of the opportunity to add additional products to our existing range.

This coupled with the already existing expansion plans of the company, is projecting a bright future for Bokomo Botswana,” de Beer says.

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FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING

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FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING

FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING’S STORY IS AN EPIC RAGS-TO-RICHES TALE, BUT RECENT EVENTS HAVE SEEN THEM COME INTO THEIR OWN.

KEEPING IT

CLEAN PROJECT MANAGED BY: GLEN NEWTON

The founder of Fine Hygienic Holding is still alive in his 90s, but his story, and that of Fine Hygienic Holding itself, goes back to 1958. When he started, he was a Palestinian refugee exiled to Jordan with one dollar in his pocket. He was getting married and wanted to provide for his family, so he began trading in paper.

James Michael Lafferty, CEO of Fine Hygienic Holding.

“T

he business grew and people trusted him and worked with him because he concentrated on quality,” says James Michael Lafferty, the CEO of Fine Hygienic Holding today. “60 years later we’re the biggest consumer paper company in the country with a rich heritage of making highquality premium products. We don’t make cheap stuff; we make high-quality branded items.”

The company hasn’t just grown, it’s evolved.

“We’ve slightly pivoted towards being a wellness company that makes products that improve the health of our consumers,” Lafferty explains. “Our products are all sterilised and protect people from infection.”

The point, Lafferty argues, is that people put tissues to sensitive parts of their body, and having those sterilised gives customers peace of

mind. Fine Hygienic Holding has also expanded into healthy beverages.

“We own a major stake in Nai Arabia, a healthy tea and beverage company. We launched our protective wear, masks and gloves with germkilling technology,” says Lafferty.

“We’ve stayed true to our roots but expanded to 75 countries around the world and we’ve expanded our footprint beyond purely paper to other wellness categories to improve the lives of the world consumers.”

A BRAND YOU CAN TRUST

Fine Hygienic Holding’s unique selling point is that it doesn’t believe in just selling products as a commodity.

“We believe in branding and bringing real value to improve people’s lives and the perception of our brand,” Lafferty says. “We take tissues and touch our eyes, nose and mouth, the entry points into the body, and yet the only sterilised tissue on the market is ours. If the doctor puts a cotton swab

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FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING

up your nose its sterilised, but we just accept our tissues are made in a dirty paper factory.

I find it amazing that the only sterilised tissue in the world is ours. I simply find it bordering on irresponsibility that the only company doing this is a regional company out of the MENA region.”

Fine Hygienic Holding still faces challenges, particularly concerning the commodification of the consumer paper industry.

“Consumers say they don’t care about the brand of toilet paper they buy, so there’s a lot of switching and the challenge is to educate people that one tissue is not the same as another,” Lafferty points out.

“They’re not all the same, there are differences, and you can have peace of mind with our product.”

To spread that message Fine Hygienic Holding has built a strong marketing department, fully engaged in digital and above the line advertising on radio and television and even in-store.

“It’s about putting the message out there,” Lafferty

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“WE BELIEVE IN BRANDING AND BRINGING REAL VALUE TO IMPROVE PEOPLE’S LIVES AND THE PERCEPTION OF OUR BRAND.”

insists. “The sterilisation claim got the endorsement of the most esteemed wellness organisation in the world. Their doctors are focused on preventative rather than reactive medicine.

Many physicians are going into preventative medicine, doing things now to prevent illness later. The Medical Wellness

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FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING

Association in Houston, Texas saw our studies and it’s a big selling point, we’re the only tissue in the world recommended by a medical association.”

COMETH THE HOUR

Of course, this year global events occurred that would make hygiene, and paper tissues, more important than ever.

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FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING

“Now we’re in a COVID world.

Six months ago nobody cared if you wore a mask or not. Now people care about that kind of thing,” Lafferty points out.

It’s a challenge that Fine Hygienic Holding is risen to admirably.

“I’m very proud of our company. It’s easy in 2020 hindsight to point fingers but I interviewed a virologist friend of mine in January and everything he said has been true. He said if they’ve got 50,000 people infected, the virus is airborne,” Lafferty says. “Now it may not go great distances but it’s droplets in sneezes and coughs. Now if it’s spreading through the air it’s going in people’s mouths and nose. Coronavirus loves the human lungs; it loves the human respiratory tract. If it gets there

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it’s where its meant to be. If that is the case then the number one thing you do to protect yourself is to wear a mask. Number two and three are washing hands and sanitising surfaces, but number one is wearing a mask.”

Taking this knowledge, Lafferty decided to launch a mask.

“The whole world laughed at me!” he admits. “At the time global health organizations said masks don’t work. But I didn’t listen, and they changed their mind. There wasn’t the proof then but let’s talk about common sense. If you’re sick you should cover your mouth and nose to protect other people. We were way ahead, then the final thing he told me was a billion people are going to get it. It will be a global crisis, and I believed him, but what could we do?”

Lafferty prepared by telling Fine’s supply chain to build an inventory of every raw material in anticipation of shipping will go down.

“WE HANDLED IT VERY WELL IN MY VIEW. WE MANAGED THROUGH EVERY LOCKDOWN, KEEPING THE BUSINESS GOING, AND I’M VERY PROUD OF MY TEAM.”

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FINE HYGIENIC HOLDING

“We took our inventory up by 50% so that when the whole thing hit, we were there and ready to produce as there were runs on products like toilet tissues,” Lafferty says. “We were there, we didn’t miss anything, and we had masks.”

It was a gamble that has already paid off big time, with

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Q1 of this year seeing Fine Hygienic Holding post its results ever, with Q2 set to beat that record.

“In the middle of this crisis the company is incredibly strong and healthy. We gave raises and bonuses for people who worked extra hours because the company is healthy. So,

our people are thankful to be working at Fine because everyone has a family with pay cuts or who lost their jobs,” Lafferty says. “We handled it very well in my view. We managed through every lockdown, keeping the business going, and I’m very proud of my team.”

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Company Overview Perfect Printing Press (PPP) was established in 1992, and specializes in producing high quality printed packaging materials and cartons. Equipped with state of the art machinery, PPP, one of the highest market-share producers of printed packaging and cartons in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, operates a modern facility staffed with highly experienced personnel.

The packages cater to a wide range of industries, from food products such as fast and frozen food, bag-in-box systems for teas and spices, and dry food, to non-food packaging including cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, tissue or detergent boxes, and cosmetics containers.

Additionally, the company supplies stationery products encompassing brochures and flyers, business cards, planners, door hangers, envelopes, letterhead, newsletters, postcards, posters, presentation folders, sales data sheets, stickers, labels and calendars. Aided by its strict quality codes and ISO procedures, PPP has over the past few years, developed export markets in the United Kingdom, UAE, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, while simultaneously establishing excellent relationships with highly reputable raw material suppliers worldwide.

PPP is a duplex board key supplier to Fine Hygienic Holding across the MENA region, in addition to its growing list of elite clients in Jordan, the region and abroad. PPP provides a complete solution for its customers, from design to delivery, with full privacy and confidentiality.

Vision To be the undisputed leader in primary and secondary packaging materials across the MENA region “positioned as the ultimate partner of choice for customers and employees.”

Mission Perfect Printing Press specializes in the production of high quality printed packaging materials, catering to the growing market needs of local, regional, and international customers by securing the best quality raw material at the most favorable prices, investing in technology to maintain its superior status in operations, equipping the sales and marketing teams with the latest techniques and best practices while ensuring customers always remain satisfied.

PPP will always strive to ensure quality will never be compromised, pursue a results-focused approach in its business and uphold the company’s core values including loyalty, commitment, and innovation so that it always remains one step ahead of competition.

Contact Email: PPP@finehh.com Phone: +962 640 238 56 Address: Sahab- King Abdullah Ibn Al Hussain Industrial City.

P.O. Box 154 Amman 11118 Jordan

www.finehh.com

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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SAFAL GROUP

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SAFAL GROUP

WE LEARN HOW OVER 60 YEARS THE SAFAL GROUP HAS EVOLVED FROM A ROOFING PROVIDER TO A TURNKEY CONSTRUCTION SOLUTIONS COMPANY.

RAISING THE ROOF

PROJECT MANAGED BY: JAMIE WAITE The Safal Group has operated in the steel business for 60 years, starting out in Eastern Africa and expanding across the region and into South Africa.

“Our work includes roofing, long products, and merchandized steel products. Now I have been in the company for about a year and we are moving our business from roofing to building solutions, trying to drive a lot more value-selling, integrated sales and solution selling to customers,” explains company President Anders Lindgren. “We’re looking at pre-engineered building to serve the market better. We’re building a portfolio around building solutions, expanding into trussing solutions, and a range of traded items, including solar solutions, with the aim to become a “One stop shop”.

Anders Lindgren Safal Group Company President

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“S

afal Group believes in pre-engineered building solutions for warehousing storage facilities and has solutions can be erected in a very short space of time. Their product range includes standardised products as well as “soft” versions of their solutions that make it easier to fit the customers’ dimensions and specifications.

“The environment we’re in now we’re seeing an increase on the e-commerce side and we see good opportunities there going forward,” Lindgren says.

“We’ve all got a bit off track with the events of the last couple of months but the big thing for us is we’re a very strong, familyowned business.”

At this point the Safal Group is probably the biggest roofing company in Africa, operating across ten countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa as well as Rwanda, Namibia and Malawi.

“What we do in the group is buy hot rolled coil from Japan.

That roll is rolled down to the right thickness. It’s coated with zinc and aluminium, which is a superior coating

to the galvanised steel plate businesses usually use, then we paint an increasing share of the roofing, and we supply it to our customers,” Lindgren explains.

While the company has been expanding its offering, they have been doing so according to a clear strategy.

We have a four pillar strategy, drive building solutions, improve channels to market, develop people and operational efficiency, Lindgren says.

STANDING FOR QUALITY

Across all of the sectors Safal is working in, however, there is one unifying cause.

“We stand for very high quality,” Lindgren insists. “Our mission statement is we deliver trusted building solutions made with pride and care to provide superior customer value. We only take the best material from Japan. On top of that, we have good customer service and now, of course, we’re doing more value-adding to give better value than our competitors.

There are not many companies in a position to offer the full range that we do when it comes to building solutions. We also

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YOUR REFERENCE IN STEEL Active all over Africa since 1988 ANTWERP HQ Lange Klarenstraat 16-20, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium Tel: +32 3 224 10 80 | info@steelforce.net | www.steelforce.eu

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Bahari Forwarders Ltd was incorporated some 35 years ago with an objective of carrying out business as a clearing, forwarding and transport company. Ever since its inception, the shareholders and directors had a common vision for its geographical growth and expansion. During the years, Bahari Forwarders Ltd has steadily grown within the industry serving all kind of clients for LTL, FTL, break bulk cargo, empty container depot and warehousing.

We have an employee base of 400 employees and a fleet of 180 trucks & trailers serving small to big clients, SME’s to multinational in the East African region.

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Tel: +254 723 244 444 Email: info@bfl.co.ke Offices in: Changamwe, Mariakani, Nairobi, Malaba – Kenya / Kampala - Uganda

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STEELFORCE Steelforce is a leading steel trading company with headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium.

