Celebrating 100 years in electrical excellence

PHOENIX Contact, headquartered in Blomberg, Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Germany – manufacturers of industrial automation, interconnection and interface solutions – celebrates 100 years as an international company in 2023. It has also been in South Africa since 1969 – 54 years! 

In celebrate this important milestone, CBN Editor, Robin Hayes, asked General Manager of Phoenix Contact South Africa, Carl Kleynhans to outline the company’s history and successes in South Africa’s local market.

RH:  Please describe the initial establishment in SA and the industries served then. 

CK:  Phoenix Contact entered South Africa in 1969 and became a wholly owned sales subsidiary in 2001, with our Headquarters located in Randburg Johannesburg. We initially imported terminal blocks which were used in the power generation and mining sectors.

RH:  I note that the flagship product, Combicon also celebrates 50 years of production – how has the product changed over the years?

CK:  Yes it does, another fantastic milestone for Phoenix Contact. For half a century, COMBICON PCB terminal blocks and PCB connectors have been ahead of their time, state of the art today, and tomorrow. Our passion is to always make the best technology even better. Each year, we create new innovations that make the PCB connection more compact, more powerful, or easier to operate, so get ready for the next generation of PCB terminal block and connector technology.

RH:  Is Phoenix Contact involved in any local manufacture? 

CK:  No, we do not manufacture components locally in South Africa, although we do offer our partners a value-added service whereby we populate and mark their DIN rails according to their specifications, saving them time, money and labour. They design their rails on our project complete software which they download free of charge, then we produce a single order number for the entire rail, we then populate it and add their marking and all they have to do is put it into their cabinets and wire it.

RH:  What are its main markets in SA? 

CK:  Our biggest market in SA would be mining, followed by energy, food and beverage and telecommunications although we do deal with all segments including E-mobility.

RH:  Does it have a branch network, or distributors in SA – please elaborate. 

CK:  Yes we do. We have branches and warehouses in the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal as well as sales branches in the Eastern Cape, and the North East Region. We also have distributors and system integrators nationally as well as in Sub Saharan Africa which you will be able to find on our website.

RH:  How many people does the company employ in SA? 

CK:  In South Africa we have well over 50 employees.

RH:  What were the important milestones in the SA company’s operations. 

CK:  Firstly, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary was one of the most important milestones in our operation.

In 2016 we did a full renovation of our entire head office building in Randburg, adding a 62 seater auditorium with state of the art audio visual equipment, following that we renovated our offices in the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape. 

The creation of our VAC (Value added centre) in 2021, as mentioned earlier whereby we offer our partners the service of populating their rails for them.

Also in 2021 we successfully won and completed a part of the total Huguenot Tunnel Project in partnership with BEKA Schreder which is the perfect example of how our business has grown from only providing components to now being able to offer an array of systems and solutions.

Obviously throughout the years we have achieved numerous revenue milestones, growth in company size and staff count.

RH:  What does the future hold, plans etc. here in SA?

CK:  Phoenix Contact is serious about creating a sustainable world, from this came the vision of the All Electric Society and this is our focus going forward. The All Electric Society vision of the future describes a world in which energy from renewable resources is available in sufficient quantities and at affordable prices. In addition to the consistent generation and use of renewable energy, reducing the demand for primary energy through efficiency measures and creating intelligent and networked systems are the keys to a sustainable future.

The way to get there is through the comprehensive electrification, networking and automation of all relevant areas of life and work.

RH:  What celebrations are planned both here and overseas in 2023? 

CK:  We have quite a few exciting things in the pipeline to celebrate this fantastic milestone, however these will only be revealed later on during the course of the year.