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Bearings International

Bearings International is a leading southern African distributor of bearings and power transmission products. Offering a complete range of leading brand imported products through their 53 wholly owned branch outlets they

are the leaders in their industry and some of the largest, most powerful companies in the world would literally grind to a halt without them.

Their offering includes: general and specialist bearings and accessories, transmission and conveyor chains, agricultural spare parts, gearboxes and geared motors, electric motors and frequency converter variable speed controls. Couplings, pulleys, vee and wedge belts, oil seals, conveyor belts, industrial hoses, industrial adhesives, hand cleaners and lubricants.

“Bearings has been around for forty years but I’ve only been here for 25 years,” Ian points out, “We’ve had a couple of owners over the years but now we’re part of the Hudaco family of companies. “

And, with a quarter of a century under his belt at Bearings International, Ian is a voice to be heard on the current state of the industry:

“The mining industry has taken a couple of hits lately,” Ian explains, “For example the strikes and the killings at Lonmin Miles, and Julius

Machinery today can achieve anything we want. It has given man the ability to mine safely and efficiently, made the automotive world exponentially safer and opened the doors to fresh innovations and discoveries in a vast spectrum of industries and sectors. Yet machines are reliant on parts, designed and produced to an exacting degree and the bigger the machine the smaller and more important these parts become. We caught up with Ian Robinson Director of Bearings and Allied Products to shed some light on what makes his company what it is today.

Bearings International

Malema calling for a general strike of the mines have brought about many unneeded hurdles.

Additionally platinum is slipping at the moment because one of the primary uses is for the catalytic converters in automobiles and that industry has had a bit of a squeeze too. 40% of Hudaco’s business is manufacturing for the mining industry which has had a major ripple effect on a number of industries in South Africa which all share a consequential dependency to the mining industry,”

It sounds like its doom and gloom for the industry however Ian has seen this sort of thing before, “Bearings is upbeat despite the drop in mining and we’re expecting an upturn in 2013,”

When asked about being upbeat and how Bearings have achieved this while other companies have fallen victim to the recession, Ian makes it very clear, very quickly how important the employees were to their company:

“There is a high degree of involvement and camaraderie existing within the company,” he describes, “This energy is constructively channelled into pursuing new levels of customer service excellence. It is a team effort.”

In South Africa, there is a desperate need for people development in the industry. Training, a well-known facet in the Hudaco Group, forms an essential part of their success story to ensure that their personnel are equipped with the necessary skills to fulfil customer expectations.

“As far as employees are concerned, South African government legislation brought in for economic empowerment has created a number of shortfalls and liabilities that need to be

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African Rejuvenation aims to successfully contribute to the sustainable economic growth and development of the African continent through effi cient, eff ective and professional specialist service delivery.

AFRICAN REJUVENATION ccContact: Ms. Arti RamgobinEmail: arti@africanrejuvenation.co.zaTel.: +27 72 125 5261

• Strategic Management Consulting Services• Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment

(BBBEE) Consulting Services• Specialist Consulting Services on SMME

Development and related Corporate Initiatives

• Business Linkages• Training and Development

Bearings International

considered. This is why companies like African Rejuvenation are so vitally important,” Ian Robinson highlights, “They are the ones that keep us legal, providing us with significant legal direction and able to offer international guidance.”

Their five hundred plus employees receive extensive in-house training. Due to the skill shortage many of their employees are offering schooling to a matriculate level (grade 12) and there is a three year plan that is submitted to the DTI for assessment.

Active personnel training programmes, conducted by in-house trainers, assessors and outside institutions, cover product, technical, sales, business management, warehousing and logistics courses, as well as Sector Education and Training Authority-approved learner ships in line with the company’s black economic-empowerment objectives.

“Our technical representatives attend on-going product training sessions and overseas suppliers also provide training locally. Customer training in product handling, fitment and maintenance is offered by our National Qualifications Framework-accredited trainers at the Bearings International head office or on site.”

It’s clear that Bearing’s International believe that the focus on their employees is a significant contributing factor to their success. However this is not the only ingredient to their prosperity:

“Another success factor is ensuring that the market identifies Bearings International as more than just a bearings supplier,” Ian explains, “When we receive an enquiry for the supply of bearings, we take a holistic approach. We

look beyond bearings and ask the right questions to offer a complete solution be it for electric motor, gearbox or coupling and seals,”

He points out that the success of a solution is determined by strong technical support. “We offer 24-hour countrywide hotline service support and our regional technical representatives are on standby 24 hours a day.”

On the other end of the scale there are the customers, whose loyalty and trust are often the measurement of a

South African BBEE Law indicates that a certain criteria and Modus Operandi is required from businesses with regards to sub-contracting and employment to ensure that previously disadvantaged individuals have the opportunity to contribute to the transformation of the South African economy.

“This is where we come into it,” Arti Ramgobin, founder of African Rejuvenation explains, “To ensure that the transformation does not develop an environment of dependency but rather acts as a driver for economic and social growth.”

Through facilitating procedures, auditing supplier and sub-contractor routes to ensure BBEE compliancy, collating policies and assisting in enterprise development African Rejuvenation are able to increase Bearings International BBEE rating.

“African Rejuvenation began in 2001 and our experience includes working for companies like Nissan South African, Bearings International and through most of the Hudaco Group,” Arti says, “Currently we are actively seeking clients in the international realm to further broaden the spectrum of our offering.”

African Rejuvenation

Bearings International

company’s worth. As with many things Ian has seen a change here as well:

“Customer liaising has changed in the last five years, there was a time where you would do the job and that would be it. But now more than even client retention is very important,” Ian says, “Developing and protecting relationships is so important today.”

And for the future? What is keeping Ian, who has seen and been involved in so much over the last twenty five years,

at the edge of his seat? “Engineering has picked

up, especially in the power generation industry with a number of Hudaco’s companies making use of Bearings International and the variation in business offers a diversified progress for them. We’re also doing a lot of work with Toyota.

“We are also pushing into export which is something we have only dabbled with in the past but now there is a strong push into Africa. We’re exporting further into the continent having hit all our neighbours and soon we’ll be pushing into the northern parts as well.”

Bearings Internationalwww.bearings.co.za+27 11 899 0000

Written by Don Campbell

www.littlegatepublishing.com