Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, Lebogang Maile will today launch Bear Grip, a company that supplies high quality, durable and reliable pulley lagging to the mining and conveyor belting industries.
The provincial department said the launch of Bear Grip (Pty) Ltd, trading as Abear Industrial, will go a long way to reduce the frequency of conveyor system downtime related to excessive conveyor belt wear and pulley lagging failure.
The factory supports the local manufacturing industry through the use of locally manufactured and supplied raw materials and capital equipment.
“The lack of quality local manufacturers has resulted in the vast majority of users and suppliers importing stock. Importing stock is usually more expensive and has much longer lead time and the quality is harder to regulate, hence the initiation of the factory, which was funded by the Gauteng Provincial Government,” the provincial Department of Economic Development, Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development said.
The Gauteng Enterprise Propeller approved a loan application by Bear Grip during the 2015/16 financial year. The R4.3 million was to procure manufacturing equipment, raw material, working capital and other contingencies in order for the business to operate.
Since its inception in 2016, the black owned business has employed 12 staff members in different positions. These include a supervisor, a sales person, a factory operational manager, three section leaders and six general factory workers.
The entity exports its lagging products to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, DRC-Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, Denmark, Italy, Middle Eastern Countries as well as South America.
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