Construction World July 2018

Speaking after the signing of a deal that will create MasterFibre South Africa, PFE International CEO, Dr Mehran Zarrebini, explained that all manufacturing of moulded products would now take place at Van Dyck’s factory in Prospecton, Durban. The Cape Town operation will be responsible for smaller, customised products only. Raw materials will be supplied by South Africa’s largest truck tyre recycler, Mathe Group. This Hammarsdale operation is part of the multinational group PFE International of which Van Dyck Floors is part. In addition to offering benefits associated with Stepping into joint venture Aldo Steyn and Mehran Zarrebini pictured with one of the machines in the Durban factory that manufactures MasterFibre moulded rubber products.

A civil engineer by training, Steyn added a number of innovative prod- ucts to MasterFibre’s basic rubber matting offering when he took over the company in 2007. These included rubber safety mats for children’s playgrounds, doormats and rubber mats with customised logos for businesses, specialised mats for horse boxes and equestrian use, ballistic prod- ucts and tiles for shooting ranges. Van Dyck Floors manufactures rubber flooring and paving and acoustic cradles and underlays for carpets which are sold locally and exported to 50 countries across the world. Zarrebini said that, in 2016, Van Dyck had invested in a sample line to manufacture additional products including paving mats and rubber pavers. This had proved successful and the company had invested in two larger machines that could produce 1 m x 1 m prod- ucts and interlocking paving mats. Van Dyck invested in a further two units to produce moulded rubber flooring products measuring 2 m x 1 m and automated the process last year. “This investment has given us much more flexibility and increased production capacity substantially. We have also invested in new moulds. Where we could initially produce bricks, pavers and 1 m x 1 m interlocking mats, now we have 1 metre honeycomb pavers and we are able to produce kerbs for the 1m x 1m mats. The increased automation will also improve our manufacturing efficiency,” he said. The new lines were commissioned in April 2018. The rebranded company has set up its first office in KwaZulu- Natal at Van Dyck’s Durban head office. 

vertical integration, this will increase manufacturing capacity 10 fold while freeing MasterFibre managing director, Aldo Steyn, and his team up to do what they do best – product and market development. Steyn said that the joint venture – effective from the end of April – would in no way change the existing services offered by Master- Fibre. However, the additional manufacturing capacity would enable the company to increase both the number and size of orders. As an innovator in this space, Steyn was one of the very first to begin selling moulded rubber products, including tiles and pavers, into the South African market.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD JULY 2018