75 years young and still serving the industry

BAMR is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The company has been the supplier and distributor of Elcometer instruments and equipment since 1947. It is the sole official authorised Elcometer distributor and partner in South Africa and most of Africa. The first export sale for Elcometer in 1947 was through BAMR. Yet, how did it all start?

Fred Duk, a major in the Airforce, returned from the war to establish BAMR on 22 May 1946. Frank Duk, took over in 1961 and Graham Duk, Fred’s grandson, became involved in 1998. BAMR remains a customer-focused, family-owned business.

In its early days, the company focused predominantly on instrumentation in the coating industry with the Air Force being the first target focus with Fred’s background. To this day, the business remains loyal to its core business principles.

ELCOMETER APPLICATIONS

Applications for the Elcometer Protective Coating Inspection range includes any application where you are applying a coating to a substrate including painting a ship, a tank or a structure such as a stadium.

Other than measuring the coating thickness, other gauges and applications in this industry include:

• Material thickness

• Surface cleanliness

• Surface profiles

• Climatic conditions including moisture

• Coating thickness – including Wet and Dry Film

• Pinhole and Porosity Testing

• Adhesion Testing

Other than the Protective Coatings Industry, Elcometer also supply instruments and equipment that are used for Laboratory and Physical Test equipment, predominantly in the Paint manufacturing industry. This includes:

• Viscosity Cups

• Fineness of Grind Gauges

• Film Applicators

• Elasticity & Deformation testers

• Density Cups

• Hardness & Scratch testers

FAMILY BUSINESS

“BAMR is very much a family business. When my brother decided to do his own thing, my wife, Helena stepped in and has been actively involved and instrumental in the marketing side of the business. As the Elcometer business has grown and become more sophisticated, so has our representation of the brand on the African continent” explains Graham, the current owner. “Although a Cape Town based business, we have key account managers in Johannesburg and in KZN and our footprint extends throughout Anglophone and sub- Saharan Africa.”

“With our partners on both the supplier front and the distribution front having similar philosophies with regards innovation and customer service, we are very excited about the future of BAMR.” says Graham.

DIGITAL EVOLUTION

BAMR is working hard to keep pace with the digital evolution and launched its e-commerce site Gaugeit.co.za last year. “We have had a great response to the incorporation of this online platform. We are continually evolving and trying to make sure that we are relevant to our stakeholders. We feel that the combination of our 75 years of experience alongside our goal of being the best in what we offer gives the end user the confidence that they are having the best possible experience,” Graham continues. It is perhaps fitting that Graham as an active member of the Corrosion Institute and is destined to become the Institute’s next president, the first to be nominated outside of Gauteng. His aims are to promote transparency and inclusivity in the role and to continue with the well-established programmes of courses that highlight and identify the problems of corrosion which it is estimated have a cost impact of 3% of worldwide GDP.

“BAMR and Elcometer sponsor instrumentation for the NACE courses that are run by the Corrosion Institute training. Sadly, the impact of and technology required to combat corrosion are not taught as university engineering subjects, so the Institute’s educational programmes have a vital role to fill this important gap” he concludes.

“Elcometer-sponsored training and new equipment courses are also regularly staged to interested parties around the country and we usually try to make this a yearly event, although with current scenarios this will be a challenge.”

Fred Duk (back row, third from left) with his Airforce squadron

A range of Elcometer instruments that have been sold by BAMR over the course of 75 years

BAMR 021-683-2100, sales@bamr.co.za, www.bamr.co.za, www.gaugeit.co.za