The company is active in Africa since more than 30 years experiencing a profound market knowledge. With 12 offices worldwide Steelforce is well represented close to its customers as well as to the global steel sourcing markets.

Steelforce adds value by delivering quality steel at the right market price capable to set up logistics and financial solutions to its customers.

Trading is mainly done in the range of flat/long/coated steel, semi-finished steel, tin plate steel and aluminium products.

The company’s experienced staff are focussing on the constant changing market conditions aiming to optimising sourcing, logistics and financing delivering a durable and competitive solution.

www.steelforce.eu

SAFAL GROUP

have good availability for our product in our core markets.”

While Safal is competing from a position of strength, that does not mean the company has not faced challenges.

“One challenge is competition.

China today is providing a lot of steel at low costs, so we’re competing by providing value and service,” Lindgren admits.

“The other challenge is that playing in the markets we do there’s a lot of volatility across markets from a business and political point of view. With regards to currencies, we buy all of our steel in dollars. So there’s constant currency exposure you have to manage.”

While there are challenges and risks, Lindgren has found there are ways to mitigate against them.

“You can do hedging in main markets. Sometimes it’s expensive to hedge so you need to judge how you do your hedging over time. We also manage our supply chain well so we can see how much we’re taking in at different price levels,” he points out. “We’ve bought steel from Japan for 60 years and we have good and strong relationships there with a good pricing strategy which we can adjust if need be. It’s a combination of course. There are two challenges, currency, and the movement of raw materials, both of which can have a big impact on our business.

You need to be very aware of the situation in the market.”

UNFORESEEN CHALLENGES

Of course, one challenge nobody could have seen coming was the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It affected business a lot.

Construction was hit somewhere in the middle, not like travel or airlines but we’re all fairly hard hit,” Lindgren tells us. “It was far below what

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SAFAL GROUP

was initially in our budget. We planned for the worst-case scenario and fortunately, things are substantially better than that. We’re holding up well, especially in East Africa and as a group, we’re doing better than expected.”

While COVID-19 might have been unforeseen, Safal has still been able to put plans in place.

“It’s about planning and putting a solid contingency plan in place,” Lindgren explains.

We have weekly management meetings and bi-weekly meetings with our respective Market Companies, where we go through market situation, supply chain, sales and finance, and people. We believe that hopefully this period will eventually be normalised and once we’re back to more normal times we don’t want to have lost ability or competence. So we’re keeping the right people in place.”

But in overcoming all of these challenges, Lindgren insists that there was one ingredient that is essential to Safal’s success.

“WE PLANNED FOR THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO AND FORTUNATELY THINGS ARE SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER THAN THAT.” “Our biggest asset is people” he explains. “We make sure we attract good talent into the company. We can only be as strong as our people. There’s something traditional in those family values that have always

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been

good

for

A UNITED TEAM

the

group.”

The company’s reputation has ensured that they are in an excellent position to attract talent.

“I think the good thing is we know the value of a good brand name, and here we’re very well known,” Lindgren says. “We are reputable as a company which attracts good talent and works in many countries. We’re not multinational but we are international and we can give opportunities around the region.”

More than a strong brand name, however, Safal also has a culture that people want to be a part of.

“I think also this whole in-road of creating a good platform for people and take care of them

is essential,” Lindgren says.

“People don’t go to work only for salary, they go to do something interesting and meaningful in a positive environment, and I think we have that family culture and those values. That and the opportunities we provide brings people in.”

It’s a culture that Lindgren believes will take the company into a bright future.

“Our strategy has not changed,” he says. “We’ll continue to drive the building solution side of the business as much as we can. I think we will continue to keep up strong service, good people and develop even more our good trust, building solutions, moving to solar. There are a lot of opportunities there.”

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SAFAL GROUP

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CODELCO

CHILE’S STATE-OWNED COPPER CORPORATION IS CONTINUED TO INVEST IN AN EPIC MINING PROJECT.

ONGOING INVESTMENT PROJECT MANAGED BY: GARY SMITH

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CODELCO

Codelco, otherwise known as Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile, or in English, the National Copper Corporation of Chile, is a Chilean, state-owned copper mining company that came into being through the nationalisation of many foreign-owned copper companies in 1971, eventually coming together to form Codelco in 1976.

The firm is an autonomous business, owned by the people of Chile. Since its foundation, it has grown to become the primary producer of copper in the world, with ore reserves that have become an enormous engine for the development of Chile itself.

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H

owever this has never been a one-way street, and Codelco is a business that has always believed in investing in its operations to succeed.

A NATIONAL INVESTMENT

Codelco’s investment history is a long one. In 2018 the company invested $2 billion to maintain the mine’s prodigious production output.

This investment was made to fund three major projects for Codelco’s El Teniente Division, including $1,923 million for their Andres Norte operations, $101 million for the Diamante mine, and $75 million for Andesita.

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A great example of how Aggreko can generate savings without compromising power reliability for Off-grid mining operations is the implementation of battery energy storage systems to displace thermal spinning reserve. Given the continual operation of the thermal generation, any opportunity to serve the load more efficiently, and to reduce fuel consumption has a substantial economic impact over the life span of the mine. Aggreko can deliver a hybrid solution to any remote operation using their global generator fleet as the primary power source and their battery technology to provide the spinning reserve for each site. This hybrid design allows for the battery to be constantly available to step in instantly should a generator trip off for any reason and bridge the gap while another generator comes online. This solution is only possible with the immediate power availability of a battery.

A TRUSTED POWER PARTNER Aggreko has worked with Codelco across the years providing power solutions in mines such as Saladillo and Gaby Mine, providing power in adverse weather conditions in remote locations. In the event of power outages, Aggreko has secured the continuity of critical processes, ensuring the lowest cost and performance, which increased profitability and continuity of Coldeco’s projects.

Aggreko a world-leading provider of mobile modular power, temperature control and energy services with over 50 years of experience and a rental fleet of 10 GW of power generation assets has operations worldwide in more than 200 locations.

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Visit us at aggreko.com for more information

These weren’t simply shortterm cash injections, but longterm investments, with the money going into the El Teniente division extending the useful life of its mines by another 50 years. It’s an approach that has had the full support of Codelco’s board of directors, as part of a strategical plan to give structural support to Codelco that would allow the company to continue maintaining its historic production levels of approximately 1.8 million tons of copper every year.

A long-term strategy isn’t simply a question of laying down a plan for the future and adhering to it no matter what, however, and Codelco is no stranger to adjusting their plans or trajectories to accommodate changes and challenges along the way. The three new sectors the company was moving into in 2018 were in response to technical difficulties, but through those difficulties, Codelco went on to open Andes Norte, with a mine stretching roughly 2005

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CODELCO

meters beneath Lieutenant 8, a level of the mine that Codelco was already exploiting. The $1,923 million investment in the implementation this plan, alongside the $101 million invested in Diamente and the $75 million put into Andesita all helped build the company’s potential and allow it to contribute to the Chilean economy for event longer.

These projects are still going today, with Codelco’s Executive President Nelson Pizarro, since replaced by 33-year-old Octavio Araneda, predicting before the Chilean Senate that these mining zones would see their first extractions in 2023, three years from now. The projects have important implications for only for Codelco, or Chile, but for the world, given the essential role their mines play in the world’s copper supply chain.

“A FAVOURABLE DEBT MARKET, WITH RATES AT HISTORICALLY LOW LEVELS, MAKES IT ATTRACTIVE TO PRE-FINANCE OUR CASH NEEDS OF 2021.”

A NEW ROUND OF INVESTMENT

To continue doing their important work, Codelco has just issued $2 billion in dollardenominated bonds to allow the global copper produce to secure essential funding for its multibillion-dollar upgrade projects as well as allowing the company to refinance debt. The offering has included $1 billion in ten-year bonds, in addition to a further billion in 30-year bonds that the company issues last year.

Codelco is issuing these bonds as part of a brandnew funding strategy built on taking out loans while selling the business’s non-structural assets. The bonds sale has been handled by HSBC Securities, JP Morgan Securities, BofA and Scotia Capital.

The state-owned copper company’s vice president of administration and finance, Alejandro Rivera, has explained the strategy in a recently

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CODELCO

released statement.

“A favourable debt market, with rates at historically low levels, makes it attractive to pre-finance our cash needs of 2021,” Rivera has said.

The objective of this strategy is to build a base of financing that will enable Codelco to continue its epic, decadelong, $40 billion overhaul of its mines. This overhaul will allow them to replace and upgrade mining operations that have been at work for decades and are starting to show their age in the form of ore grades and increasing costs.

It’s a move that has the full support of the Chilean government, who is approving this approach in favour of injecting capital from the

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government’s funds.

As Chilean finance minister Ignacio Briones has said, “We aren’t talking about a new capitalization, but the government has always supported Codelco to get access to financing through capitalization and international markets.”

Codelco’s plans for these mines are ambitious and set to impress. They’ve already begun work on one of their biggest plans, a gigantic $5.6 billion conversation of their giant Chuquicamata open pit mine into an underground operation.

The El Teniente mine, with its three projects, is next on Codelco’s to-do list, with a $5.5 billion plan to add a new level to Codelco’s largest underground mine. The company’s new

executive president, Octavio Araneda, oversaw this project personally in his previous role as vice-president of operations at Codelco’s central and southern divisions.

Codelco’s plans also include a number major structural

“WE AREN’T TALKING ABOUT A NEW CAPITALIZATION, BUT THE GOVERNMENT HAS ALWAYS SUPPORTED CODELCO TO GET ACCESS TO FINANCING THROUGH CAPITALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL MARKETS.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

CODELCO

projects including a $1.3 billion expansion at their Andina mine, a billion-dollar upgrade to the Salvador mine, and the expansion of their operations at Radomiro Tomic, although those plans don’t yet have an estimated price tag.

These are major projects that require major investment, and so it’s not surprising that this marks the fourth occasion since 2017 that Codelco has issued long-term debt to cover its short-and-medium term debts.

This is a challenge that has been exacerbated by ongoing low copper prices. However, while prices might be low, Codelco’s role in the copper supply chain remains critical, with the mine supplying 10% of the world’s copper.

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Adogbeji Oseragbaje, Vice-President Sub-Saharan Africa, Baker Hughes Company

BAKER HUGHES IS STRIKING OUT WITH A BOLD NEW VISION AS AN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LEADER.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT PROJECT MANAGED BY: TREVOR GRETSINGER Talking to Adogbeji Oseragbaje, VicePresident Sub-Saharan Africa for Baker Hughes Company (Baker Hughes), formerly Baker Hughes, a GE company, it is clear he has had an eventful year.

“W

e’ve formally separated from GE,” he explains.

“Following the completed secondary offering of shares in September 2019, General Electric ownership in the company fell beneath 50%.

This change means more than just a change in shareholder ownership and branding.

For Baker Hughes, this is an opportunity to chart a new, bolder course as an energy technology company, whilst adhering strongly to its values.

Oseragbaje explains “The separation has given us the ability to stand on our own two feet, which we were already doing in many respects, but that wasn’t as visible because we were on the GE brand” Oseragbaje explains.

