Construction materials supplier AfriSam is investing in mobile aggregate production equipment and concrete batching plants as major infrastructure projects increasingly emerge beyond South Africa’s traditional construction hubs, allowing it to establish production capacity closer to where work is taking place.

AfriSam Construction Materials executive for sales and product technical Amit Dawneerangen says the company’s traditional footprint has been centred on Gauteng, Durban, Cape Town and parts of Mpumalanga. However, it is increasingly seeing major projects emerge in areas where transporting construction materials over long distances increases costs and can affect project delivery.

“We have already started the process of investing in mobile equipment,” Dawneerangen tells Engineering News.

The strategy includes mobile aggregate production equipment and mobile concrete batching plants that can be deployed directly to major project locations, allowing AfriSam to establish production capacity close to site for the duration of construction before relocating the equipment to the next opportunity, reducing transport distances and improving responsiveness to customers.

AfriSam’s national footprint already provides a degree of built-in resilience, Dawneerangen says, as plants and quarries in different regions can support each other if one operation experiences an interruption, helping to avoid supply disruptions on large projects that often cannot tolerate even a day’s delay.

One of the first examples of this strategy is the Cape Winelands, in the Western Cape, where AfriSam has received approval to establish a new concrete batching plant to support anticipated infrastructure developments in the region. These include a proposed airport development, work associated with the Huguenot Tunnel and a planned reservoir project in the area.

“Our existing plants are simply too far away to service those projects efficiently,” Dawneerangen explains, adding that the company is continually assessing where future opportunities are likely to emerge.

“If you stay [rooted to] where you are, someone else is going to see the opportunity and move before you.”

Logistics is another area where AfriSam is adapting its business model. Transport already represents a significant portion of the cost of supplying construction materials, and Dawneerangen says recent fuel price increases have further intensified pressure on project economics.

While the company has traditionally relied on outsourced transport providers, it has begun introducing its own fleet into the business to improve flexibility and strengthen operational control.

The first phase includes the acquisition of ten new ready-mix concrete trucks, with AfriSam ultimately aiming to operate a blended logistics model combining company- owned and outsourced vehicles.

Dawneerangen says the approach will provide greater flexibility in allocating resources between projects while improving delivery reliability and cost competitiveness.

The logistics strategy is supported by a central vehicle control room that tracks every delivery in real time, enabling dispatchers to monitor truck movements from the time materials leave the plant until they arrive on site. For large concrete pours and other time-sensitive construction activities, Dawneerangen says maintaining continuous vehicle movement is essential to avoiding costly interruptions.

Alongside operational footprint and logistics changes, AfriSam is also strengthening its sustainability offering through the recent launch of its CarbonWise range of lower- carbon concrete products.

Dawneerangen notes that cement manufacture remains inherently carbon intensive, with about one tonne of CO2 emitted for every tonne of cement produced, making emissions reduction a priority for producers worldwide.

South Africa’s cement producers currently pay carbon tax calculated against each company’s emissions factor, meaning lower- carbon production directly reduces tax exposure alongside its environmental benefit, he explains.

For several years, AfriSam has advocated for the increased use of supplementary cementitious materials such as slag, fly ash and limestone, which partially replace conventional cement while remaining fully compliant with South African specifications. Depending on the application, fly ash can replace around 30% of cement, while slag replacement levels can reach about 50%, reducing both the embodied carbon and production cost of concrete.

Building on these initiatives, CarbonWise enables engineers and project owners to quantify the embodied carbon of individual concrete mixes, allowing conventional products to be compared directly with lower-carbon alternatives.

Dawneerangen says similar approaches have become increasingly common in Europe and North America and believes South Africa has been slower to adopt carbon-based material selection despite having the technical capability to do so. The new range, he says, is intended to create greater awareness among specifiers that lower-carbon alternatives already exist and can be selected without compromising technical performance.

Early Collaboration
Dawneerangen says infrastructure projects themselves have become significantly more complex, making early collaboration between contractors, engineers and material suppliers increasingly important.

Drawing on AfriSam’s involvement in major road projects, including upgrades on the N3 and N2 freeways in KwaZulu-Natal and projects in the Western Cape, he says successful delivery often depends on engaging suppliers during the planning and tender stages rather than after contracts have been awarded. Early engagement allows contractors to understand material availability, production lead times and the implications of specifying specialised products before construction begins.

In some cases, approvals for specialised concrete mixes can take several months because independent laboratory testing is required – a timeline Dawneerangen says often catches contractors by surprise if suppliers are not brought in early.

Once projects are under way, AfriSam works closely with contractors through structured prestart meetings, regular planning sessions and digital communication platforms to resolve issues quickly and maintain programme certainty.

While Dawneerangen acknowledges the industry continues to face pricing pressure, with some competitors tendering at lower prices, he says AfriSam has remained committed to maintaining product quality rather than compromising standards to compete on price.

The company operates fully equipped quality control laboratories across its cement factories, aggregate quarries and ready-mix operations, ensuring products are tested throughout the manufacturing process before reaching customers. AfriSam’s vertically integrated business model also allows it to control quality across the entire value chain, from cement manufacture and aggregate production through to ready-mix concrete, providing greater consistency than relying on multiple external suppliers.

It has also invested for more than two decades in concrete durability testing capabilities and specialist technical expertise, including cement chemists, concrete technologists and technical consultants who work directly with customers to optimise product performance. Dawneerangen says getting quality right before materials leave the plant is critical, as failures in the field can have significant financial and safety implications.

AfriSam’s customer base ranges from major infrastructure contractors to small builders and homeowners. Large projects are typically supported through a dedicated account manager who coordinates commercial, technical, logistics and customer service functions on a single project, while smaller contractors are increasingly served through AfriSam’s ClickToGo online ordering platform and its national and regional contact centres.