Publication
South African roofing solutions
Becker is much more than a paint supplier. At the cutting edge of paint technology, Becker not only develops new solutions to current problems: the company also helps clients generate new market opportunities by developing coatings for tomorrow's applications. This is demonstrated again and again, when technical advice to industrial clients is translated into new applications and, in some cases, spawns entire new industries.
Becker started to develop paints for pre-coating technology as early as the 1940s in Sweden, using this platform to expand into the Nordic and then Central European markets. By the mid-1980s, Becker was European market leader in coil coatings and expanding fast outside Europe, through an extensive network of licensing agreements. Most of these have since been transformed into joint ventures or have become independent local production units.
Becker Industrial Coatings has been active in South Africa via a licence agreement since 1982. Following the acquisition of a local paint manufacturer in 1999, the company invested in a major upgrade of production, laboratory and office facilities, in parallel with an expansion of the workforce to almost 50. Becker has established a creative relationship with Hulett Aluminium, which operates one of the most modern aluminium rolling mills in the world. Becker Industrial Coatings South Africa (BICSA) is now one of the country's major paint manufacturers.
Growth market in coil coatings
One of Becker's customers, though a relative newcomer to the market, has rapidly achieved a position as a major South African roofing supplier. Under the name Global Roofing Solutions (GRS), this dynamic young company emerged from the acquisition of HH Robertson's South African unit by the Dorbyl Group, in 1996.
A key attraction of the acquisition was HH Robertson's coil coating line, which provided the newly formed company with its own coil-coating operation. GRS now provides a full range of roofing profiles, from concealed fix to pierced fix and coated metal tiles. Its coil-coated products are a key feature of a series of prestigious buildings – the Peugeot showrooms and the Nestle building. Its coil-coated profiled sheet is also in strong demand for another promising niche sector, somewhat different from the mainstream building sector: garage doors. Expansion into these new niche sectors is largely attributable to the availability of the broad spectrum of Becker products.
Following a management buy-out in April 2003, GRS became fully independent and focused its attention on developing the huge potential offered by the African continent as a whole. It has already opened up new markets (and appointed distributors) in a number of other African countries, including Ghana, Tanzania, Angola, Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria. The relationship with Becker and close cooperation with its paint technologists, initiated in 2001, has ensured access to the latest Becker coil coating technology. This has been instrumental to the company's growing success on export markets.
Exports to Europe and Asia
"South Africa may seem rather remote from the sources of specialised raw materials that are essential to the coil coating industry, but Becker's advanced logistics systems and well-established international network have kept things flowing smoothly, for trouble free access to the entire product range," states Gerulf Naglitsch, Executive Director, BICSA. "Many of our African customers export much of their production to Europe and Asia, so it's vital that their products fulfil the stringent quality requirements imposed by importing countries."
This claim is confirmed by Bill du Toit, Managing Director of GRS, who forecasts rapid export growth over the next few years: "Exports currently account for less than 10 percent of our total product volume at present, but we expect this to reach 40 percent in the next few years. A key element in this expansion will be our close relationship with Becker Industrial Coatings, which was established back in 2001. Becker's international reputation for quality and reliability is an essential part of our export strategy. This alliance is also important in securing our status as top quality suppliers (to major steel corporations) such as Arcelor, Corns and BHP."
From roofing panels to garage doors
Given GRS' origins in the building component sector, it comes as no surprise that the roofing market remains its core business. In addition to its factory operations, GRS also produces coil-coated roofing and building panels on-site for major construction projects, based on a system of mobile Rolling Mills, where sheeting specifications exceed 20 metres and cannot therefore be transported by road or rail. Five of these Rolling Mills are currently operating in different parts of the country. At the erection site, sheets roll off the mill and are mounted immediately on the structure.
The company has recently expanded into a number of niche product segments too, such as cool rooms and garage doors. Until now, end users had had little choice in terms of quality or material. Now they can specify "tailored" solutions for their end products. Cooperating closely with Krazi Door and Becker Industrial Coatings, GRS was able to supply products with an abrasion resistant (GlobalARS) coating, specially designed to withstand the continual surface abrasion associated with dynamic applications such as garage doors. The specially developed coating, applied to Krazi Door-specified coil on the GRS paint line, has proved hugely successful.
Getting better all the time
The close relationship with Becker offers many other benefits too, among them the ability to offer customers surface treatments and special-purpose coatings formulated to satisfy individual specifications, such as those required for the garage doors and cold rooms mentioned above. Becker's ongoing research also ensures constant refinement of the existing product range, resulting in advances such as a second-generation GlobalSil roofing coating (GlobalTech 5000), scheduled for launch in 2004. This new High Durability coating offers enhanced UV resistance, provides better overall protection of the substrate and raises durability of coil-coated roofing sheets to a new level.
Managing Director Bill du Toit is as enthusiastic as Becker about prospects for the new coatings. Becker technology will open up a number of new niche markets. A man of action, he's already started looking into the possibility of expanding GRS' current coil production capacity. Becker's claim to "help clients generate new market opportunities by developing coatings for tomorrow's applications" is no boast: it's a matter of principle!
Released: August 2005