COMPANY PROFILE
2013
cerebos
It’s all about quality and safety at Cerebos
COMPANY REPORT
It’s all about quality and safety at Cerebos Editorial: Lauren Grey Production: Tom Cullum Salt is one of the world’s most widely used natural ingredients, with food preservation and seasoning being its most commonly used functions. This month, IndustrySA speaks to John Drinkwater, Managing Director at South Africa’s leading salt supplier, to find out how demand for the product has changed over the past ten years and why food safety is so important in the industry.
Throughout history, salt has played many significant roles; flavouring, preservation and antiseptic being the most common, but it is believed that the versatile product has approximately 14,000 different uses. Most products found at home, in the work place and in the environment around us are produced from salt or use raw salt as an ingredient in their manufacturing processes. For example, in the production of textiles and dying, pharmaceuticals, metal processing and rubber manufacturing to separate rubber from latex. The list is endless. The biggest use of salt however, is in the chemical industry for the production of chlorine, and the products of this industry have a number of important uses; chlorine is used to purify water and as a disinfectant, it is also used in paper production, antiseptics and insecticides, amongst many other consumer products.
CUSTOMER DEMAND As you can imagine, worldwide demand for salt is enormous, and one of South Africa’s main suppliers of salt is Cerebos, a local company established in the PAGE 2 SEP 13
country during the 1940’s. Cerebos supplies salt to both industry and retail, with retail being its biggest market; the company’s industrial business is focused on the supply of premium quality salt to the food manufacturing sector whilst its retail division strives to deliver consumers with an array of value added convenience products. “Retail is by far our biggest market,” explains John Drinkwater, Cerebos Managing Director, “however, we have a diverse customer base in the industrial market too. “For example we supply food companies such as Clover, Parmalat, Unilever and Nestle with salt to be used in their cheeses, butters, soups and many other products. These companies require a very high purity salt because they can’t afford to have impurities in their products.” Cerebos’ ethos lies in quality and food safety, which Drinkwater says separates them from the competition, “What separates us from our competitors is the quality of our product; our salt is pure, free-flowing and food-safe. “Over the last ten years the profile of salt has increased as consumers have become more aware of food safety issues. Salt is a very interesting product because not
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only is it ‘mined’ from the sea but it is also a food and a chemical. “Food safety and quality is a driving force behind our business, and over the last four years we have invested a lot of money on a new plant which enables us to produce a premium, free flowing, food-safe product.” Although salt is Cerebos’ core focus, the company’s product offerings stretch way beyond traditional table salt to a variety of different salt-based products such as dishwasher salt, gravy and seasoning. “Our core competency is the salt industry and salt manufacturing but we are also involved in flavour enhancing, of which we have many different products.
QUALITY PRODUCT Four years ago, Cerebos invested a huge amount of money into a new manufacturing plant in the Coega IDZ, Port Elizabeth, which has enabled it to produce pure vacuum dried (PVD) salt for retail and industry. “The plant has now been running for four years,” says Drinkwater, “we have invested in new technology which allows us to produce vacuum dried salt, which is of a better quality and is produced in a food safe environment.
“PVD is extremely clean and the free-flow characteristics are superior, the crystal size and distribution of crystals is also very similar.” PVD Salt is used universally throughout the food industry and for other applications where a pure food grade salt is required; PVD salt is also a better carrier for fortification with iodine as required by Health Regulations, due to its uniform size and crystal structure eliminating unacceptable variability. The R85-million relocation meant that Cerebos could increase its production to between 30,000-35,000 tonnes per year of premium grade table salt, based on 7500 operating hours per annum, which was vital for the company as it was previously not able to meet customer demand for the product. The capacity of the new plant also enabled Cerebos to enhance the quality of its premium grade products with PVD salt, thereby guaranteeing maximum food safety to consumers and users. The investment was made possible through a strategic partnership with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Khumo Bathong Strategic Investments, a Black Economic Empowerment partner.
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COMPANY REPORT
SCOIAL UPLIFTMENT As part of its BEE campaign, the social upliftment of all Cerebos employees and previously disadvantaged individuals in the Eastern and Western Cape is also a key focus of the business. The company encourages an innovative culture and behaves like a family loyally supporting their employees and its strong brands. The working environment is dynamic and empowered and each Cerebos employee is nurtured and given the opportunity to make a difference. “We have between 230 – 250 employees, but what puts us ahead of the competition in terms of experience and competency is that we have qualified, senior staff such as chemical engineers and mechanical engineers,” says Drinkwater. “These engineers work in-house and have years of experience within the industry and the business itself. We also have strong relationships with our customers, both retail and industrial which is built on trust and fairness. These relationships have stood us in good stead through tough times.” However, Cerebos is dedicated to the well-being and education of its staff, and Drinkwater says that there are always opportunities to start at the bottom and work your way to the top. PAGE 4 SEP 13
“We have to have experienced staff, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t come into the business at an entry level; depending on what your experience is, we can train in-house as well, allowing our employees to work their way up.” Supporting its employees and ensuring they use the utmost of their potential is crucial for the business as it moves forward into its next venture.
FUTURE PLANS As an international brand boasting superior quality, it is no surprise to learn that Cerebos intends to utilise its success in the South Africa market and expand further into the African continent. “You will find Cerebos products in all areas of South Africa; in all retail outlets and food chains,” says Drinkwater “growth into the African region is therefore a key opportunity for us.” Getting a firm grip on the continent has, for some companies, been a challenging and daunting task, however the Cerebos brand is already recognised in Southern African regions and neighbouring countries, as Drinkwater explains. “We do supply some of the Southern African region and our bordering neighbours already, particularly in the
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retail market, so we are definitely looking to capitalise on that and expand our footprint further.” Aside from physical expansion, Drinkwater says that Cerebos is also looking to grow its product range, “We would also like to focus on leveraging the Cerebos brand; we would like to expand our product range in the food market. This however, is a long term goal for the company as it plans to take the time to carefully select which products it would like to introduce, “this is something we will implement slowly because whichever products we choose will need to live up to the Cerebos quality promise. So this is something we will not rush into; we will pick our products carefully.”
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“We have invested in new technology which allows us to produce vacuum dried salt, which is of a better quality and is produced in a food safe environment” SEP 13 PAGE 5
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