“As the new Baker Hughes, our employees, customers, investors and community partners have increased clarity around our purpose and commitments to take the

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industry and energy forward— making it safer, cleaner and more efficient for people and the planet”

GREENER PASTURES

Baker Hughes is committed to achieving some ambitious goals to reduce its carbon footprint and to assist its customers through the energy transition as they seek to reduce their carbon footprint as well. It’s a decision that proved to be timely.

“We’ve taken on a very aggressive target to reduce our carbon equivalent emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” Oseragbaje tells us. “Our 2050 target aligns with the Paris Climate Accord and shows our shared commitment

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Connecting What’s Needed with What’s Next™

HIGH PRECISION CNC AND MANUAL MACHINING From concept to fabrication, testing to deployment, our 132,000 m2 state-of-the-art Viana Manufacturing and Service Center is a one-stop-shop for the oil and gas, mining, and power industries in Angola.

Connect with what’s next at oceaneering.com/angola Copyright © 2020 Oceaneering International, Inc. All rights reserved.

OCEANEERING OCEANEERING COMPLETES MANUFACTURING OF RETROFIT HYDRAULIC FLYING LEADS AT ITS ANGOLA FACILITY

Oceaneering is a global oilfield provider of engineered services and products. Present in Angola since the 1980s, Oceaneering provides products and services such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), survey, diving, specialty subsea hardware, subsea intervention and installation services, engineering, project management and more.

Something unique about our Angola operations is our 132,000 sq m, world-class, stateof-the-art Viana Manufacturing and Service Center is a one-stop-shop for the oil and gas, mining and power industries in Angola.

Our Viana facility offers in-house machining, fabrication, welding, blasting, coating, and testing services. The facility offers 6,000 sq m for SIT and FAT, 300 m twin flying lead assembly lines, crane hire for up to 150 tonnes, forklifts up to 25 tonnes, plus shipping routes services to/from SONILS, Barra do Dande and all ports and shipyards.

A customer challenged Oceaneering Angola to help them correct an issue with leaking couplers on hydraulic flying lead (HFL) termination heads installed on subsea christmas trees. The customer wanted to re-use the termination heads on the faulty HFLs and contracted Oceaneering to develop a solution.

Following the arrival of the termination heads at Oceaneering’s Angola manufacturing facility, reverse engineering, procurement, and manufacturing of the components commenced. The faulty components were replaced. Once reverse engineering was completed, Oceaneering successfully interfaced these new components with in-house manufactured small-bore tubing and hydraulic hose bundles.

Assembly of the newly designed HFL assemblies was completed at Oceaneering’s Angola manufacturing facility. This work commenced in January 2019 and continued through to December, when factory acceptance testing was completed.

For more information about our capabilities, please visit: www.oceaneering.com/angola

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The Leading Industrial Gas Manufacturing Company in Ghana

STOP SHOP FOR INDUSTRIAL GASES REFRIGERANT GASES CYLINDER RACKS & GUARDS WELDING ACCESSORIES & ELECTRODES

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KG

CL

Lohimspero Resources Int’l Ltd is an innovative technical company registered in Nigeria to provide offshore & onshore technical services and procurement to the oil and gas industry. Our services covers:

KATECHO GLOBAL CONCEPT LIMITED We engage majorly in the business of selling of Drilling & Production Chemicals and Fluids to Oil & Gas Companies of which Baker Hughes Company Ltd is one of our clients. We also market Petroleum and Petrochemical products. We are a major player in the Oil and Gas sector of the Nigerian economy.

Office address: No 2 Bende Street, Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria Email: joeudezi@gmail.com, joe.udezi@marijoe.com Phone: (+234) -8033-390-584 / (+234)-8091-469-851

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•

Facility Maintenance, Upgrade & Rehabilitation

•

Corrosion Control & Painting

•

Procurement & Supply of Technical, Oil Tools, Equipment, Safety Materials, Chemicals & Office Supplies

•

Technical manpower supply for offshore & onshore facilities

Lohimspero Resources Int’l Ltd Suite 208 Emthel Mall Plot 5c Trans Amadi Industrial layout Oginigba Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Tel: +234 806 876 5856 / +234 806 758 2611 Email: sales@lohimspero.com / info@lohimspero.com US Office Address: #18123 Sorrell Oaks Circle, Richmond, Tx 77407, U.S.A. Tel: +1 281 721 5470 Mob: +1 346 414 9814

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to the planet at a time when our industry is under increased scrutiny to reduce the carbon intensity of its operations. Our voluntary commitment to pursue net-zero emissions by 2050 is something our employees are very proud of. Coming out as the new Baker Hughes, looking at the differentiated energy technology portfolio that we have, we are well-positioned to focus on the dual challenge the energy industry faces: to bring energy to the world when demand is continuing to increase, but also addressing the obvious challenges around climate change through our technology.”

“We continue to seek opportunities to lower not just our own internal carbon footprint, but the emissions generated by our products and services,” Oseragbaje says.

He explains “We are looking at both big projects and small projects. In our factories, there are all kinds of relatively minor things we can do to reduce energy consumption

“WE’VE TAKEN ON A VERY AGGRESSIVE TARGET TO REDUCE OUR CARBON EQUIVALENT EMISSIONS BY 50 PER CENT BY 2030 AND TO ACHIEVE NET-ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2050. OUR 2050 TARGET ALIGNS WITH THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD AND SHOWS OUR SHARED COMMITMENT TO THE PLANET AT A TIME WHEN OUR INDUSTRY IS UNDER INCREASED SCRUTINY TO REDUCE THE CARBON INTENSITY OF ITS OPERATIONS.” 146 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

across processes. We are also manufacturing and engineering our products differently.

“One thing we’ve done is to invest in additive manufacturing, allowing us to 3-D print customer equipment parts. By digitalizing product design, we’re able to reduce the amount of iteration in the product design cycle and use fewer materials in the manufacturing process.

“Additionally, if I look at one of the products that we introduced a couple of years ago, the Aptara™ TOTEX-lite subsea system, comprising lightweight, modular technologies designed for the life of the field, is lighter and re-engineered to cut the total cost of ownership in half.

The system requires less energy to manufacture and uses less

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material—which all combined means 30% shorter lead times,” Oseragbaje explains.

“We’re also looking at internal process efficiency improvement options from a global enterprisewide perspective as well as regional or local initiatives e.g. in transportation, vehicle idling generations have an impact on our ongoing carbon footprint.

Our technology development and efficiencies advancement are evident across our product portfolio. For instance, with our global leadership position in the LNG space, we recently deployed our industry-leading rotating equipment, NOVA LT16 – the very first two deployed in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A NEW SENSE OF PURPOSE

While the goal of achieving net-zero emissions is worthy, it has also played a valuable

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role in our shared purpose for Baker Hughes. It’s a message Oseragbaje is keen to spread throughout the company SubSaharan Africa region.

“Our commitment to netzero emissions by 2050 and to assisting our customers with technology to support the energy transition to lower carbon energy solutions is a positive for our company. It gives a purpose to the entire organisation and is something we can all focus around,” Oseragbaje tells us. “The ambition of bringing energy to the world in a safer, cleaner and more efficient way is something the whole company has been able to rally around.

The task for us going forward is getting employees to connect to that on a practical level in terms of the day-to-day activities, changing behaviours

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“NOW MORE THAN EVER, OUR CUSTOMERS WILL DEMAND TECHNOLOGY AND SOLUTIONS FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY, TO ACHIEVE THEIR CARBON REDUCTION GOALS AND TO NAVIGATE THE CURRENT MACRO ENVIRONMENT. THIS GIVES US AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE WITH THEM ON NEW COMMERCIAL MODELS FOCUSED ON OUTCOMES, AND NEW TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL SOLUTIONS FOCUSED ON IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND MAXIMIZING VALUE.”

or identifying ways they can contribute. Not everyone can be in manufacturing or research, so if I work in procurement in Mozambique how do I contribute to that pursuit? So, we have to ensure everyone continues to feel connected to that goal and do their part.”

“Some of these things are simple - each location is starting to define a baseline of our footprint facility by facility. This allows each facility to find that baseline and go through the ways to make best practices and allow each facility to work through those guidelines and find things they can do,” says Oseragbaje.

“They’re setting targets we can measure, with a timeline to reduce that carbon footprint, such as the amount of plastic waste they generate, diesel or petrol consumption. It can be something as simple as this.”

A NEW CHALLENGE

For now, however, Baker Hughes is facing a new challenge, along with many other companies responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic and current oil price environment.

“As you can imagine, we’re working through some of the more immediate challenges to ensure we continue to deliver for our customers,” Oseragbaje admits.

“In this period of significant uncertainty in terms of the pandemic, despite the downturn facing the industry and the costout initiatives, we are executing, our corporate strategy remains focused on being the leading energy technology company to help the industry facilitate the energy transition. This includes pursuing net zero emissions from our operations and developing technologies to help the industry reduce emissions.”

“The current global

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uncertainty and commodity price volatility make it more important than ever for energy companies to diversify and drive efficiency improvements. In fact, many of the technology trends that reduce emissions – such as improving energy efficiency, reducing waste, implementing remote operations and capturing fugitive methane emissions – are also good for the bottom line.” He added.

“Now more than ever, our customers will demand technology and solutions for increased productivity and efficiency, to achieve their carbon reduction goals and to navigate the current macro environment. This gives us an opportunity to engage with them on new commercial models focused on outcomes, and new technical and operational solutions focused on improving efficiency and maximizing value.”

He further explained “Digital transformation technologies

have come to the forefront as not just strategic, but fundamental to navigating today’s market realities and tomorrow’s uncertainties.

The industry must find ways to reduce operating costs, maintain critical asset reliability, and enable remote operations in order to survive. Software, and specifically artificial intelligence, will be necessary to meet these objectives. Unlike the last market downturn, fast deployment and adoption of enterprise-scale AI today is both technically and economically feasible”.

Oseragbaje added “The technology is further developed, and the industry has made strides with the necessary data and infrastructure preparation. For Baker Hughes, our work with the BakerHughesC3.ai joint venture alliance is critical to delivering new efficiencies we need as well as a portfolio of AI solutions that oil and gas businesses can use today”.

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TARA ENERGY SERVICES

TARA ENERGY SERVICES SUPPORTS SOME OF THE BIGGEST PLAYERS IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY BECAUSE ITS STANDARDS ARE A STEP ABOVE THE REST.

RAISING THE BAR PROJECT MANAGED BY: ANDREW BOURKE

TARA Energy Services provide support to some of the biggest names in oil and gas production through their comprehensive offering of well testing and production services. Using equipment that is manufactured in-house by TARA Energy Services themselves, they can provide the latest advancements in the sector.

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TARA ENERGY SERVICES

“W

e have got a missionfocused approach,” says Scott Bissell, CEO of TARA. That mission is to consistently strengthen TARA’s partnerships by ensuring mutual growth and sustainability with an innovative approach to true Green Completions. By carrying out this mission TARA Energy Services has implemented creative solutions which allow oil and gas producers to generate their immediate take away while preserving Capex spends on infrastructure.

