South African-based African Oxygen (Afrox) announced yesterday that it is developing a global welding electrode business in conjunction with its parent company, the BOC Group.
This new initiative is a further endeavour for Afrox to grow export sales of welding electrodes to a R150-million business by 2006, and is a direct result of the recent upgrade of Afrox's Brits electrode manufacturing factory, in North West Province.
The company has also just completed the first order of 100 t of electrodes for Australia that will be marketed and distributed by BOC Australia.
The electrodes, selected for the initial export drive, are Afrox's general-purpose Vitemax product, South Africa's top brand, with over 300-million individual electrodes sold each year.
¡°Our electrode export strategy follows our highly successful model for our gas welding equipment, where we now have annual sales of around R100-million. We expect Vitemax to gain a fair market share in Australia, and once this has been achieved, we will export to other countries where BOC has a presence,¡± said Afrox chief executive Rick Hogben.
¡°Our export model offers many alternatives to the BOC Group as Afrox can offer a complete range of gas equipment, welding consumables, and self-rescue packs. The only proviso is that our products meet and exceed global standards and are recognised as best in class,¡± continued Hogben.
Afrox's hard facing electrode, Azucar, is recognised by the global sugar industry as a leader in its field.
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