Metal manufacturing major, Fabrinox shakes off the effects of the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine with proven strategies and an emphasis on greater customer involvement. CEO Andre Visser elaborates to CBN Editor Robin Hayes.
“THERE is no denying that the COVID pandemic has had an impact on our business operations” stated CEO Andre Visser, “SA businesses have not escaped its worldwide effects and we are no different. Pre-pandemic levels showed that about 20% of our turnover was from international business, that has dropped to 10% now, and even been compounded with the war in Ukraine with two of our projects being suspended – one in Ukraine and the other in Belarus. Hopefully for all concerned, this tragic state of affairs will end quickly with a return to normal life.”
Despite the pandemic and lockdowns, the company has recently completed the third phase of a three phase expansion programme involving both premises and processes. Expanding its offering of world class services of sheet metal and tube fabrication solutions, includes custom tailored project management, global installation, procurement, technical advice along with manufacturing design and documentation, within an ISO 9001, ISO 3834 & EN 15085 environment.
Fabrinox continues to be a South African success story, which over the past 29 years has perfected the supply of components and or sub-assemblies to many OEM’s where relationships and trust have been nurtured in some cases over the entire period of Fabrinox existence.
When the going gets tough…
“It is often the case where adversity gives rise to new opportunities and we have seen this at Fabrinox, where we have capitalised on close relationships with both local and international clients. Such is the quality of these relationships that our engineering teams have become part of some of our long standing client’s R&D departments.
“This of course provides a distinct advantage in the highly competitive sector in which we operate, that has intensified since the onset of the pandemic. In addition to our focus on customer concentric approach, this competitiveness has been countered by our flexible manufacturing facilities which allow two-thirds of our manufacturing space to be quickly modified to suit a customer’s production requirements with the other third dedicated to heavy machines which by their nature have to be permanently located.
“We are active and competitive across a wide spectrum of industrial sectors including transportation, food and beverage – a growing market worldwide, health services, renewable energy and recently in the water treatment and fire safety space.
“Our foray into water treatment stems from a partnership with a UK based firm that has conceived a containerised waste treatment system, described as a grease trap waste disposal ‘hub’ that collects and separates the significant portions of oils, fats and grease from food production waste, turning them into clean water and beneficial feedstocks that can ultimately be sold separately and used in the production of biodiesel. Our first pilot plant has been in operation in Amsterdam and our partners are well on their way to securing more sites in the UK. We have plans for our locally manufactured plant to be tested here through an agreement with a local municipality, and upon successfully completing trials will hopefully lead to another avenue of operations!”
Staff welfare to the fore.
“In order to innovate, produce and grow, we need a highly talented, well-motivated work force. We are acutely aware of the effects that lockdown, wearing PPE and continued isolation have had on our staff and measures have been put in place to alleviate potential health problems for all our 151 staff complement and especially for those that travel both locally and now overseas on company business. These measures have now become part of our evolving HR policy which will equip us to facing the challenges of the ‘new normal’ and continuity for the next 30 years or even more” concluded Visser.