This is a mission TARA Energy Services has been carrying out for the last 20 years, providing superior oil and gas equipment and field services to a variety of programs and applications. TARA’s approach is to provide bespoke solutions and equipment configured specifically for the application at hand. The first offers unique portable midstream capabilities, SAGD, and large multi-well flow back operations that can meet the needs of today’s producers.

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“Our unique selling point is the quality of our equipment and customer service,” Bissell tells us. “We hold extremely high standards.”

These standards mean that TARA’s equipment is built and certified to an international standard, while the company itself has invested heavily in implementing and improving industry standards relating to safety and environmental requirements.

Every TARA vessel is constructed with “sparging systems”, which allow for zero-entry vessel cleaning without opening hatches. This, in turn, reduces the possibility of emissions being released while increasing the safety of the operators.

TARA has also brought to bear their high fluid and low fluid shutdowns, which can be installed to eliminate the environmental risk of carrying fluid over. These innovations are set to make onboard, selfcontained ESD systems to isolate flow a reality. TARA has also added gas diffusers

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on all inlets, weir plates, and outlets to decrease greenhouse emissions.

As well as environmental safety, the company also addresses the personal safety of their equipment’s operators by installing visual alarm systems on the exterior of the operator’s cabin, eliminating confined space entry.

The robust, innovative system alerts all personnel if H2S/LEL gases are inadvertently released and the system can be monitored remotely. But these are just some of the ways TARA takes the initiative to be at the forefront of the industry.

“These standards are adhered to through a diligent culture that’s been processed through the organisation for years,” Bissell points out. “We set the

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bar in quality control. We’re very innovative and focused.”

This can be seen especially in TARA Energy Service’s “Industry Standards Initiatives”, where the company has extensively invested in implementing and improving industry standards related to environmental and safety requirements. Led by the mandates of the industry’s current environmental concerns, TARA has added features such as digital metering, process spec shutdowns, and patent-pending internal separator design inclusive of mist extracting weir plates and diffusers to decrease greenhouse emissions.

FORWARD FACING

Of course, maintaining a position at the vanguard of your industry is no easy task, and

“THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DOWNTURN TO OPTIMISE OUR PRODUCTION.” there are frequent challenges.

“Our biggest challenges are the diversity in our markets and the global demands that are asked of our services,” Bissell admits. “It’s a demand focussed industry. There are changing standards, driving the way our industry functions.”

These are challenges TARA has been more than ready to rise to, however.

“The key is forward-thinking,” Bissell points out. “Not just tomorrow but years ahead of us.”

That long-term perspective can be seen in every aspect of the company, including how it manages its own talent.

“We’re very focused on internal development. We like to train, offer development and we see a four-year plan for how we will develop each of our staff on our platform down the road,” Bissell explains.

One development that nobody could have foreseen is the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic in one way or another, but even here, Bissell sees opportunities as well as challenges.

“There are opportunities in the downturn to optimise our production. We’re helping our clients find cheaper avenues to get products to market,” he explains.

Indeed, even before COVID-19, TARA had made a name for itself through offering cost-saving strategies which led to optimal results

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TARA ENERGY SERVICES

for their clients, providing capabilities that allowed TARA Energy Services to flow wells completely unmanned through the use of carefully selected instrumentation, custombuilt software, and a specially designed, in-house managed system that maximises optimisation. This approach lets producers generate their immediate take away while preserving Capex spends on infrastructure, a capability more valuable than ever during the current crisis.

“The client response has been very positive,” Bissell says proudly. “We’ve optimised their production and they’re grateful.”

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Moving forward, TARA’s ambitions remain as high as ever. Having consolidated a position as one of the leading providers in the industry, the concept at the core of everything the company does going forward is “sustainability”.

TARA has made it their mission to pave the way for true Green Completions using strategic partnerships and innovative new technologies, eventually achieving their ultimate goal of Zero Emissions. Capabilities including the Gas Recovery System for 400 BBL tanks that remove oxygen from vent gas, allowing for the capture of all emissions from open-top style tanks. At the same time, TARA’s upstream flow component skids also have fluid containment built into them.

Beyond the long-term benefits, these tools and strategies also allow customers to compress flare gas down the pipeline and have already demonstrated their economic case through the additional gas volumes captured at lowpressure vessels, tank farms, and flare stacks. This means TARA and their customers can reduce emissions drastically, allowing operators to meet regulatory requirements and improve well-site safety with a reduction in potential risk to LEL’s.

It is a bold vision and one that Bissell intends to take further.

“We’re focusing on Canadian and American markets over the next 48 months,” he tells us.

We can’t wait to see what they achieve there.

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ZAMIL OFFSHORE SERVICES COMPANY

WE LEARN HOW ZAMIL OFFSHORE SERVICES COMPANY IS WORKING TO OFFER TURNKEY SOLUTIONS AND INCREASE SAUDIZATION EVEN DURING THE STRANGEST TIMES.

WORKING TOWARDS

VISION 2030 PROJECT MANAGED BY: NEIL STOWE

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ZAMIL OFFSHORE SERVICES COMPANY

Zamil Offshore Services Company comprises of three business units – Zamil Marine, Zamil Shipyards and Zamil Offshore Construction as part of Zamil Group Holdings, one of the largest private-sector groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. From their headquarters in the Eastern Province, Zamil Offshore Services Company operates three shipyards in Jeddah and Dammam, offering turnkey solutions across the offshore sector.

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“T

he company commenced in 1977,” explains Nelson Mackie, Head of Business Development and Marketing for Zamil Offshore (Shipyard Division). “We have a fleet of approximately 50 offshore support vessels, workboats etc.

We can tailor the layout and configuration of each vessel to suit each project. One of our biggest clients in KSA is, of course, Saudi Aramco.

“One of our other business segments is Zamil Shipyards which operates in Dammam which is our main shipyard on the East coast with full facilities to complement our service offering, including a 7,500ton capacity ship lift and 900 metres of quayside space.

We also have the facility over in Jeddah, the only shipyard

facility in Jeddah Islamic Port with several floating docks and quayside space.”

As well as their shipyards, Zamil Offshore Services Company also provides offshore construction services.

They perform fabrication and installation, working on brownfield and greenfield projects offshore Saudi Arabia.

Our Offshore Construction Division has vast experience performing hook-ups on several large historical and ongoing projects,” Mackie explains. ‘’We’re very much a turnkey solution provider.” To further enhance the services provided in this arena, we have a strategic JV with McDermott, named SBS Oceanics, to offer integrated offshore services to potential Clients based in KSA with a focus on midsize brownfield projects.

“One of our biggest Clients is, of course, Saudi Aramco who we support throughout their ongoing enhancements in the

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region,” Mackie says. “We have jack-up barges, OSV’s, AHTS etc. and we perform diving services, so we really do have the full range to support the marine business and Offshore Oil and Gas business in the region, if we don’t, we partner with a 3rd party.”

With the range of capabilities Zamil Offshore has to offer, they can provide turnkey solutions for all the operations in the Oil and Gas sector. The company has created a one-stop-shop for the Oil and Gas and Marine sectors.

“We’re not restricted to serving the Zamil fleet alone, we offer our full support to all fleet operators working in the region in our shipyards. With the largest jack-up rig fleets on our doorstep, we are happy to perform MRO service on jack-up rigs, whether a drilling rig or a lift boat.

Nelson Mackie Head of Business Development and Marketing for Zamil Offshore (Shipyard Division).

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GROWING SAUDI TALENT

Finding the right people for projects of this scale can be a challenge and Zamil Offshore is working hard to grow and

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ZAMIL OFFSHORE SERVICES COMPANY

develop its pool of Saudi talent.

“Mobilising people for the projects that are currently ongoing in the region has been a challenge and a constraint due to the current COVID-19 situation,” Mackie admits.

“Fortunately, Zamil Offshore as a company has 40 years’ operating in the region and approximately 4,000 staff we can call on, our in-house pool of industry leaders to created value-added solutions to support our esteemed clients.

We fully support Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’ and the pursuit of Saudization. We have a very high percentage score in Saudization, with our talented people across all disciplines. We have talented Saudi Nationals in our offices, corporate management, right down to

“FOR OUR IN-HOUSE AND SOLUTIONS, WE GREATLY SUPPORT SAUDI ARABIA’S ‘VISION 2030’ AND THE PURSUIT OF SAUDIZATION.” people on the shop floor. If we get a Saudi CV, we look at it very carefully in support of Vision 2030. That’s the biggest thing we’re aiming for.”

That task has been made complex due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, affecting all aspects of business and the economy.

However; due to the people we have in the organization, we will prevail and exit this tumultuous period in excellent shape.

“It’s been a double bounce, COVID-19, then the crash in the oil price,” Mackie tells us.

“However, it hasn’t affected our value-added operations in the

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shipyards. All are still operating, vessel MRO / recertification isn’t governed by the Oil and Gas industry. The certifications and timelines have been extended

by Class, but they still have times they need to come in for equipment checks throughout the COVID-19 situation.”

Naturally, it’s also restricted the flow of labour into the country.

“There’s been slight constraint with people coming into the country. We are being very selective. It’s great that we have facilities on the East Coast and West Coast, this allows us to mobilize as and when required due to project commitments” Mackie says.

THE SAUDI MARINER PROGRAM

To complement the rising Saudi Nationals in the company’s aforementioned positions, Zamil Offshore Services Company has embarked on a pioneering seafarer’s development initiative, dubbed as the “Saudi Mariner Program”.

Started in 2005, the Saudi Mariner

Program aims to localize the seafarer positions onboard Zamil vessels through proper training and development paths as required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The program targets Saudi high school and technical institutes graduates and enrolls them in the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) course in the local maritime academy in Dammam Port.

The trainees are then labelled as “ratings”, which in marine terminology means they are unlicensed seafarers in the position of a seaman or mechanic, onboard Zamil vessels. After four years of comprehensive on-job training (including practical training in Zamil Shipyards), the employees are sent out-of-Kingdom to obtain their Certificate of Competence and graduate as officers to serve onboard Zamil vessels.

DEFENDING THE NATION

Due to the ongoing demand

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ZAMIL OFFSHORE SERVICES COMPANY

in Zamil Offshore Services Company in all aspects of the business right now in the commercial and defence industries, they require the right people for the right job.

“Jeddah is very busy,” Mackie acknowledges. “We have a lot of people in the Jeddah naval base through a joint venture.

We actively support the naval industry. We have also a contract currently under execution at our Dammam facility with an international partner for the Royal Saudi Naval Force. We’re very busy, we’re diverse and we can support a lot of different industries.” For this project, we are employing and training many Saudi Nationals on critical shipbuilding jobs like aluminium fabrication and welding under this program. This is going extremely well and generating quite a lot of interest from the defenders of the nation.

The company’s goal is to

be the leading and the most significant Offshore & Marine Services Company for the Oil and Gas offshore industries in the region as well as selected global market segments. To achieve this the company is driven by its core values, a commitment to excellence, a dedication to their customers, a focus on people, regional and global integration throughout the company.

