As its expansion into Africa gathers pace, SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa is getting closer to customers and building stronger direct partnerships – to push modernisation and efficiency. “It just makes sense for our customers to have direct access to the OEM,” says Jonathan McKey, national sales and marketing manager at SEW-EURODRIVE. “This is particularly relevant in Africa, where distances to sites can be lengthy, and the infrastructure is often limited.” He points out that SEW-EURODRIVE in South Africa is already serving large multinational corporations around Africa who have global agreements with SEW-EURODRIVE at head office level. These customers are active in industries such as food and beverage, automotive, mining and specialised machinery.
“Big international customers want to know that all their subsidiaries around the world can receive the same high quality of service for their SEW-EURODRIVE equipment,” he says. “The same applies for any size of customer; Africa is now demanding higher levels of technical support, especially in those countries experiencing economic growth and technological advancement.”
He notes that governments are also encouraging the global private sector to have a local presence in African countries, and SEW-EURODRIVE is responding to that call. This fits well with the SEW-EURODRIVE culture of being close to customers wherever they are, so that the service response can be quicker and more effective.
“We are very serious about implementing this culture, and we are well positioned to drive our expansion initiative into Africa,” he says. SEW-EURODRIVE has already placed staff in Kenya and Zambia, and is planning to establish a presence in three more African countries during 2023.
Placing its own people on the ground around Africa will enhance to value to customers, says McKey, especially with SEW-EURODRIVE’s continuous development and ‘zero complacency’ approach to innovation.
“Our research and development cover a wide range of fields that can benefit customers – from gearing topography to specialised gearbox oils,” he says. “With more sophisticated tools to analyse our own products, we have been able to offer customers even higher reliability and improvements in aspects such as torque demand.”
This progress has been enhanced by a strong digital offering, which Africa is already well placed to leverage. SEW-EURODRIVE has some of the most advanced technology for monitoring the condition of drives, paving the way for customers to apply more proactive maintenance. Raymond Obermeyer, managing director of SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa, highlights that Africa is generally well advanced in digital communication.
“Access to the cellular network makes everything possible, from selecting and buying gearboxes to monitoring and analysing their performance remotely,” says Obermeyer. Indeed, the range of SEW-EURODRIVE equipment has been designed to use multiple communication methods, and to communicate to every device from scada systems to computers and mobile phones. Systems like DriveRadar can therefore be installed on a product and monitored from anywhere in the world where there is a data signal.
Given this depth of technology and innovation, McKey emphasises that direct contact with customers is preferable to working through a ‘middle man’. Through its extensive and ongoing training efforts, the company upskills its own employees and customer staff, to fully understand both the operation and the potential of its technology.
“We have invested in our in-house Drive Academy for precisely this purpose. It can provide skills development in-person, at our Johannesburg facility or remotely,” he says. “This creates a symbiotic relationship with customers, where we support each other in the trend towards modernisation.”
This applies to both the company’s modular ranges and its purpose-built products – such as the air-cooled condenser (ACC) solutions. Greater in-house expertise also ensures that constant advancements are brought to customers’ attention. A recent example of this was the evolution of the robust X series industrial gear units to the state-of-the-art Generation X.e units, delivering new possibilities in performance, safety and efficiency.
Obermeyer points out that the most advanced SEW-EURODRIVE products are already found all over Africa, showing how the continent has embraced technology. The company’s expectation is that this equipment is supplied and maintained to the same highest standards anywhere in the world. The growing footprint of SEW-EURODRIVE branches across Africa will ensure that this is achieved, he says.
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