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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
JULY
2016
July 2016 marks the 20
th
anniversary of construction
chemicals supplier, the Chryso Southern Africa Group's
operations in South Africa. Here Norman Seymore, CEO
of the Group and vice-president of Chryso globally,
looks back on two decades of growth in South Africa's
volatile building industry.
company such as Chryso, bearing
in mind its foreign ownership?
This had a major impact on Chryso’s growth
and led to the Chryso Group being willing to
invest in South Africa with the acquisition
of my personal previous business, Contech,
which had acted as a distributor to Chryso
before 1996.
The subsequent investment in manufac-
turing plants and technology transfers as part
of a wholly-owned foreign subsidiary of the
Chryso Group would never have taken place
without the democratic changes of 1994.
What were the most influential
moments in Chryso Southern
Africa’s growth? And what did
you bring to SA that was not
available before?
I can’t identify just one or two events. It really
was a collection of many different things. For
example, Chryso's geographical expansion
into the other provinces after initially being
present only in the Western Cape, was a big
factor. The acquisition of the Fosroc admix-
ture business in 1999 saw us doubling our
market share.
The investment in plant and infrastruc-
ture for bulk liquid production and distribu-
tion gave us advantages in the market.
The expansion into the mining and
cement market have also contributed posi-
tively to our development. Our customers
and the many long term relationships and
partnerships that we have with the industry
leaders and their support is, of course, the
primary reason for our success.
In terms of what we brought to SA that
was not available before? Well, we have been
the first to introduce many different technol-
ogies in the concrete and cement additive
market over the past 20 years, and were also
the pioneers with regards to the introduction
of synthetic fibre reinforcing and cement/fly
ash/slagment activation within the cement
industry.
How important has your supply
of grinding aids and activators to
the SA cement industry been to
your business?
The products that Chryso supplies to the
cement industry for fly ash/slagment/
and limestone extension have assisted the
cement producers greatly in allowing them
to increase their extender contents while
maintaining their cement performance. This
has contributed significantly in reducing CO
2
emissions – something we are very proud of.
When did the construction
industry catch on to the role
admixtures can play to enhance
performance and durability?
Admixtures have been used for many years
and we were not the first to introduce them
to SA. But I would say that it was during the
1980s that admixtures really started to be
seen as an essential part of concrete mix
design. In the early years there was skepti-
cism from some people but as the industry
has advanced – and has been able to really
>
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
20 years of
GROWTH
in
VOLATILE
building industry
Chryso products were widely used in various facets of the expansion of Durban harbour, including
the undersea tunnel that linked the harbour's Point area with The Bluff (pictured).
INSERT:
Norman
Seymore, CEO of the Group and vice-president of Chryso globally.
What does it take to survive the
extreme slumps that the South
African building industry has
experienced since 1996?
Not so simple to answer. We have imple-
mented many different approaches to our
business in South Africa over the past two
decades. Our growth has been driven organ-
ically through innovation and technology
allowing us to gain market share as well as
geographical expansion within South Africa
with local production as well as technical
support in all the major centres. External
growth came through acquisitions (Fosroc’s
admixture business in 1999, and a.b.e.
Construction Chemicals in 2010). Of course,
our staff have played a major role and having
experienced technical experts to assist and
partner with our customers have also contrib-
uted significantly.
How important was the coming
of democracy in 1994 to a