Stainless steel stockist and distributor NDE attributes its business success to its diverse product offering which caters for a range of customers.

NDE supplies corrosion-resistant materials to Southern African and other African countries from its Gauteng outlets in Johannesburg, Germiston and Pretoria as well from its Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth facilties. NDE also has an agent in Nelspruit.

With Gauteng being South Africa’s economic hub, NDE’s growth has led to the establishment of branches in Germiston and Pretoria.

Rather than find larger premises in Johannesburg, NDE Johannesburg branch manager Hardy Esterhuizen says, NDE chose to take its product range and service offering to its widespread customers, opening the Germiston facility in 2010 and the Pretoria facility in 2012.

The NDE Johannesburg branch, like all the company’s branches, is structured to make it easy for customers to access the wide range of corrosion-resistant products in stock and available from NDE’s trusted network.

“Over the years, we have mastered a product range to suit the needs of our customers, backed by many years of experience and technical expertise,” says Esterhuizen.

“The key element of the many customer service benefits which we offer is that we have structured the business to make it easy to deal with NDE,” he says, adding that NDE customers range from small entrepreneurs requiring a fast turnaround to large companies, project houses and huge process plants planning new developments which require specialist products and logistics, compounded by the complexities of exporting into Africa.

“We are here to do business and serve the customer – small, medium-size and large – and we are geared to deliver small orders as well as large ones,” says Esterhuizen. Customers include clients in the industries of building and construction, petrochemicals, mining, engineering, fabrication, automotive, food and beverage and catering.

“We understand the product, we continually strive to understand our customers’ needs, we understand the importance of simplified purchase procedures (without red tape) and we operate with a set of equitable, honest values that people can relate to,” he adds.

The Johannesburg branch’s long-serving, experienced professionals are structured into teams dedicated to delivering on product, sales, projects and exports. There is also a consulting team providing technical information and actively engaging with customers to assist in selecting appropriate products to suit specific corrosion-resistant conditions and requirements.

“In pursuing tailor-made solutions for our clients’ corrosion issues, our technical consulting team has pioneered the introduction of newer grades of stainless steel fit for purpose, which has also brought significant cost savings to customers as well as industry recognition for NDE,” he says.

A stainless steel industry first for NDE was its introduction of 2-m-wide plate, followed by its introduction of lean duplexes into South Africa – both have become widely used.

NDE translates this new knowledge of different applications into educating the marketplace through various industrywide lectures, as well as dedicated workshops for customers and industry associations.