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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
SEPTEMBER
2016
MSA Africa’s potential for growth in local market share in 2016
is considerable, following the late-2015 acquisition of UK-based
Latchways by the MSA Group. Latchways is a specialist in the
design and manufacture of horizontal lifelines and vertical
fall arrest systems that are used in the utilities, telecoms,
construction and aircraft markets.
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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Latchways employs around 250 people glob-
ally and had 2015 revenues of approximately
USD50-million. The transaction is valued at
around USD190-million, and significantly broadens the
global MSA Group’s existing line of fall protection prod-
ucts, while strengthening the company’s position in the
global fall protection market, which is estimated to be
up to USD2-billion globally.
MSA Africa director Colin Oliver indicates that the
Latchways range is entirely different, yet perfectly
complementary to the MSA range of fall protection
solutions. He believes that the product range now has
a better reach into Africa, thanks to a larger network of
existing resellers and distributors that have direct support
from the OEM.
“This synergistic partnership offers a high-quality
turnkey solution to the market that is backed up with
unrivalled after-sales service. Adding the Latchways
range to our existing solutions is beneficial to our
customers, as we now provide the end-user with a
comprehensive portfolio of fall arrest solutions that
can be used individually, or in conjunction with one
another,” he states.
Oliver anticipates that MSA Africa has the potential to
grow its fall arrest business significantly during the course
of 2016. “This acquisition holds enormous potential for
us to dramatically expand our specialised fall protection
portfolio to potentially become the largest across existing
sub-Saharan African markets, while penetrating new
sectors, such as aviation,” he concludes.
AfriSam’s Centre of Product Excellence
has been assisting the country’s leading
concrete product manufacturers (CPMs)
to optimise their concrete mix designs while at
the same time reduce their total manufacturing
costs by advising them on the best selection of
materials for their production processes.
Mike McDonald, manager of AfriSam’s
Centre of Product Excellence, says having
access to this level of technical input and
knowledge transfer is a significant advantage
for many of these companies that do not have
internal cement technologists.
Importantly, the AfriSam Centre of Product
Excellence has also helped many new players
establish a presence in the market by imparting
essential knowledge on the cement, aggre-
gates and sand required to manufacture a
quality product, and particularly early on in
the conceptualisation stages of these factories.
McDonald says incorrect selection of
materials not only has a significant impact on
the quality of the end concrete product, but
also on the cost of manufacturing.
One of AfriSam’s strengths is its vast foot-
print with 17 aggregate quarries countrywide
that produce materials according to the
South African National Standards (SANS) 1083
specification.
Based on its close interaction and collabo-
ration with this market, AfriSamhas
also developed a cement that
meets the unique requirements
GLOBAL ACQUISITION FOR FALL ARREST BUSINESS
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CEMENTING GROWTH OF CONCRETE
PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS
South Africa is home to a
vibrant concrete product
manufacturing industry,
ranging from small to large
scale manufacturers, with
many of these turning to an
independent third party to
advise them on best practice in
terms of concrete technologies.
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of the sophisticated Gauteng CPM market. Afri-
Sam’s Rapid Hard cement meets the high early
and late strength requirements of the industry.
By using this AfriSam cement, CPMs have
also reduced their cement consumption, while
achievingbetterfinishesanddurabilitytraitsoftheir
concrete products.