The list of agencies and businesses that Zamil Offshore is working with is impressive, but the firm is still looking to expand its horizons through a range of joint ventures, agreements and collaborations with companies and agencies both within Saudi Arabia and

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ZAMIL OFFSHORE SERVICES COMPANY

around the world.

“We have certain key agencies, MTU is a German engine manufacturer and we are the sole agent for MTU Marine in Saudi Arabia,” Mackie says. “We’re very active with the Royal Saudi Navy Force and Saudi Border Guard. We’ve built vessels for export; we have manufactured several surveillance vessels for the Kuwait Navy. We’re looking for strategic joint ventures, agreements and collaborations with companies of that nature. We also have strategic agreements with Keppel LeTourneau Middle East FZE to offer an integrated service to potential Clients based in the KSA. We also have a similar

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“WHAT WE PUSH IS A SIMPLE PLAN, SAUDIZATION & SUPPORT OF THE DEFENCE OF THE NATION.” arrangement with a major crane manufacturer, KenzFigee, for cooperation in the Kingdom for the provision of offshore crane services and local construction of offshore cranes and equipment. Also, a recent addition is Rig-Tech Solutions to collaborate and offer Clients “old and new” a one-stop-shop for berthing and preservation (suite of products from Zerust Oil and Gas) of assets during idle, layup or maintenance periods in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

But while Zamil Offshore

Services Company is working with businesses from around the world, at heart it will always remain a thoroughly Saudi company.

“The main thing we’re excited about is Vision 2030. We’re a Saudi company through and through and we are in regular discussions with the Chairman to apply this great man’s vision” Mackie says. “What we push is a simple plan, Saudization and support of the defence of the nation. We are a true Partner to Defense and Commercial Sectors”

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 159

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160 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

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BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 161 10/16/19 4:31 PM

ELOPAK

SINCE WE LAST SPOKE WITH ELOPAK THEY HAVE HAD AN EVENTFUL YEAR THAT HAS REAFFIRMED THEIR STRATEGIES AND GOALS.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE

CARTON PROJECT MANAGED BY: DAVID TAVERNOR

Elopak’s Pure-Pak® cartons offer a naturally sustainable, convenient and consumer-preferred alternative to plastic bottles. When we spoke to them last year, we learned about the vital role they are playing in supporting a low carbon circular economy in the beverage packaging sector.

S

ince then, on the whole, things have been going well for the company, although obviously, the events in recent months have brought new challenges with them.

“We’ve had another very strong year,” says Thomas Körmendi, CEO of Elopak.

“COVID-19 has allowed us to focus on supporting our staff and customers through this difficult time, providing a safe and reliable service with social distancing measures in place.

With more people working from home grocery sales have risen, meaning consumption of our products has increased. We’ve also seen the results of the operational improvements we initiated a year ago.”

THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA

First and foremost, Elopak’s mission to promote sustainability has been making good progress.

162 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

“On the sustainability agenda, we’re seeing lower waste in factories, which is good financially as well as from a sustainability perspective,” Körmendi says. “We’ve done a few things that from a strategic point of view are very significant for us. We have constantly improved the

Thomas Körmendi CEO of Elopak

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164 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

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BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

ELOPAK

performance of our factories around the world.

We’ve worked very hard on a strategy to get clarity in our direction that we’ve translated into very tangible activities.”

Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global climate crisis has not become any less urgent, and it remains a huge priority for the company.

“Elopak was one of the first to sign up to the Science Based Targets initiative commitment to keep the rise in global average temperature below 1.5°C,” Körmendi says. “For us, I think this drives how we look at the company and our activities moving forward. We reduced emissions by 70% between 2008 and 2018 and use 100% renewable electricity. We’re now targeting a 55% reduction of internal emissions and a 16% reduction in emissions across the value chain by 2030.”

Indeed, innovation is at the heart of Elopak’s business.

“Innovation plays a central role in helping us meet our sustainability objectives and support our clients and consumers to make conscious environmental choices,” Körmendi adds.

“A highlight of this year has been the launch of our PurePak® Imagine carton in June,” Körmendi states. “The PurePak® Imagine is actually the world‘s most environmentally friendly beverage carton to date. It is fully renewable, recyclable and carbon neutral.

It has no plastic screw cap, resulting in 46% less plastic, and is 100% forest-based, made from Natural Brown Board with a barrier that is made from woodbased renewable plastics.”

“It’s not about sentiment,” Körmendi insists. “Lifecycle Assessments (LCAs) of different packaging types conducted by independent organisations and

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

institutes in Germany support our understanding that cartons have the lowest CO2 footprint among liquid food packaging today. Specifically, when it comes to one-litre packaging for fresh milk, cartons have been shown to be 83% more climatefriendly than PET, and 77% better than reusable glass bottles.”

The key to achieving those goals is a strategy, and strategy is Elopak’s strong point.

“We’re looking at the way the company is working with a longterm perspective and clarity is what’s important for us,” Körmendi points out. “Clarity and direction translated into tangible elements, one of which is operational improvements.”

“Over the course of the past year the support of partners such as Westlake Chemical has been essential in ensuring we could quickly adapt and respond to emerging global challenges. In this regard our strong working relationships across the supply chain have ensured the continuity of our operations and the maintenance of the highest standards of production.”

“WE PLAY A VERY SIGNIFICANT ROLE WHEN IT COMES TO DELIVERY AND DISTRIBUTION OF BASIC FOODS AROUND EUROPE & OTHER MARKETS.” RESPONDING TO COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brings its own unique challenges with it.

“In the last 12-month period, clearly COVID stands out as something that was a major challenge for the organisation on several fronts,” Körmendi admits. “We saw a significant order intake, coming at an unexpected rate, which meant the supply chain needed to step up a gear to meet demand. We continue to be very focused on the safety of our colleagues, as well as ensuring the production and transportation of our cartons meets the highest hygiene standards so they arrive safely

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ELOPAK

at their destination.”

It wasn’t just Elopak that was shocked by the spike in demandso were Elopak’s own customers.

“The high order intake came from customers equally surprised by high levels of uptake. That meant lots of changes; all the planning needed to be adapted,” Körmendi recalls.

“We were put to the test. COVID-19 as a challenge is bigger than anything else and the magnitude of this was unforeseen.”

While the challenges were big, so was Elopak’s responsibility during this crisis, and Körmendi quickly realised his company was performing a vital role in

166 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

Europe’s food infrastructure during the crisis.

“What we did and tried to do was very clear. We play a very significant role when it comes to delivery and distribution of basic foods around Europe and other markets.” Körmendi says. “In Europe, where we tend to have a high share of the fresh food and drink segment, it’s very important to continue to deliver, otherwise consumers in these markets will experience shortages.”

“We have competitors who can deliver but there is not that excess capacity that if one big supplier can’t deliver the rest can cope,” Körmendi points out. “We play a pivotal role in ensuring consumers continue to have basic foods delivered safely and sustainably.”

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

ELOPAK

The way forward for Elopak was to emphasise risk management, identifying all kinds of relevant risks related to the supply chain, the health of Elopak’s employees, and also risks related to customers and clients receiving visits from Elopak’s technical service to ensure filling machines could operate.

“All of these risks were identified and evaluated on a risk matrix,” Körmendi says.

“Anyone who could work from home did and still does. Early on we initiated a systematic risk approach on a daily basis. This enabled us to step up to the challenge.”

A VISION OF THE FUTURE

The scale of the pandemic’s impact is clearly huge, and at this point, not even fully understood.

“This is a crisis that nobody has any prior experience of.

We’ve never seen a pandemic at this level anywhere,” Körmendi says. “So there is a tendency that you will, first of all, ensure operations in the widest sense of the word- your business operations and health and safety protocols continue to work.”

However, Elopak’s ultimate goals remain unchanged.

“Now we have, to the best of our understanding, things under control, you can ask what it means in respect of the programmes we had planned before,” says Körmendi. “That’s how we’ve looked at it, and in short we believe that the drive and the interest around carton packaging and sustainability will not diminish because of COVID. There is a high level of sensitivity towards our need to protect the planet because there are forces at play, whether you’re talking about pandemics or huge changes in climate, and as human beings, we are not immune to these external factors.”

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE | 167

PALLETBIZ

WHEN WE LAST SPOKE WITH PALLETBIZ THEY WERE JUST PUTTING THEIR LONG-TERM STRATEGY INTO PLACE, BUT THE COVID PANDEMIC HAS AFFECTED EVERYBODY’S PLANS.

PANDEMICS &

PACKAGING PROJECT MANAGED BY: ETHAN THOMPSON When we last spoke with Thomas Gents, Managing Director and COO of PalletBiz, the company had just started laying the cornerstone of what would be their new corporate five-year strategy from 2020 to 2024. Since then those plans have begun coming to fruition.

“S

ome of the highlights since we spoke last include that we managed to build on our existing footprint, expanded regionally using synergies across the PalletBiz network,” Gents recalls. “Our GCC (Gulf Corporation Council) Region has seen a new master franchise set up in Abu Dhabi and operations commenced in Bahrain. It’s been going well.

We’ve managed to do a lot of what we wanted to do.”

LAYING DOWN THE STRATEGY

It’s not hard to see that Gents is proud of what PalletBiz has achieved since our last conversation.

“Our biggest achievement has to be the finalisation of our corporate strategy which became the central piece in our search for capital injection.

It has helped us to realise our further broad plan,” he says.

“We’ve agreed on a capital increase, and even with one of our existing regional partners in the network who can also contribute greatly not only as shareholders but as part of our global board bringing great value into the company. That’s our biggest achievement.”

168 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

The thing about a strategy is it’s no use if it only exists in the heads of company leadership, and Gents is keen to emphasise the work his team has done to spread the word throughout PalletBiz. “Our team has realised the immense importance of communicating strategy within the whole company,” he says.

“Only just recently we launched some of the new initiatives on communicating the corporate strategy, which until then wasn’t clear. So that’s been the biggest challenge we needed to overcome.”

To make his point, Gents tells us an anecdote from a conference he went to in Copenhagen, back when we were all still going to conferences.

“The CEO of Lego, Niels B. Christiansen, was the guest speaker and it was the day after it had been revealed that Lego had been named the world’s most powerful brand.

He was almost like a small child, he couldn’t wait to tell the audience,” Gents recalls.

“But the main message of the day was really, from such an experienced and innovative CEO, that communication of strategy is so essential. He

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

PALLETBIZ

SITCO has joined the PalletBiz franchise network, Mr. Mohammed Al A’Ali (MD of PalletBiz Bahrain) and Mr. Thomas Gents (COO of PalletBiz).

kept coming back to that fact.

It shouldn’t be too complex.

It needs to go through the whole organisation and be well understood at all levels.”

This is certainly a lesson that PalletBiz has learned.

“Previously the strategy at PalletBiz was kept at the managerial or CXO level.

Now it’s communicated more business or network-wide,” Gents points out. “Everyone should have access to our corporate strategy, which is a long, detailed, document. It’s heavy reading but everyone needs to understand. Then we have our Operating Plans, which is making sure the strategy is implemented all the way through the organisation – ultimately leaving our international crossborder clients with the same professional approach and results, whether being served in Europe, Middle East or Africa.”

