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Zest WEG Group has increased focus on Africa

Zest WEG Group has an extensive stockholding of motors at its Linbro Park warehouse, in Johannesburg, Gauteng

Training forms an important cornerstone of Zest WEG Group's market offering

29th August 2014

  

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While about 80% of the people who walk onto Zest WEG Group’s stand have had some form of interaction with an operating entity within the group, many people do not fully understand the depth of product offering that is available through this multi-faceted group. For this reason, the primary objective of participation at Electra Mining Africa 2014 is to share the full portfolio of Zest WEG Group business with customers.

Zest WEG Group, now a subsidiary of Brazilian motor and controls manufacturer WEG, started out as a South African company and maintains a strong commitment to contributing to the development of the African continent. It is a supplier of low-, medium- and high voltage-electric motors, vibrator motors, variable speed drives (VSDs), soft-starters, transformers, containerised substations, diesel generator sets, switchgear and cogeneration and energy solutions, as well as electrical and instrumentation engineering and project management services in Africa.

Zest WEG Group already has meaningful participation in all its business lines in Africa, particularly electric motors, where the group is a leader in the market and its customer portfolio comprises some of the largest companies in Africa’s mining, oil and gas and energy sectors.

To gain optimum penetration for maximised customer satisfaction, Zest WEG Group operates a strategically situated network of branches and distributors across the continent. Besides the South African operation with its eight branches, the group has registered businesses in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Ghana, with distributors in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Angola and Mauritania.

Parent organisation, WEG Group, has a strategic plan to increase its sales by at least 17% year-on-year until 2020, when it aims to arrive at a turnover of $10-billion. Zest WEG Group is, therefore, implementing a number of initiatives to increase its presence in other African countries.

Zest WEG Group CEO Louis Meiring says the organisation has experienced an increased demand from end-users to provide more permanent solutions to problems experienced at end-of-life products. “There is an increased focus throughout Africa on the integrity of products, which underlines the fact that more end-users now understand that life-cycle costing is more important than initial capital cost. This is particularly important in Africa, where many operations are located hundreds of kilometres from support structures.

“Part of this is also an increased service team offering which is in place to accommodate products going into Africa. This is supported by the experience gained over the years that allows us to negotiate terms and conditions of contracts to become more streamlined across the board. Equipment is shipped from the most logistically efficient location to ensure fast turnaround times, without compromising on the vital factors of providing best practice and non-negotiable quality,” Meiring states.

He further highlights Zest WEG Group’s “extensive” understanding of the African dynamics. An example is that logistics in Africa are difficult, with travel within any country typically entailing two flights and hours of driv-ing to reach customer operations. Zest WEG Group has adapted its business to accommodate these dynamics.

Zest WEG Group also places an emphasis on providing support operations in Africa and on communicating with locals in their own language, for example English, French or Portuguese.

Innovative thinking coupled with the neces-sary knowledge is a prerequisite when operating in Africa, and Zest WEG Group’s adaptability forms the cornerstone of successful African relationships.

“The group’s ability to gear up all manufac-turing operations to align with international production standards and move into a position where it is able to supply world markets with its products, is critical to Zest WEG Group’s sus-tainability and underpins its strategic position.”

Zest WEG Group continually invests in assets and technology transfer from WEG to maintain best practice. The group offers its customers ongoing sales and technical support and places a high premium on training. This is emphasised through the fully equipped training facilities in Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Middelburg, Durban and Cape Town that provide ongoing training for all customer personnel from basic electric motor and VSD principles to more advanced automation application courses. Zest WEG Group offers various continuing professional development-accredited courses.

To be better able to respond to the needs of customers, the group also spends a considerable amount of time on developing its staff internally with continuous programmes and training to support the strategy of staying abreast of technological developments and trends.

Hall 6 Stand G30
Outside Area Stand E18

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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