The South African branch of peristaltic pump manufacturer Watson -Marlow Bredel has targeted KwaZulu-Natal as a significant growth node by opening a new branch office at Mahogany Ridge, in Pinetown.

Sales engineer Reon Durgapersad has moved from Watson-Marlow Bredel South Africa’s head office in Johannesburg, to head up the new branch.

Durgapersad believes that KwaZulu-Natal has great potential for growth and says that he is committed to changing the mindsets of customers by showing them the benefits of placing reliability above price, when choosing their pumping solutions.

The company has been operating in South Africa since 2003, and is listed on the AIM as the Spirax-Sarco Group.

At the end of 2007, it pumped out orders in excess of R14-million. In the last year, it has increased its sales by 38%, placing the company second in the group’s world wide figures.

“Our challenge is to maintain that growth in 2008, or at least aim at a double digit figure growth,” says GM Nico van Schalkwyk.

The 720 series peristaltic pump is the most recent addition to Watson-Marlow’s range of pumps. It provides a flowrate of 2 000 l/h with a single 720 R pumphead and up to 4 000 l/h with the twin pumphead option. With a choice of continuous tubing for joint-free flow from source to discharge, or LoadSure tube elements for guaranteed correct loading and longer life, it is suitable for fluids such as caustic, abrasive, viscous, shear sensitive, gaseous, slurries and suspended solids.

Anglo Platinum’s Amendelbult mine, in Limpopo, has already purchased four of the 720 series pumps.

Seven years ago, the company started to replace its SP range of pumps with the patented SPX range. Marketed as durable and low maintenance, Bredel’s SPX range series pumps are 25% stronger, 10% lighter, use 30% fewer parts, and have 30% smaller footprint than the previous models.

More than R10-million worth of the company’s SPX range is being delivered to various mining operations across sub-Saharan Africa.

Potgietersrus Platinum Limited ordered a wide range of Watson-Marlow Bredel South Africa’s SPX pumps worth R1,6-million.

Meanwhile, Tati Nickel, in Botswana, is replacing their VF125 pump with two SPX 100 pumps worth about R380 000.

Lonmin Smelter also ordered two of Bredel’s SPX 100 pumps late last year which was delivered in four days.

All pumps are manufactured at the company's three main factories, situated in Holland, England and Sweden. Parts are then assembled at the Watson-Marlow Bredel’s South Africa facilities in Honeydew, which holds stock to the value of R6-million at all times, to meet demand.

The company already conducts in-house repair work but hopes that a specialised preventative maintenance department will enable it to satisfy mine needs by making staff available to perform on-site repairs to machinery.

Large orders for Watson-Marlow Bredel pumps were placed in Africa. An order for Bredel’s pumps worth R378 000 was send to Ruashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kansanshi in Zambia received 520 case drive pumps to the value of R320 000.

Van Schalkwyk comments that one of the problems in the pump industry is pirate parts. “Fitting a pirate hose to a pump shortens the life expectancy of the pump, which in turn affects productivity.”

“ We at Watson-Marlow Bredel have so much confidence in our product that we extend a five year warranty” he concludes.