At the same time, PalletBiz has just launched a new intranet called My PalletBiz, which is also

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the platform for hosting a bimonthly event they call “BizTime”.

“There is a countdown on the intranet now every 2-3 months, and this is the first widespread conference call in PalletBiz,” Gents says. “We will have some special features and guest speakers but it is also a forum where we can meet & greet new colleagues, give praise, and of course communicate strategy.”

Wooden crates for the Fruit & Vegetable industry in South Africa.

THE FIRST TO FEEL A RECESSION

As I tell Gents, PalletBiz has picked an excellent time to get into conference calls.

“Like we said it’s difficult to get around the COVID-19 pandemic. We in the packaging industry, and particularly pallet and packaging manufacturers, are the first to feel when a recession comes around because we’re early in the supply chain of a company,” Gents tells us. “Due to our widespread footprint, we’ve been able to pick up the trends

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

PALLETBIZ

and impact of COVID-19 unlike other packaging companies, and have been able to prepare our regions and respond in a timely & sequential manner.”

The first priority, for Gents and the management teams, was the protection of PalletBiz’s people.

“So like most other companies we’ve implemented safety precautions for our employees,” Gents says. “The safety of our people is our number one priority. Our second priority is to ensure constant deliveries to our clients which include companies in the FMCG and Pharmaceutical sectors. Here we have a responsibility, and I am proud that we have managed to navigate through the pandemic, ensuring no

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

sudden supply interruptions for our clients. We’re used to virtual meetings and conference calls, so luckily not too much adjusting has been necessary there.”

A literally world-changing crisis on the level of COVID-19 is obviously a spanner in the works of anyone who has just set out a grand five-year plan for their business, but Gents suggests that in many ways it has helped to clarify the company’s vision and priorities.

“We’ve come through the first phase of COVID-19 acceptably. We’re quite a way off the organisational growth necessary for our vision, which is to be among the Top-10 providers of quality handling and packaging materials and

related consulting services – with a solid footprint in EMEA and emerging footprint in North America – by 2024. It’s ambitious but we are on solid starting ground,” he points out.

“We managed to finalise from a capital increase that really positions us in a comfortable and interesting spot heading into Covid-19, and we will continue this aggressive approach to realise our longer-termed goals. I would definitely say as part of the strategy and part of what we have planned we have also realised the importance of things like digitalisation and sustainability and how that has become of higher relevance – and luckily also focus. It wasn’t deliberate, we didn’t plan for

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PALLETBIZ

that but it reemphasised the importance of not relying on global supply chains.”

SUSTAINABLE FUTURES

At the beginning of this year, PalletBiz launched the first version of its sustainability strategy. As we covered in our last feature, PalletBiz is a company that takes the impact it has cross-culturally, preventing deforestation, waste management, but also its social impact, very seriously. The company is working hard Gents explains on visualizing how much and where PalletBiz is impacting sustainability. This is done by developing a sustainability balanced scorecard in order to ensure, that development must be translated into actionable, measurable and monitorable steps having its roots in selected UN 17 SDGs. “One of the things that will be interesting is how we should pursue our supply chain looking

“WHAT WE’VE GOT IN STORE THE COMING YEARS IS TRULY EXCITING.” ahead,” Gents points out.

“We’ve managed as part of our strategy looking at options for vertical integration into more sawmilling units regionally – entering into more control and thereby responsibility of the raw material we use in the wooden packaging sector. One of the interesting initiatives that could be highlighted has been engaging state-owned forest companies where there is an option to face challenges and overcome those in a context that respects a longer-termed vision – for both parties, naturally.

We’re working in South Africa with a company called SAFCOL to develop our regional supply chain in a different way. We’re looking at how to utilize an

otherwise challenged industry in a way that will insist on bringing value locally while doing so in an overall more sustainable way than existing supply-chains. Dealing with government entities has to work in a certain way, however, one can hope that initiatives taken by private entrepreneurs can actually lead to gaining the masses, rather than the few. The specific case mentioned was speaking to exporting lumber from within the Southern African Development Community to PalletBiz Network in the Middle Eastern region.”

This is only the beginning of their strategy, as Gents hints, “What we’ve got in store the coming years is truly exciting.

Next time we speak we’d like to have an improved footprint in our existing regions – be in Mozambique, Botswana Zimbabwe in Africa, Oman in the Middle East as well as Germany, Slovakia and Bulgaria for the European continent.”

PalletBiz is an active advocate of integrating more women into an otherwise man-dominated industry.

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PENINSULA DRUMS

WE HEAR THE STORY OF A FAMILY COMPANY THAT’S BEEN GROWING FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS.

MARCHING TO THEIR OWN DRUMS

PROJECT MANAGED BY: ETHAN THOMPSON

The story of Peninsula Drums begins nearly 30 years ago in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s the simple story two brothers, Chocky Moodley and Subbiah Moodley.

One day in May 1992, Chocky and Subbiah set out on a journey together, setting down the foundations of a bold new business venture. The product they were selling was simple, yet essential, reconditioned metal and plastic drums for the food industry. However, while the business itself might have seemed humble, it was also historic and ground-breaking as the first black-owned drum manufacturing company in the country of South Africa.

“C

hocky and Subbiah started by learning, developing and perfecting the tools and techniques they would need to become leaders in the reconditioning of tight-head and open-top drums. Once they had that under their belts, the pair of brothers started to look into manufacturing brand new drums. This new facet of the business would prove to be a huge success, and from there the company has expanded

its range even further. The Peninsula Drums catalogue now also includes IBCs.

A WIDE OFFERING

As well as growing, developing and perfecting their offering, the Moodley brothers have also been working hard to make, build and develop strong and mutually respectful relationships with their clients.

Peninsula Drums’ clients come from a wide range of different industries. They have worked

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PENINSULA DRUMS

with companies in the fruit concentrate industry, as well as a business involved in the manufacture of fruit juice, or even fruit pulp. Peninsula Drums has also worked with companies manufacturing and selling edible oils such and olive, sunflower and vegetable oil. On top of all this, they have also frequently provided products to manufacturers in the wine industry!

Although the company specialises in offering reconditioned or newly manufactured drums for the food and drink industry, this is not Peninsula Drums’ only area of specialisation. The company has also worked profitably and effectively with businesses in the petrochemical industry of South Africa. Their drums

“THIS LEVEL OF QUALITY DOESN’T HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT; IT IS A CORNERSTONE OF THE BUSINESS AND HAS BEEN SINCE ITS INCEPTION.” have even been used by paint manufacturers!

The strong and lasting relationships the Moodley brothers set out to build mean that many of their customers are with Peninsula Drums for the long haul. Many of the business’s loyal clients have been working with the Peninsula for over 20 years.

The length of these customer relationships is emblematic of the reliability Peninsula Drums

are known for, as well as their excellent standards and the superior quality of their product.

This level of quality doesn’t happen by accident, it is a cornerstone of the business and has been since its inception.

The company has instilled rigorous quality procedures throughout its manufacturing and reconditioning processes, as well as in the service they provide. This through inhouse quality management is recognised by the certification they have received from the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) so that their customers can have confidence that the superior quality Peninsula Drums is known for will be maintained at all times and in all aspects of the business.

STATE-OF-THE-ART TOOLS

Prime: on time, every time

Duferco Steel Processing Duferco was established in 1979 and has grown into a multinational steel and steel-related products trading company with over 8 million tons of steel products and in excess of 7 million tons of raw materials being shipped world wide. Duferco established Duferco Steel Processing (DSP) as a joint venture between Duferco SA of Switzerland and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited. Since the first shipment of its products in 1999, DSP has built a solid reputation as a reliable and high quality manufacturer with an established client base and a high percentage of repeat customers.

DSP’s core business is adding value to Hot rolled coil. Our process involves the pickling, cold rolling, annealing, tempering and galvanizing of steel for use in the general industry. At DSP we commit ourselves to supply quality cold rolled and galvanized products, to all our customers according to their individual requirements and in such a way that our customers expectations are surpassed.

PRIME, ON TIME, EVERY TIME. Duferco Steel Processing (Pty) Ltd 1 Potassium Street Saldanha Bay 7395 South Africa

176 | BUSINESS FOCUS MAGAZINE

Tel: +27 (0)22 709 7000 Email: sales@duferco.co.za

www.duferco.co.za

But while Peninsula Drums has always ensured its standards will never change, that doesn’t mean the company isn’t ready to change to keep up with the times. In 2012 Peninsula Drums recognised that their clients’ requirements and specifications were changing. So that the company would be able to continue meeting their clients’ needs Peninsula Drums set about installing a cutting edge, state-of-the-art conical line.

This investment allowed the business to achieve many goals. Firstly it was a reiteration of Peninsula Drums’ lifelong commitment to prioritising the interests of their clients. This has always been of the utmost importance the company and continues to be at the centre of everything they do. At the same time, the new tools have helped the company to consolidate its position. Peninsula Drums is at the forefront of the South African drum industry, and they intended to stay there.

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PENINSULA DRUMS

It’s a process that the business has continued to build on. Only two years later, in 2014, Peninsula Drums saw a further need to expand their capabilities, but not only in terms of how they manufacturer product. They decided that they need to offer a greater portfolio of products to give their clients more options. To this end, they introduced their new “Galvanised Line”, which is already proving popular with customers.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

the industrial container market sector. It’s a cause the company has taken to heart, and it’s reflected in Peninsula Drums’ tagline, “Recycle for a better Future®.”

It’s now 2020, and Peninsula Drums has been working hard to increase their offering, maintain the high standards and do what they can to contribute to protecting our environment.

What they have to show for their efforts included hundreds of happy clients across industry ranging from food to wine to oil

to paint. They have produced thousands of drums in the nearly 30 years of their career.

But this isn’t the end of the company’s journey. Peninsula Drums still has lots of big plans for the future, and they are excited to continue growing, and to carry on building on the strong client relationships that have become their foundation.

Mainly, however, they continue to be excited to provide a range of industries with the very best in superior quality drums!

However, Peninsula Drums cares about more than just their bottom line. The company has been active in campaigning on environmental issues.

The drum manufacturer is a founding member of the South African Industrial Container Reconditioners Association.

In that role, the company has embraced the call for responsible environmental management, particularly in

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AL-IKHSAN SPORTS

AL-IKHSAN IS A LOCAL MALAYSIAN COMPANY THAT IS STILL MANAGING TO COMPETE WITH INTERNATIONAL NAMES.

IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN PROJECT MANAGED BY: NEIL STOWE Al-Ikhsan Sports is the number one multi-brand, multi-category sports retailer in Malaysia, with 128 stores, and that number expected to grow to 140 by the end of this year. The company was founded by an enterprising first-generation entrepreneur when he was just in his early twenties, Mr Ali Hassan bin Mohammed Hassan. The founder saw the local population’s need for sports brands like Nike and Adidas and decided to start with a 150 square foot shop at a small shopping mall in the city of Johor Bahru.

