MATERIALS HANDLING
MEMSA TARGETS INCREASED
VISIBILITY AND INDUSTRY INTERACTION
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its reliance on funding from the Department of Science and Innovation through the Mandela Mining Precinct and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), MEMSA has been implementing a strategy to build out and communicate its value proposition, gain greater visibility and build win-win partnerships with private sector entities. This has seen the CEO engaging industry OEMs and service providers, and participating in numerous webinars, seminars, networking events and exhibitions. “Since I took over last year, I have been fostering relations with our members and meeting at least five local manufacturers each month to better understand the challenges they face and how we, as MEMSA, can assist them in improving and growing their businesses. “In fact, we have been pushing for the mining manufacturing industry to have a louder collective voice so that we are able to better tackle issues impacting industry. This includes the need for industry-appropriate financial instruments and incentives.” The sector has been hard hit by the
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n a bid to help the mining industry’s original equipment manufacturers address some of the challenges they face and increase its membership base, Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA) has been on a drive to dramatically increase its visibility, CEO Lehlohonolo Molloyi tells SA Mining. Established in 2016, MEMSA is an industry cluster organisation aimed at advocating for and promoting the interests of its members and the South African mining equipment industry more broadly. The cluster works closely with a range of partners to maintain and build the competitive advantages of the industry, which include cost-effective manufacturing, continuous innovation, and the ability to customise equipment to customer requirements. Membership is currently at 40 including major local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as AARD Mining Equipment, Bell Equipment, Dezzi, Fermel, HPE, JAE and Rham, as well as a range of emerging, small and medium manufacturers. To grow its membership base and reduce
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MEMSA can assist clients in improving and growing their businesses. – Molloyi
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SA MINING
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022
www.samining.co.za
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By Nelendhre Moodley
COVID-19 pandemic, irregular supply of electricity and weakened investor confidence. Meanwhile, in line with increasing its visibility, MEMSA recently held its inaugural golf day – an event sponsored by Standard Bank, Bell Equipment, Sanlam, Paramount Tracks and Spress and attended by 80 players, including MEMSA member companies. The golf day had guest speakers from the dtic (Tshepiso Kadiaka, deputy director of minerals beneficiation and mining equipment), Exxarro (Sandile Khumalo, manager of supply chain sustainability), and Standard Bank (Eran Singh, business banking, head: trade sales). Molloyi also secured a seat as a guest speaker at the recently held Manufacturing Indaba and Dubai Expo 2020. He was hopeful about growing MEMSA membership to beyond 50 by the end of 2021.
