A little over two years ago the residential market accounted for 70% of Circuit Breaker Industries' (CBI) business, with the industrial and commercial markets accounting for the rest. Today that position is reversed.
According to Rudi Coetzee, commercial director, CBI, this turnaround is the result of a bold strategic re-focus necessitated by the realisation that by the end of 2010 the residential electrification of South Africa would be approaching completion. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that in mass housing projects, earth leakage business was being lost as more and more pre-payment meters were being fitted with built-in electronic earth leakage protection.
Many of the line extensions, ie, lighting, plugs or switches, which would seem a logical direction for a company such as CBI, involved competing in a saturated market with well-entrenched products and companies, some of which had been in business for up to 70 years. To continue the 54 years of profitable growth, other avenues had to be explored.
As Coetzee says, when you change your focus new opportunities present themselves. Enter Mitsubishi. Two years ago Mitsubishi approached CBI to take over their local business, which had historically been centred on the reef, supplying well-respected and robust products to the mining industry. Mitsubishi's large frame circuit breakers, vacuum breakers and air circuit breakers were the extension CBI was looking for and provided a strategic fit that met customer demand.
With the new range of products CBI also became involved for the first time with motor control, and additionally, automation and control including PLCs, variable speed drives (VSDs) and human machine interfaces (HMIs). These products are sourced from Europe, where Mitsubishi has a strong presence, and form a potential platform for growth away from the traditional circuit breaker business. The success of the strategy has been such that today the Industrial and Commercial Business Unit of CBI forms the core business with the company experiencing growth in excess of 30% in the past year.
More recently, as a result of CBI's success with the Mitsubishi's range of products, and taking into consideration that CBI is the only South African LV circuit breaker company active on every continent, Mitsubishi approached CBI to represent them throughout Africa and in a number of developed overseas markets. Details will be announced shortly.
For more information contact John Renney, Circuit Breaker Industries, 011 928 2000.
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