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“F

rom a singular concept of Al-Ikhsan Sports, we now have four clearly differentiated concepts built around the same core philosophy which will allow us to seamlessly straddle different consumer segments without any conflict or confusion. We focus on curating our brands in line with the consumers’ expectations,” explains Vach Pillutla, CEO of Al-Ikhsan Sports. “To me, business, like war, is won on the basis of a clear strategy and positioning and it is always better to go into that war with multiple weapons in your arsenal.”

He points out, “We have AlIkhsan sports Stores, which carry good-to-better productsThis helps us serve entry to mid-market sports lovers in tier one and tier two malls and cities. Next, we have the AlIkhsan Sports warehouse which is an entry-level retail concept which allows us to even target a catchment of 50,000 residents

or tier three malls and cities.

Malaysia is a country which loves its football and where EPL is passionately followed.

To serve the fans and players of this beautiful sport, we created the Football Republic and took it to six different locations across Malaysia. We then saw a clear opportunity at the affordable athleisure space for which we created a concept called Sneaker street. We believe we can have at least 200 stores across the various retail concepts which we have now successfully rolled out and this will allow us to completely dominate Malaysian Sports retail.”

Another key element of the strategy was to drive a private label and licensed business - AlIkhsan signed up the license for Umbro in early 2017 and took this to all the 128 doors in a phased manner. Today Malaysia is amongst Brand Umbro’s fastestgrowing markets globally.

2019 was an important year for the company not just because

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AL-IKHSAN SPORTS

this was their best year financially but because this was also the year that they signed the iconic Liverpool Football Club license.

Vach says, “We signed the license on April 11th 2019 at Anfield at just the right time LFC’s fortunes took off around the time we signed the license and we made sure that we capitalised on the opportunity by opening 30 SISs in less than a month. The fans in Malaysia were ecstatic with the speed of our execution since previously the fans could only get this merchandise from one location within the whole of Malaysia.

We are not going to stop herewe intend to bring licenses of as many EPL clubs as possible.

FITNESS FOR EVERYONE

Ultimately, however, Al-Ikhsan’s mission is not just about sport,

but about fitness.

“Our unique selling point is our core commitment to keeping Malaysia fit and active by making sports affordable for everyone,” Pillutla says. “When my founder Ali Hassan began the journey, brands like Nike, Adidas and puma were seen as extremely premium and unaffordable.

However, over the years, we have made these global brands affordable for ordinary people.

We ensure that we work with various global brands to bring in Sports at a good-to-better level for over 30 million consumers in Malaysia. By doing so consumers can still buy their favourite Adidas or Nike but at lower prices, than they expect.”

It also involves commissioning the manufacture of Al-Ikhsan’s own product lines that can match the biggest brands for quality

Vach Pillutla CEO, Al-Ikhsan Sports

WE RELAUNCHED A COMPLETELY REFURBISHED WEBSITE AND MOVED OUR ENTIRE MARKETING INVESTMENT TO E-COMMERCE. without the attached premium that comes with a name.

As Pillutla says, “We have our own private label sports performance and lifestyle brand, AL Sport, under which we design, source and merchandise products that have the same quality as global brands but retail at 50% of their MSRP. Our objective is to use the AL Sports brand to build deeper engagement with sports lovers by collaborating with state football clubs, sports associations, local artistes, well known Malay animation characters and provide them with a platform to showcase their talent. Today AL Sports

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AL-IKHSAN SPORTS

is clearly the fastest growing local sports brand. My vision with AL Sports is to build this as a multicategory sports performance and lifestyle brand and take this to a regional and even global stage at some point in the future”

RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC

This attitude is clear to see in the company’s response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

“I think we were amongst the first few companies that recognized the rapid spread of COVID -19 virus as a potentially serious threat. We practically pivoted from a purely offline retailer who also did a bit of online sales to a total e-commerce company.

We relaunched a completely refurbished website and moved our entire marketing investment to e-commerce. All our social media posts focused on driving customers to our e-commerce website. In order to keep our front-line staff motivated, we started an affiliate program where the staff would get a commission on sales to drive consumers to our e-commerce website. As a result of that, our daily transactions grew nine-fold during the 48 days of Covid-19 lock-down. The management team used technology extensively to stay connected daily, while the operations team connected weekly to discuss the business situation.

The company then embarked on a 3 scenario business plan for 2020: pessimistic, realistic and optimistic. The first goal for any company during this difficult period is to ensure that we survive the storm and protect our cash reserves. This means we need to practice what is known as a “zero-based budgeting” – this requires a tremendous amount of discipline and a hawk-like focus on every single line-item within

our P&L, balance sheet and cash flow - something that I have learnt from the best in business.

I think all businesses need to build in a way where, given a reasonable runway, we should be able to take-off no matter what the weather. I see a lot of business leaders using Covid-19 as a reason, almost an excuse to justify the “inefficiencies and incompetencies” within their respective organizations.

I, on the other hand, take a view that as a business leader I cannot control the outside weather- today its Covid-19, tomorrow it could be something else! Therefore we have tried to use this Covid-19 situation as a pit-stop, a break in our journey to brainstorm and come up with more efficient processes and work on some of our process gaps so that when we started, we were able to get on to a track of recovery as soon as possible” Vach Pillutla signs off by saying” Al-Ikhsan sports has always been part of Malaysian sports lover’s everyday life but I think because of Covid-19, we have got even closer to our consumers than ever before”

Mr Ali Hassan bin Mohammed Hassan, Founder of Al-Ikhsan Sports

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DSV PANALPINA

WE LEARN HOW STRONG LEADERSHIP IS GUIDING DSV’S GREEN VISION.

BRINGING THE GREEN REVOLUTION TO LOGISTICS

PROJECT MANAGED BY: NEIL STOWE

Whether it is air, sea or land, DSV is a freight forwarding and shipping company that has got the whole world covered. With more than 60,000 people spread across more than 80 countries and a strong, local entrepreneurial DNA. DSV’s considerable size gives the company a global scale and reach, with strong operational excellence in its business processes.

Lindsay Zingg Senior Director Sustainability DSV Panalpina

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“T

his helps us deliver highquality services to our customers on time, all the time while maintaining our competitiveness,” explains DSV Panalpina’s Senior Director Sustainability, Lindsay Zingg.

“We know businesses need reliability to ensure that their customer relationships work, and so we harness our people, technology and infrastructure to prepare for any eventuality.”

What really makes the company stand out, however, is the sheer dedication and effort the company puts into sustainability and green business, for both itself and its customers.

“We’re finding many businesses that will only work with companies that have a sustainability logistics

programme,” explains Zingg.

“We have to change how we do business to support customers with green procurement. Even when we purchase or rent buildings, we make decisions based on if it is a green building. Even for employees, the younger ones want to work for a company that takes climate change seriously. It’s a key aspect of the business.”

Zingg argues that the way things are going, having environmentally sound business practices won’t just be a USP for a business, but a must-have.

“Simply speaking we won’t gain customers business without it,” she says. “If you’re not green you’re not regarded as an ethical company. From a legislation perspective, governments are pushing for

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THE UNKNOWN CREATIVE DESIGN AGENCY The Unknown Creative is a progressive ideas-based design agency, operating out of Newcastle Upon Tyne and London in the UK. Since 2009 the agency has created engaging brands, campaigns and communications for public and private sector companies around the world.

Clients range from new tech start-ups to high profile global organisations.

The agency’s forward-thinking team works regularly with industry-leaders to deliver high-profile projects for pharmaceutical companies, education providers, smart city pioneers and progressive transport and logistics organisations.

SERVICES: Branding Architecture, Identity, Management, Refresh, Strategy, Storytelling, Tone of voice Campaigns Advertising, Creative copy, Digital, Direct mail, Social media Communications Annual reports, Brochures, Film and animation, Sustainability reports, Website design and development Creative director and founder, John Dunne says: “It may be time for you to adopt a new approach for your brand and your communications. Our role is to discover the point of differentiation and provide fresh design and immersive stories to help businesses move forward and grow.”

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DSV PANALPINA

this as well. In five years I think if you’ve not got green offerings you won’t even get to tender.

Many companies are asking ‘What’s your green model?’ before you even talk pricing.

If you cannot help companies reduce their CO2, they won’t want to work with you.”

These are all very good incentives to pursue a green agenda, but Zingg points out that none of these is the reason sustainability is such a priority for DSV Panalpina.

“I spoke to our CEO and he said it’s not just for our customers, and it’s not just because of legislation,” she says. “He said ‘We do this for DSV Panalpina as I want our company to be a green company.’”

A SCIENTIFIC PROCESS

What makes DSV’s efforts here so crucial is that they’re not guided by PR or an attempt to “greenwash” the brand, but by the measures that evidence says will have the greatest impact.

By 2030, DSV Panalpina

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commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from a 2019 base year and to reduce absolute scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 30% over the same target period.

Scope 1 and 2 refer to direct emissions, e.g. from buildings and company cars, while scope 3 refers to emissions from freight transports – including subcontracted transports.

As CEO Jens Bjørn Andersen points out “These ambitious targets are going to guide our sustainability efforts for years to come, and it will require a committed effort from the whole DSV Panalpina organisation to achieve them.”

The company has a range of activities planned to reduce its emissions, including new policies for company cars and buildings, and they’re going to continue working closely with their customers and suppliers to drive down emissions from transport activities.

“We have got a portfolio

of projects that support our science-based targets. We’re one of the first logistics companies with targets like that, and it drives our projects and measures in DSV,” Zingg says.

“One example is we operate green procurement guidelines.

When we procure an aircraft, carrier, or other vehicles we aim to source the best carrier or truck in class.

DSV Panalpina has joined forces with other leading Danish companies on an ambitious sustainable fuel project.

The partnership with Copenhagen Airports, Maersk, DFDS, Ørsted and SAS aims is to decarbonize heavy transport and it’s the first partnership of its kind to develop an industrial scale production facility to produce green fuels for road, maritime and air transport in the Copenhagen area.

We also have many projects in the pipeline for our internal environmental impacts, such as green car policy, green buildings, recycling, plastic

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DSV PANALPINA

initiatives, everything to support our targets internally.

It’s business, procurement, building and the employees. All aspects of the business.”

This approach also drives innovation within the company, as staff come up with new ways of doing business that can be greener and more cost-effective.

Of course, ensuring the staff are engaged with that vision at every level is a task in itself.

“We have a code of conduct that all 60,000 employees must sign and within that, there is a huge section on sustainability and the environment, and breeching that will result in a warning,” Zingg makes clear.

“Finally, we have health, safety and environmental ambassadors, taking our corporate programme to every single country we operate in.

If we don’t meet our scientificbased targets its escalated to the Sustainability Board chaired by the CEO. We need

all employees on board, and get the message out through newsletters, communication and training.”

THE SUSTAINABILITY LESSONS OF A LOCKDOWN

Of course, while DSV Panalpina and businesses like it have been working hard to transform the way they do business, this year world events have forced every business to make drastic changes to the way they work. While it’s been a brutal challenge, in many ways it has also demonstrated what is possible.

