Mechanical Technology February 2015

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8 Mechanical Technology — February 2015
⎪ Special report ⎪
Specialist mobile air-conditioning
unit manufacturer and supplier,
Booyco Engineering, celebrates
its 30th anniversary in February
2015. The company is set to double
its staff complement over the next 18
months and expand its Meadowdale,
Johannesburg assembly facility in antici-
pation of a slew of contracts related to
major procurement announcements from
Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency
of South Africa (PRASA).
Such is the anticipated flow of work
from this long-term locomotive and
commuter train programme that Booyco
Engineering will have a solid order book
for the next four years. This marks the lat-
est stage in the transformation of Booyco
Engineering, from a specialist military
sector supplier to a force to be reckoned
with in the global railway sector as well.
“It has been my ambition at Booyco
Engineering that we become a significant
supplier of original equipment in global
markets,” Pougnet says. “We are well
on our way to achieving this. It is clear
that Booyco Engineering is regarded
at a high level by the top rolling stock
builders in the world. This is good for
Booyco Engineering and for South Africa
as a whole.”
Pougnet says some impressive statis-
tics have emerged with respect to Booyco
Engineering’s climate control systems
from the railway sector, indicating very
low numbers of failures per million
kilometres, which is the international
yardstick of reliability for this sector. “By
world standards we are obtaining good
results, and the global railway fraternity
is sitting up and taking notice.”
In terms of Transnet’s procurement
drive to replace ageing rolling stock, in
conjunction with PRASA’s procurement
drive on the passenger rail side, Booyco
Engineering has had to embrace “a sud-
den and dramatic increase in competition
in our traditional market or risk losing
Jeremy Pougnet, CEO of Booyco Engineering,
which celebrates its 30th anniversary during
February 2015.
Booyco Engineering is implementing a new factory layout and installing new equipment to enable the company to take advantage of Transnet’s and PRASA’s
procurement drives.
SA’s mobile HVAC specialist
celebrates 30 years
Booyco Engineering celebrates 30 years in business this February. Founded as
a specialist provider of HVAC solutions to the military sector, the company is
currently transforming into a globally recognised OEM for the railway sector.
Jeremy Pougnet, CEO, outlines his future vision.
out on some massive opportunities. I
do believe that these contracts are of
the magnitude that we are unlikely to
see in South Africa again anytime soon,
especially given the fact that locomo-
tives and coaches have a life expectancy
of between 30 to 40 years,” Pougnet
comments.
“The upside of the increased competi-
tion is that it forces us to be on our toes
at all times.”
In order to be both efficient and
competitive, Pougnet reveals that Booyco
Engineering is upgrading its assembly
facility in Meadowdale, Johannesburg.
“What I am particularly excited about
is that we have had a fresh look at our
manufacturing philosophy.