African Fusion

8 / 40

AFRICAN FUSION March 2016 6
SAIWmember profile: Efficient Engineering
Efficient Engineering was estab-
lished in 1968 as a small company
manufacturing cabs andoperator
cabins for forklifts and trucks. Demand
for the company’s high quality prod-
ucts has seen the business grow into a
world-class steel fabrication,machining,
manufacturing and heavy engineering
works, constituting a total floor space
of some 25 500 m2.
As the official supplier to many
national and international original
equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs) in the
mining, materials handling and engi-
neering industries, Efficient Engineering
has continued tobuild its business name
on a reputation of quality and reliability.
“The company promotes quality
excellence fromthe groundup,” explains
Smuts “We follow stringent procedures
to ensure uniformity. For example, each
welder signs off on the quality of his
work before an inspector is called. This
is what has emerged from honing our
products and processes for nearly 50
years,” he adds.
Facilities and growth
Having started out as a small-scale engi-
neering firm, the company experienced
highdemand, which led to the establish-
ment of a new factory in Sebenza and a
shift in focus to heavy engineering.
Due to continued demand from
major industry players and the need for
significantly larger production space,
October 2006 saw the development of
Phase I of Efficient Engineering’s newly
established 6 300 m2 headquarters in
Greenhills, which would allow the com-
pany tomanufacture larger components
than ever before while consolidating
its machining, blasting and painting
capabilities.
Continued increases in demand
necessitated the construction of the
South African company
chooses quality cornerstone
A heat exchanger for Natref under construction. The welders had to weld 585 U-bend joints per
bundle, nearly 1 200 tube-to-tube butt welds, and achieved a very low weld repair rate – an
impressive feat when mirror welding has to be employed.
Efficient Engineering has been certified to ISO 3834 Part 2 for
many years and had its first recertification earlier this year.
African Fusion caught upwith the company’s qualitymanager,
Louis Smuts (right), engineering, sales andmarketingmanager,
Gerhard vanZyl, aswell asmanaging director for newly formed
Efficient Trotech, Mike van der Walt, at Efficient Engineering’s
Phase IV facilities in Tunney, Germiston.
4 200 m2 Phase II development, com-
pleted at the end of 2008, followed in
March 2009 by its 2 000 m2 Phase III
facility, which is focused on sheet metal
fabrications.
Efficient Engineering’s Phase IV and
V developments, with a combined floor
space 13 000 m2, constitute the latest
state-of-the-art facilities.
Ownership
The continued success of Efficient En-
gineering over the decades has drawn
keen interest from a number of high
profile investors during the company’s
history. In order to effectively accelerate
this growth, Efficient Engineeringagreed
to sell 26% of the company’s equity to
investment expert, RMB Corvest, the
private equity division of FirstRand
Limited, in September 2009. At the same
time, B-BBEE private equity company
Shalamuka Capital acquired 29%.
Efficient Engineering’s non-execu-
tive chairman, Tony Cimato, retains a
25%shareholding in the business, while
the remaining 20%was offered to senior
management as part of an internal buy-
in. This ensured improved job security
and increased loyalty to the Efficient
Engineering brand while enabling the
current leadership team to flourish in a
corporate environment where they have
been exposed to new learning opportu-
nities and decisionmaking responsibili-
ties from within the business.
The net result is B-BBEE Level 4
status with total black ownership of
36.82% and black women ownership
of 11.58%, a R400-million turnover for
2013 and 2014, and a likely turnover of
R350-million in 2015.
Products and capabilities
Efficient Engineering’s activities can
be categorised into four main product