“Positively we have really learned to work differently,” Zingg reflects. “Globally many of our employees have had to do home office, we’re learning to work in a different way. Our Chief Commercial Officer is driving the account management team to see how they can manage customer relationships without travelling, and we’re hoping

“WE HAVE GOT A PORTFOLIO OF PROJECTS THAT SUPPORT OUR SCIENTIFIC-BASED TARGETS. WE’RE ONE OF THE FIRST LOGISTICS COMPANIES TO DO THAT, AND IT DRIVES OUR PROJECTS AND MEASURES IN DSV. ONE EXAMPLE IS WE OPERATE GREEN PROCUREMENT GUIDELINES. WHEN WE PROCURE AN AIRCRAFT, CARRIER, OR OTHER VEHICLES WE AIM TO SOURCE THE BEST CARRIER OR TRUCK IN CLASS.”

“WE DO THIS FOR DSV PANALPINA, AS I WANT OUR COMPANY TO BE A GREEN COMPANY.”

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companies take notice and say ‘We can do business this way’.”

While other businesses might see this as a reason to cut costs, DSV is taking precisely the opposite lesson.

“Our CEO has said frequently that sustainability is still top of the agenda. It does not go away because of COVID-19,” Zingg says. “The crisis does have a financial impact on the company but nothing has changed with our sustainability strategy. I think it would be sad if companies don’t take this momentum.”

Indeed, Zingg acknowledges that the crisis has shown even a sustainability-driven company like DSV Panalpina can reassess some things.

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“We were going to implement a revised travel policy, but we want to take our lessons from the lockdown before rolling it out. We will take the lessons learned and implement the travel policy only once we gather that information,” she insists.

Looking beyond Coronavirus, Zingg believes the future will see Increased consumer scrutiny of the company’s

green practices, with the market already seeing a rapidly growing market of rating companies.

“An important part of any green strategy is that governance for sustainability needs to be led by the CEO and ours is leading it with a designated board on all the topics,” Zingg says. “We need to have that strong lead by our CEO or it doesn’t work.”

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WDP

WE LOOK AT HOW GLOBAL LOGISTICS REAL ESTATE SPECIALIST WDP HAS FOUND GROWTH IN ROMANIA.

TAKING

STOCK PROJECT MANAGED BY: NEIL STOWE

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WDP

WDP first started out over 30 years ago in Belgium. The business purchased some old warehouses, renovated them, and rented them out. From there the idea started to grow.

“O

ur founder was one of the first to renovate warehouses and rent them out,” says General Manager WDP Romania, Jeroen Biermans. “Then the next steps involved starting to expand into Northern France and The Netherlands.”

Since the company was founded in 1971 WDP has offered intelligent warehouse solutions that focus on the development and letting of semi-industrial and

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Jeroen Biermans General Manager WDP Romania

Intelligent warehouse solutions Development and letting of semi-industrial and logistical real estate.

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WDP

logistical real estate. WDP owns, develops and manages logistics and semi-industrial property with the business’s hallmark values and commitment driven by its family character. It’s a character that has led them to become the warehouse rental market leader in the Benelux region.

WDP today boasts over 4,500,000 square metres of warehouse space and has been listed on the Euronext stock exchange since 1999 in Brussels and since 2015 in Amsterdam.

Across all their sites WDP offers the full range of warehouse investments in line with the client’s activities.

“WE PROVIDE EVERYTHING. WE BUY THE LAND, WE TAKE CARE OF THE PERMITS, UTILITY CONNECTIONS, INFRASTRUCTURE, DESIGN AND ENGINEERING AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT FROM START TILL FINISH: ONE STOP-ONE SHOP.” “We’re a one-stop-shop,” Biermans says. “We provide everything. We buy the land, we take care of the permits, utility connections, infrastructure, design and engineering and project development from start till finish: one stop-one shop. And after development, we manage the property and take care of it. We develop our warehouses by the means of renowned construction partners in coordination with our in-house project development team.

So we take over a lot of the worry and paperwork from the

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WDP

clients, including environmental impact assessments, and all the necessary documentation.”

WDP believes that through co-creation and intense collaboration it can help its customers’ operations move faster, smoother and cheaper, providing legal, finance, communications, project management, commercial profiles, and all other aspects of warehouse operations. It does this by drawing on the business’s specialists’ diverse experiences, perspectives and ideas. This team dedicates themselves to providing WDP’s customers with the perfect solution, offering nothing less than a bespoke answer to each and every problem. The tools that this team uses are critical problem solving, short local decision making and a focus on the total cost of logistical infrastructure ownership.

That is how WDP has

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developed the “dynamic warehouses” concept. Whether a customer is looking for a warehouse or distribution centre or wants to outsource its real estate to focus on core activities, WDP’s tailor-made approach allows for a traditional warehouse or cross-docking, pharmaceutical or cold storage facilities, a GDP or TAPA certified warehouse, a data warehouse or any other type of storage facility.

Every one of WDP’s warehouses and distribution centres is uniquely suited to the purpose.

The services WDP offers include the sale and rent-back operations, direct acquisitions, renovations, redevelopments, developments, assets with development potential over medium-long term, refurbishing existing buildings and innovative use for customers’ available space. WDP’s warehouses have a standard height of 10 meters or more, ensuring more efficient

stacking so that the available space is used to its maximum capacity, allowing customers to stack more goods in a smaller area.

A ROMANIAN SUCCESS STORY

The company’s main fields of operation are in Belgium, The Netherlands and North of France but one of its fastestgrowing and most exciting areas of trade is its new warehouses in Romania.

This might be considered surprising since WDP opened operating in this country at almost the same time the financial crisis hit in 2007. But where there were challenges, there were also opportunities.

“Just before the crisis in 2007 we teamed up for a venture in Romania” Biermans recalls.

“Then the financial crisis came and Romania was hit very hard as the local financial market

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WDP

“IN THE BEGINNING, WE MOSTLY DEVELOPED FOR PRODUCTION COMPANIES SUPPLYING THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY, THEN SINCE TWO OR THREE YEARS, WE DEVELOPED MORE SITES FOR THE RETAIL SECTOR, RETAILERS ALSO PARTLY ACTIVE IN E-COMMERCE. WE NOW HAVE 20 DIFFERENT SITES & MORE THAN 50 CLIENTS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.”

dried up completely.”

As the crisis hit, many companies withdrew from markets that were no longer profitable, but this left room for businesses willing to stay the course.

“The crisis left Romania in a big hole for ten years and during that, we did work in green energy, a market stimulated by the EU,” Biermans says. “Then about four years ago the market picked up, WDP being one of

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the few investors in logistic and semi-industrial real estate that stayed, which was noticed by our clients. We kept our team and when the economy picked up, we could jump on the wave of those new opportunities.”

At the same time, WDP was also expanding into established and newly founded sectors.

“In the beginning, we mostly developed for production companies supplying the automotive industry, then

since two or three years, we developed more sites for the retail sector, retailers also partly active in e-commerce,” Biermans tells us. “We now have 20 different sites and more than 50 clients all over the country.”

The story of WDP in Romania is a true success story, showing how a company can succeed in growth by committing to a market it believes in.

It’s a journey that has brought challenges, as Biermans points out, “The greatest challenge is the paperwork, the administration. When we started in 2007 the challenge was mainly the paperwork for the acquisition of land. Now the greatest challenge is the paperwork regarding permits for the building, and connection to utilities because utilities have been privatised and the provider of the utility was never obliged to invest in the network.”

But at the same time, Romania

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offers a virtually untapped market and a huge pool of talent.

“The greatest opportunities are that when we started, Romania was basically a virgin market. A lot of new businesses, a lot of European and American companies are moving into Romania now but we have a local team and we were one of the first established there,” Biermans explains.

DRAWING ON LOCAL TALENT

The biggest problem when it comes to labour isn’t a lack of local talent, but in persuading that talent to stay in the country.

“Romania also has a big labour pool. The only problem is when I started there were 22 million people here and now there are only 17 because 5 million left to work abroad. So it gets harder to find a qualified labour force,” Biermans admits.

Fortunately, WDP has strong staff retention.

“We only have 80 people managing a portfolio of £5 billion in the entire WDP group.

WDP Romania counts 20 persons while just two persons have left since 2007, so we’re very stable,” Biermans tells us.

“Last year we moved into a new

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office, we invested in SAP, in digitalisation. It is demanding but once it is installed and managed it is very rewarding.

We have a flat structure if you’re involved in something, you’re in it to the end.”

Of course, businesses trying to take care of their staff have faced a new challenge this year in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, and no business has been able to avoid the safety and economic implications of the crisis.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

WDP ensures its buildings are well-insulated and use sustainable and renewable energy. Combining that with careful consideration of how that energy can be used most efficiently, WDP is able to offer greener warehouses and distribution centres that are, consequently, a great deal cheaper. The company carefully monitors its customers’ utility costs and uses that data to calculate the cost savings that can be made for an existing warehouse by comparing its energy consumption, primarily lighting and heating. WDP considers this not just a unique

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WDP

selling point, but a social obligation as a leading property partner for the logistics sector.

How they do business can have a major impact on prosperity and the environment, and WDP is determined to make sure that impact is for the better. That is why sustainable entrepreneurship has been a key part of the WDP strategy for many years.

Using the Sustainable Development Goals (20162030) drawn up by the United Nations as their benchmark, WDP has worked hard to create a concrete working framework that focuses on seven key themes it has defined to help the company maintain sustainable employment practices and sustainable management for the future. From this framework, WDP is working towards a long-term roadmap to guide the future of the company. It has already concluded that the business can contribute towards several important sustainability goals, including the use of sustainable energy, employment and economic growth, and the battle against climate change, where WDP can have a direct or indirect influence.

The key to WDP’s social responsibility is the company’s recognition that its responsibility applies at the corporate level as well as the local level, and these two levels are entwined with each other in a way that cannot be separated. WDP’s corporate strategy on sustainable development implies futureproofing the company and its stakeholders.

WDP strongly believes that contributing to a more sustainable and better world is only possible when everyone within the company believes in this vision, and is supported in this respect by the management

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and the Board of Directors.

Only then sustainability remains embedded in WDP’s DNA. Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility, WDP’s vision for the future holds its pure player strategy as a cornerstone of its plans. WDP has pursued this strategy consistently for decades, focussing clearly on investments in, the development of and long-term leasing of highgrade sustainable logistics and semi-industrial property.

The company has been steadily enlarging its property portfolio by developing storage and distribution facilities for its own account, based on client demand and requirements and in line with the highest industry standards. WDP will also continue to invest directly in high-quality existing sites with a view to long-term leasing.

This strategy is set to be applied globally, as well as in Romania.

“WDP received a loan from the world bank so that the Romanian activity can grow without any financing problems by a portfolio of 1 billion euros by the end of 2023,” Biermans says. “A lot of companies will have realised by now that it’s good to hold safety stock, not to have a break into the supply line during times of crises, to have more than one production site per product and to have a minimum level of automation to cover lack of active labour force.

But even with all these plans ahead of them, Biermans still believes Romania has a great deal of untapped potential.

“There are still a lot of opportunities in Romania with infrastructure being built now. A lot of the country is not open because there are no highways and in case some of the 5 Million Romanian expats return to their home country it will boost local production and consumption” he says.

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