Fuchs Lubricants

8
DECEMBER 2015 www.endeavourmagazine.com INSPIRED BY YOUR SUCCESS Fuchs Lubricants Smoothly Growing

description

Corporate Brochure

Transcript of Fuchs Lubricants

Page 1: Fuchs Lubricants

DECEMBER 2015www.endeavourmagazine.com

INSPIRED BY YOUR SUCCESS

Fuchs LubricantsSmoothly Growing

Page 2: Fuchs Lubricants
Page 3: Fuchs Lubricants

The acquisition of two companies in 2014 and the expansion of their home base has seen Fuchs Lubricants double in size for 2015 and set the pace for the remainder of this year. One of the companies that I have had the pleasure of working with regularly over the years, it never fails to impress me how this company continues to surpass expectations despite some of the toughest economic times South Africa has ever faced.

WRITTEN BY DON CAMPBELL

SMOOTHLY GROWING

www.littlegatepublishing.com

FUCHS LUBRICANTS0027 11 565 9600

WWW.FUCHSOIL.CO.ZA

Page 4: Fuchs Lubricants

FUCHS LUBRICANTS

A subsidiary of the Manheim, Germany, based parent, Fuchs SA is the ninth biggest of the company’s thirty-four global production plants and the largest non-fuel lubricant supplier

in South Africa with around 8% of market share.In this sector the competition is fierce, where major fuel

companies produce lubricants as a by-produce of their fuel blending plants, making them aggressive in their attempts to gain market share, especially within South Africa. While across the border the situation is less competitive, with many of the major companies moving out of Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and operating through agents, Fuchs is still pitched against giants like Shell, BP and Engen/Petronas but specialisation and customer orientation are defining features of the Fuchs business and this has always been an advantage for them, as is their focus, which until the recent merger, has been solely on the lubrication industry. Preferring the title of master of the industry rather than a jack-of-all-trades it has always stood them in good stead as they are recognised as the leaders in this market.

As John said in his last interview, “The major fuel competitors ahead of us sometimes make decisions that, from a lubricants perspective, don’t seem to make sense. But since they have massive fuel interests they don’t appear to suffer too much as a result. We have to make the right decisions – and with our customers very much in mind to ensure they continue to buy the very best lubricants.”

FUCHS LUBRICANTS

To remind you, Fuchs Lubricants is a company with a reputation for delivering operational efficiency across the mining and manufacturing sectors and amongst Major league auto clients such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. The lubricating oil that stops machinery from seizing and freezing into useless statues is what they represent. But the company has doubled since we last spoke and with it too has its reputation., but how? ”Customer focus, backed by strong technical expertise and a very wide range of OEM-accepted and approved products, gives our customers a fantastic peace of mind,” John Anderson, Fuchs SA’s Automotive OEM Manager said previously.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Little Gate Publishing Ad 2015.pdf 1 2015/01/29 3:24 PM

Page 5: Fuchs Lubricants
Page 6: Fuchs Lubricants

FUCHS LUBRICANTS

ONGOING GROWTHFuchs is far more customer-focused than their bigger

competitors, emphasising the importance of face-to-face selling and to support this they empower their staff to make their own decisions, “We don’t micro manage,” John explains.

Backing them is a strong, experienced and highly qualified technical team, which ensures that the customer stays happy from a technical, as well as lead-time and delivery perspective. Unsurprisingly, customer retention is high with attrition miniscule, a Fuchs SA characteristic replicated among its staff where the average length of service in the sales and technical teams is eighteen years. “The fuel and lubricant sector tends to have a lot of personnel movement whereas we have a lot of expertise in-house and tend to keep it,” John explained, “This leads back to client retention, with the customer used to seeing the same dependable faces again and again. At the same time, we take in a lot of new blood such as young people who we train and mentor – another key advantage for us.”

Fuchs SA is a career magnet for senior personnel among the big players. John Anderson has been in the industry for seventeen years and with Fuchs, coming on three, having arrived from Shell

and attests that the strong customer focus and lack of anonymity is refreshing and enjoyable. Being able to make a decision autonomously, for the good of the customer and have it backed internally is a benefit to the smooth running of a business. If it’s good for the customer it’s the right decision.

John’s biggest customers are Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and John Deere and Fuchs SA has returned ten per cent plus year-on-year growth over the last decade. “We see this continuing in South Africa with double digit volume and revenue growth. This will be backed heavily by the global focus put on us through the OEM business, with the South African organisation part of the team that’s on this journey of getting closer to OEMs. Fuchs puts up shop wherever the OEMs go.”

WHAT HAS DOUBLED THEIR SIZE?No stranger to growth, Fuchs SA has expanded several times

in the past but never at this scale. Patience and precision have always been a credit to Fuchs and in their years of developing specialty-based products solely within the lube industry they have become the go-to-company for some of the biggest names in the mechanical vehicle world. However, this does not mean that they

FUCHS LUBRICANTS

Page 7: Fuchs Lubricants

are adverse to growth and expansion into new areas, they are just very selective of where and what they do.

Their mining products were niche and focused on underground mining but in September 2014, they purchased a specialised manufacturer of open cast gear lube, Lubritene and an associated sub company Lubrasa who are a manufacturer of food graded lubricants.

“We bought in two companies to help expand the portfolio,” explains Mitch Launspach, Chief Commercial Sales Manager who I spoke with regarding the new developments, “We had no expertise and no product range for open cast mining and while we did have our own food grade products, they were imported and tended to be expensive. So all in all this was a handy acquisition, allowing us to have a local in-house manufacturer that can offer the same quality but greater expertise and skill.”

As Lubritene and Lubrasa would add approximately 100 new staff to Fuchs SA, bringing their overall employment number up to over 230, the decision was quickly made to enter into an expansion period for the company’s offices, “We had to expand the office space, obviously, as well as the blending capacities of the company.”

Lubritene, Mitch explains, is very focused on grease

manufacturing and their involvement is increasing the number of grease kettles from one that was previously owned by Fuchs, to eight. So the production capacity, as well as storage, has had to be increased.

2015This year is setting up to be a very busy year. Consolidating

a merger and integrating staff together into a workable team is a challenge for any company, but John and Mitch are both positive about the future and approaching it with the quiet confidence and hard working approach that has always made Fuchs Oil a favourite.

“There is a lot of integration between open cast and underground mining divisions,” Mitch says, “Which gives us a lot of additional potential customers.”

As their sales force has grown, they will have the capacity for further growth through sales, for automotive and run of the mill. As Fuchs will be incorporating the customer lists of Lubritene and Lubrasa into their own, they are opening up brand new marketing and sales potential, “It’s a great opportunity not only to take on a very well respected company, but also to open new potential for current products.”

Page 8: Fuchs Lubricants

www.endeavourmagazine.com

1.2 million businesses like yours are seeing this. Getting your own corporate brochure couldn’t be

easier. Get in touch below for details.

www.littlegatepublishing.com [email protected]

+44 1603 296 100