published on 05/09/08
Founded in October 1915, Goodyear Engineered Products (GEP) South Africa operates from headquarters in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg, and a manufacturing plant in Uitenhage.
The company supplies conveyors, hose and power transmission products, with about 80% of production dedicated to producing conveyor belts for both the mining and industrial sectors, and a 38% share in the South African market.
All its products are sourced exclusively by Veyance Technologies.
The company employs more than 400 people and is an ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14000 and SHAS ISO 18000 certified company.
Recognising that empowerment is sustainable only if there is proper skills transfer using skilled engineers,the company complies fully with the Skills Development Act. Preferential procurement also supports its empowerment initiatives.
GEP strives to maintain a set of global values that ensure it remains a leading global manu-facturer of engineered rubber products.
In the mining industry, a day of downtime can cost millions of rands, and customers need to assess the risks of these opportunity costs against the costs of a good maintenance schedule and a quality product.
With this in mind, the company has committed itself to opening service centres in outlying ‘mine-rich’ areas across the country.
Traditionally seen only as a supplier of products, GEP has made a strategic decisions on how to focus on the servicing of products sold to clients, as well as training clients on how best to use the products they have purchased.
The new service centres provide a one-stop shop for supplying, installation, splicing and maintaining GEP conveyor belts. At present, service centres have been established in Saldanha Bay, Kathu, Welkom, as well as in Francistown in Botswana.
The company states that customers who want to increase belt life and efficiency should purchase a top quality product, complemented by effective servicing and maintenance. Clients are encouraged to budget for predictive mechanical maintenance, which will ensure that the belt functions at optimal capacity.
The language barrier is a specific challenge in Africa and for this reason the company will seek out distributors who speak the language and use export houses based in South Africa.
Power transmission and automotive products will be sold through local distributors. These distributors will be required to commit to keeping adequate stock levels, thereby ensuring continued availability to the local market.
The company’s ultimate vision is to penetrate the African market with both products and ser-vice centres, thereby providing a holistic and integrated solution-based offering to clients.
Plans are afoot to eventually to establish a service centre on the Zambian/DRC border which would cater to both countries.

Read the full article at Mining Weekly