AfriSam is the leading supplier of superior quality construction materials. Its cement, readymix, concrete and aggregate materials have contributed to key infrastructure development on the continent over the last 85 years. Its core values of ‘people, planet and performance’ reflect its commitment towards customers, communities and the environment. AfriSam’s Centre for Product Excellence (CPE) plays an integral part in how it achieves these values, specifically for customers. Construction Worldvisited the CPE at AfriSam’s Roodepoort facility and spoke to Mike McDonald, its manager.
Mc Donald says that they know their plants and know their customer needs and marry these. “The CPE is uniquely positioned. Our work leads to increased brand value and customer loyalty. AfriSam is in business for the long run – we want our customer to be profitable while we also want to be. This is the value realm that directs our work.”
“AfriSam has had a philosophy of offering customer support through a skilled team for many years,” says McDonald. “The centre morphed through times and have had different names, but in the last 10 years it has become known as the AfriSam Centre of Product Excellence. Our sole purpose, and the reason for being, is to excel at customer support, product development and to monitor at the performance of our products in the marketplace.”
The CPE plays an independent role for customers. “We are the body within AfriSam that has the customer’s interest at heart, and we are mandated to do this,” says McDonald.
Customer support
McDonald says that the CPE’s main aim of customer support centres around the customer’s productivity, the proper use of AfriSam’s cement and the prevention of failures. “We have technical consultants visiting customer to provide technical support to (especially) the more technically-astute customers that include concrete product manufacturers, construction and readymix businesses and third party blenders. Our focus is less retail focused as generally we find that for those customers the mix designs and specifications printed on the cement bags, are sufficient,” says McDonald. “However, if there are any product issues, we will offer support.”
The CPE aims to optimise the application process for the customer. “There is a need for true and accurate information, specifically technical information,” says Mc Donald. “Customers can always be assured that when they contact us, the information we give them is beyond reproach and if we do not know an answer, we will do research until we know.”
The support includes the recommendation of which of the existing products will suit a customer’s needs. These are chosen specifically from AfriSam’s engineering range of products such as High Strength Cement, Rapid Hard Cement and its Roadstab Cement.
Combined experience of 202 years
The CPE is manned by a small, but highly experienced team of 11 who between them have 202 years of experience in the manufacturing of cement and concrete, application of various products, and the associated niche applications.
The team is managed by McDonald, who has been with AfriSam for 26 years. He started off at AfriSam’s Dudfield plant as a quality manager, became quarry manager and then operations manager before being promoted to head office.
The team boasts two specialists: Grizelda du Toit (Product Professional: Cement) who holds a PhD in cement chemistry from the University of Pretoria with a thesis on <<i>>the activation of fly ash in a cement matrix<<i>>, while Rajen Naidoo (Concrete application specialist), who has been in the technical side of the AfriSam readymix business for more than 30 years, has been invaluable when experienced contractors faced problems on their sites. “We also perform investigations when material failures such as cracks in concrete are reported and Rajen is invaluable in this aspect as he developed a keen eye for troubleshooting,” says McDonald.
“In addition, Grizelda du Toit, is closely involved with various universities (UJ, UCT, UP and SU) through a programme where AfriSam assist academic institutions with cement and aggregates for student and research activities. The collaborative effort includes the sharing of research results. It is important to AfriSam that there is continued academic research performed on issues that are relevant to the industry,” Mc Donald explains. To this extend AfriSam supports funding of academic institutions through an industry-pooled fund administered by Cement and Concrete South Africa (CCSA).
Bheki Makhathini, with his 14 years of experience and Brendan Croney who is based at AfriSam’s East London offices with 24 years’ experience behind him, are the knowledgeable technical consultants available from the CPE.
“We serve our customers throughout the entire South Africa as well as Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini. The wide geographical area that we cover brings along its own challenges, but we are able to cope with it,” McDonald explains.
Koos Suping and his team operate the SANAS 17025 accredited laboratory and focus on customer concrete mix designs, concrete property testing, aggregate testing and overall material quality evaluation. “They mix and test scaled down concrete mixes for customers, to reach robust designs which will stand customers in good stead,” explains Mc Donald.
Leslie Mchunu is the CPE’s technical trainer. He coordinates internal and external product training. Cement and concrete product training is often scheduled to happen at the customer’s site and often takes place over weekends so as not to interfere with customer processes.
The matrix of materials
Cement is just one material in the whole matrix of materials that is called concrete. “Concrete is a complex system and plastic and hardened properties thereof is affected by how components relate to one another,” McDonald explains.
The CPE’s customer support is a combination of reactive and proactive. “With some of our key customers we built a proactive relationship where we have regular product and process discussions in monthly and quarterly meetings. We spend time with them to get to know their processes, assist to ensure that these processes are making optimally use of the cement and then together we endeavour to identify problems before things go awry,” says McDonald.
“The CPE team’s promise is that a customer will be contacted within 24 hours to offer support, after such a request has been lodged. This is often followed up by an on-site visit, depending on the circumstance,” says McDonald.
A past, but continued focus
McDonald says that the low carbon footprint cement that AfriSam developed and introduced to the market is still a core focus. “AfriSam took the lead in manufacturing low carbon footprint cement products, something we continue to focus on. Cement worldwide is acknowledged as one of the biggest greenhouse gas contributors and in South Africa, it also collects a carbon tax component. But, the carbon footprint of the final product can be reduced significantly if you go about it smartly. It is not only about the cement, but about how to use less cement to achieve the same results. AfriSam produce cements with less than 50% of the carbon footprint of a CEM1 (a cement clinker only product) by using mineral components such as limestone, ash and granulated slag - products that would otherwise be discarded or even landfilled. We are focussing on manufacturing a consistent product that behaves predictably. Users are looking for quality products, not only in strength gain, but also for consistency in setting .”
The AfriSam aim has always been to produce cements with a lower carbon footprint while not sacrificing on performance. “In that sense we are looking at our customers, and manufacture products that will help them to be more environmentally responsible – often they not realising that they are exercising a responsible choice by buying the AfriSam products. This is especially the case with general building applications where cement is used by the DIY-enthusiasts and residential building contractors. Our technically-astute clients are acutely aware of the need to be environmentally conscious.”
McDonald says that they know the possibilities within the AfriSam manufacturing plants and they know their customer needs, and therefore can marry these to the benefit of both. “The CPE is uniquely positioned. Our work leads to increased AfriSam brand value and customer loyalty. AfriSam is in it for the long run – we want the customer to be profitable while we also want to be profitable. This is the value realm that directs our work.”
The CPE’s USP
“The people at the CPE and their can-do attitude gives AfriSam’s CPE a competitive edge. In addition to the vast experience of the team, the laboratory carries the coveted SANAS 17025 accreditation and carries a range of sophisticated equipment that give us the ability to accurately test and predict product behaviour. Putting all of the above together and you can see that the AfriSam CPE plays an integral part in achieving AfriSam’s brand promise of people, planet and performance.”
