CMCO Materials Handling MD Pieter Nortjé and Executive: Business Development, Lebo Sephoti believe that their belief that every CMCO employee is an integral part of the business is part of the reason for the company’s success
During tough economic times when the mining sector is technically in recession and the manufacturing sector is showing just marginal growth, CMCO Material Handling South Africa is experiencing exponential growth.
The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbus McKinnon Industrial Products GmbH and part of the multinational Columbus McKinnon Corporation Group, a global leader in the design and manufacture of material handling systems and services. CMCO Material Handling has a competitive edge through their Brand names such as; Yale, Pfaff Silberblau, Tigrip, Camlok, and Steerman. All products are manufactured to the European Standard.
Managing Director of CMCO South Africa, Pieter Nortjé, says that, with 18 manufacturing facilities located in 7 countries across the world, a lot of time and attention is spent on user applications and product research to enable the company to continue to develop innovative, modern and practical products to meet the exacting and varied needs of today’s industry.
This expertise and attention to detail has reflected in the remarkable achievements of CMCO South Africa which has almost tripled in size and seen growth of around 150 percent over the past five years.
The company has just passed one and is heading towards another important milestone. Its international parent celebrated 140 years in business last year (2015) and the South African subsidiary turns 20 this year (2016).
CMCO South Africa was launched in Durban in 1996, and while maintaining the distribution networks in coastal areas; it extended its operations into Pretoria, Johannesburg, Magaliesburg, and Middleburg through acquisitions and new start-up ventures. This is with specific focus on mining, rail, and industrial vertical markets.
Drawing on the experience of its multinational network which specialises in vertical markets such as steel, water, construction, manufacturing and energy, CMCO has also focused on growing its industrial market.
“As an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), CMCO has an advantage over some of its local competitors. At CMCO and Yale we offer a full solution to our customers by supplying own high quality products, maintenance, services, and repairs. Yale has onsite test vehicles backed up by onsite repairs, ensuring quality and efficiency. That way, we are able to help our customers ensure that they comply with legal requirements for lifting solutions which keeps them ahead of the safety obligations,” says Nortjé.
He adds that CMCO is in a particularly strong position because its international expertise is complimented with substantial local knowledge and experience.
As a result, CMCO has been able to adapt international products to the South African market, tailoring products and solutions to this country’s unique challenges, different local environments and needs. This benefits customers directly.
A keen understanding of customer needs is an important part of the CMCO success story. “We aim to build relationships with our customers. When you understand a customer’s application, you can introduce products that can improve that process or production – even something small can have a positive impact,” Nortjé explains.
The company is also growing into Africa with distributors appointed in 14 African countries as far north as Nigeria. The plan is to grow CMCO’s African footprint even further. Both Nortjé and recently-appointed Executive: Business Development, Lebo Sephoti, believes that, because the company has already established a considerable presence in Africa, the company can support the projected growth within the continent of Africa.
“Wherever we go, we go in as local. Our strategy in Africa is to work with local suppliers. A manager visits suppliers and customers, listens to their needs and provides the relevant products and training to ensure that we offer a comprehensive solution. We have invested in local communities and seen positive returns,” says Sephoti.
Nortjé says that, in South Africa, job creation and up skilling of staff has proved of major benefit for CMCO. “My goal is to improve the lives of the people that work for the company; that satisfies me. Employees tend to give back to the company if the company makes a positive impact on their lives.”
Sephoti adds that every CMCO employee is seen as an integral part of the business. The company does not believe in micro-managing, believing that people that have the skills to do their jobs can be trusted to do just that. Performance to date has underscored this.
Nortjé says that impressive growth attained by the company would not have been possible without its employees as well as its partners and customers.
He predicts that the South African subsidiaries will keep pace with the rest of the group and grow its annual turnover at double digits over a medium term.
“As a service-focused company, we strive on efforts that link customer growth strategy by supporting our customers’ specific requirements. While we will continue to grow our business, we won’t outgrow our customers. Indeed we see all customers irrespective of size as key to our business,” he concludes.