June 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
25
cover story
the supporting structure in pavement design
and ismade fromthe crushing of fresh parent
rock, as well as partially weathered material,
while speciality aggregate includes railway
ballast, gabion stone and other larger sizes,
generally used in erosion protection in its
various forms.
“All processing is managed in compli-
ance with ISO 9001 to ensure that products
comply with the relevant specifications and
with customer requirements. To this end our
technical team works closely with custom-
ers to develop and test products that suit
particular specifications and applications.
LEFT, TOP TO BOTTOM:
AfriSam is the number one aggregate producer in
Southern Africa.
AfriSam’s product offering comprises road stone,
concreteaggregate,roadlayerworksmaterialand
speciality aggregate.
AfriSam’s readymix concrete is specified for large
scale projects such as Cradlestone Mall, which is
beingconstructedinMogaleCityinJohannesburg.
This dedicated Product Development team
underpins all AfriSam’s business units from a
scientific and technical perspective and sup-
ports both internal and external customers
with innovative technical solutions.”
An additional competitive advantage
in the aggregate market is AfriSam’s fully
integrated approach. The company is a
fully vertically-integrated supplier of ce-
ment, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag
(GGBFS), aggregate and readymix concrete
and the only such supplier in Gauteng Prov-
ince, which constitutes a third of the total
construction market activity in South Africa.
Second biggest producer of
readymix
AfriSam is second biggest producer of ready-
mix in the SouthernAfrican regionby revenue
and volume, and is able to produce over 1,8
million cubicmetres of readymix concrete per
annum. The company acquired the first of its
readymix operations in 1966when it became
a shareholder in Pioneer Readymix. These
operations have since expanded steadily
and today, AfriSam has 41 readymix plants
in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga,
Western Cape, North West and Botswana.
The company deploys technical teams to
design customised mixes and its readymix
business harnesses sophisticated ordering
and scheduling tools, computerised mixing,
concrete pumping services, technical backup
and quality assurance controls.
AfriSam’s readymix operations are able to
produce almost any concrete mix customers
ask for, including specified concrete – where
a customer specifies the strength, hardening
and workability requirements of the mix, as
well as application brands, which comprise
different concrete mixes identified as opti-
mum solutions for specific building or con-
struction applications, such as foundations,
suspended slabs, surface beds and retainers.
The company also offers speciality brands,
which aremixes for unique niche applications
that require specific concrete characteristics.
This range includes suspended slab mix, sur-
facebed mix, starmix and post tension mix.
During 2012 AfriSam acquired six new
readymix plants, some of which will be
deployed at new sites and the remainder
integrated into existing operations.
Group approach
AfriSamadopts a Group approach to sustain-
ability, based on the belief that a company
can only be sustainable in the long term if it
actively manages, measures and optimises
its financial, social and environmental per-
formance on an ongoing basis and underpins
this with a strong corporate governance plat-
form. Of critical importance to this philosophy
is a structured and disciplined approach to
risk to ensure that the results of AfriSam’s
efforts are not diminished through avoidable
loss or uncertainty.
Employee safety and wellness and the
safety of all who interact with AfriSam are
of equal importance, together with acute
awareness and minimisation of the adverse
impacts of the company’s activities on both
the community and the environment in
which it operates.
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