DURO

COMPANY PROFILE

2013

Aiding the growthof affordable housing

Between 1994 and 2011, the government alone built over three million homes in South Africa. Add this to the amount constructed by the private sector and also the existing housing in the country and you have a significant market for manufacturing companies to at-tack.

New homes need specially manufactured materials and existing housing constantly needs upgrading and while the population continues to swell, the amount of housing and infrastructure projects will continue to grow.

One of the companies serving the building industry on projects such as housing is Duro, a manufacturer of steel and aluminium products. The South African company has over 1800 employees and has been in business for nearly 60 years.

After what has been a very tough time for manufacturing, construction, building and related industries because of the global recession, Duro has been performing well and growing its product portfolio and client base.

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Editorial – Christian JordanProduction – Ben Martell

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Aiding the growth of affordable housingDuro are one of the largest manufacturers of steel and aluminium products, such as windows and doors, in southern Africa. The company is now looking to grow into a “one stop shop” in the openings market and building on its already impressive customer base and product portfolio.

Chief Sales and Marketing Office of Duro, John Lamb, recently told IndustrySA that while the market has been difficult, the company has learnt valuable lessons and worked hard to ensure that performance has remained positive.

“As with most major industries, the manufacturing industry has been hit hard since the global recession of 2008. There are definitely signs of recovery. I think the government’s role in the industry is critical. Essentially, how they perform in terms of budgeting/financing and housing is directly linked to the building industry’s performance.

“In terms of surviving the recession, the company’s performance, versus our own expectations, has been average over the last year; the market itself was in a decline so, when compared to the overall market, we did well. The lows we did experience were learning moments for the future, so we were able to turn these into positives.”

WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY Since its establishment in 1955, Duro has adapted from a steel pressing business to become a specialist manufacturer of steel and aluminium products, mainly windows and doors.

“Duro are one of the largest manufacturers of steel and aluminium products such as windows and doors, as well as steel garage doors, in South Africa,” says John. “We also manufacture a range of shower doors and DIY products to complement our offering. Duro are also partners in a business called Vela, which manufactures alternative housing solutions, and is currently very successful in Africa, and hope to be as successful in South Africa soon.”

“The majority of our business is currently in the affordable housing sector or catering for people in the one to three LSM (Living Standards Measure) category and we therefore pride ourselves on supplying this sector with quality affordable products.”

Aiding the growth of affordable housing

DURO

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In February 2012, Capitalworks (an alternative asset management company) bought a stake in Duro and this has aided the growth of the company over the last 12 months.

John suggests that sales have remained strong since the deal with Capitalworks was completed. “Sales have remained on par if not better with industry standards. Sales are also dependant on various factors like government spending and as long as these figures continue to be spent, sales will be positive.”

Capitalworks founding partner, Chad Smart, said of the deal: “Our philosophy is centred around building exceptional businesses through partnering with leading entrepreneurs and management teams.

“The transaction with Duro is no different. We have invested in an exceptional business with a formidable and dynamic management team and we look forward to growing the business together with our new partners.”

Currently, the company is seeing good progress with its aluminium business. “We have seen very good growths in the aluminium industry, and continue to see good growths in the steel and garage door markets as well,” says John.

Working with the country’s top builders merchants has been a catalyst for this growth and Mr Lamb suggests that having a large and varied customer base has also been a big advantage.

“Our customers are anyone needing to close an ‘opening’ in terms of windows/doors/garage doors – and all the people involved in this ‘chain’, from the homeowners to contractors to architects and developers.

“Our chosen channel market is through reputable builders merchants. Some of these who have a national footprint are Cashbuild, Build It, Builders Warehouse, Builders Trade Depot, Buco, Pennypinchers and Timber City.”

INWARD INVESTMENT Supplying a quality product starts from within. The same goes for a quality service, if you do not have qual-ity people you will never be able to offer the best to your customers. Duro are very aware of this and have placed a large emphasis on the training and retaining of staff.

“On the employee side, we are focussing a great deal on the training of staff, and retaining trained

staff has become a priority, as these are the people who will drive our business forward and ensure that we deliver on all our promises and commitments in terms of manufacturing a quality product and offering a customer service experience that beats expectation,” says John. “We have set up an entire training department that will focus purely on training all our staff, as well as training our customers/users on the best practices involved in dealing with our products.”

Being a large scale employer, the attention placed on people by Duro goes further than just the 1800 currently employed by the company. “On the community development side, we are very much involved in supporting the communities around us by sponsoring and providing products such as steel doors and windows for developments and projects,” says John.

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“Recently, in support of 16 Days of Activism against gender violence, an international campaign focused on raising awareness about gender-based violence, we partnered with the Department of Human Settlements, the City of Tshwane and SAWIC (South African Waste Information Centre) to build and donate four two-bedroomed homes in Sokhulumi Village near Bronkhorstspruit.”

Last month, Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, said that the latest edition of the country’s Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) was very much focussed on boosting the country’s manufacturing sector, a move which will grow jobs in the industry. “The IPAP 2013-16, focuses on value added production, with state support centred on nurturing and defending industrial development,” said Davies.

This news will be welcomed by companies like Duro who are ambitiously pushing hard for growth. “Our vision is to become the leading supplier of products in the openings category for the building industry,” says John, “I would like to see our business move from a product based business to a solution based business – regardless of material type, a one stop shop for the openings category. Our biggest goal is to become a truly customer centric company – this entails putting the customer/market first, in all that we do. We also need to add to our existing product ranges, in product and new material/material offerings, i.e. wooden doors and windows.”

THE FUTUREWith the industry reportedly gathering pace since the crash of 2008, the future for Duro has many encourag-ing signs. While growth is the target, the aim is to grow from within, increasing product ranges and service capabilities and it is unlikely that the company will look to move into Africa at this time as John explains: “Our national footprint is big enough, and we will not be expanding on this yet.”

The future also holds a more ‘environmentally friendly’ outlook with the company looking to continue on its path towards an eco-friendly, energy efficient culture.

“We have tried, particularly over the last two years, to be as ‘eco-friendly’ as possible. However, due to the fact that the majority of the materials we use are purchased or sourced elsewhere, we do the best we can to reduce our carbon footprint in terms of recycling and using the most energy efficient processes possible.”

“We have also started to ensure that our products become more energy efficient in line with government standards. This process should be completed for all our products, where necessary, by the end of September 2013,” says John.

The company has recently invested in upgrading facilities, installing new machinery and moving branches to bigger premises, all in an effort to meet the ever increasing demand from the market. All of these investments show a keenness to invest in the latest innovative technology ensuring the future is bright for Duro. “At the same time as meeting customer demand, these investments will deliver a far superior product in terms of quality. Duro keenly embrace the latest leading edge technological advancements and their integrated end-to-end enterprise resource systems ensures that planning, purchasing, pricing, manufacturing, dispatching and finance operates seamlessly,” says John.

While Mr Lamb says the fact that more and more steel being imported to South Africa is “slightly concerning”, he remains confident about the future. After the business made the change to a decentralised management system, Mr Lamb says “…the changeover was a fairly smooth process and we are now extremely effective,” and this is clearly one of the drivers behind what is one of southern Africa’s steel manufacturing industry leaders. .

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“Our vision is to become the leading supplier of products in the openings category for the building industry”

MAY 13 PAGE 7

DURO

(0)1603 618 000

info@industrysa.com

East Coast Promotions Ltd, Ferndale Business Centre, 1 Exeter Street.Norwich, NorfolkNR2 4QB

www.durowin.com