KADOMA PAPER MILLS
FEATURE
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Kadoma Paper Mills FEATURE
As the only paper mill in Zimbabwe for tissue and fine paper, Kadoma Paper Mills is in an advantageous position. However, as general Manager Prosper Chijokwe explains, it still has challenges and ever increasing and changing demands to meet. By Jane McCallion
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ounded in 1980 by ART Corporation, Kadoma Paper Mills is the only producer of tissue and fine paper in Zimbabwe. The company is headquartered in Kadoma, approximately 140km south west of the capital Harare. The majority of the tissue paper produced by Kadoma Paper Mills – some 85 percent – is manufactured using recycled waste paper, which is primarily sourced from Zimbabwe. Until two years ago, this figure was 100 percent, as General Manager Prosper Chijokwe explains. “We started using virgin pulp to produce
People prefer pureness and a certain segment of the market would prefer the whiter, softer, virgin paper
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Kadoma Paper Mills FEATURE
about 15 percent of our products in 2009. The reason for this is the market here is changing: People prefer pureness and a certain segment of the market would prefer the whiter, softer, virgin paper. So we decided to diversify away from 100 percent recycled in line with what was happening in the market.� This move to the production of more expensive, virgin tissue paper is a mirror to the reason the company manufactured recycled paper for the first 30 years of its life. When the factory was initially commissioned, the 4
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We are currently doing feasibility studies into doubling our production capacity from 15 tonnes to 30 tonnes per day
machine that was purchased could only produce recycled tissue. At the time, due to low household income in the country, this was the ideal solution, as the vast majority of the population could not have afforded to buy virgin paper. However, with a growing middle class, the market for virgin paper has opened up. In terms of both supply and distribution, Kadoma Paper Mills’ production chain is highly integrated: Both its primary supplier and customer are sister companies within the ART group. “Our
Softex Tissue Products is jointly owned by ART and Hunyani Holdings, and was started in 1983 with state of the art equipment, and has perfected the art of paper converting and selling tissue rolls and related paper products. The company, with a staff complement of about 130, has also diversified into feminine (sanitary wear) and baby products. Softex has recently expanded into hygiene products.
Tissue Products Softex Supersaver Nurse Tissue Wish Luxury Pack Wish Facial Tissue Springsoft Snip Springsoft Sable Softies Rainbow Caterpack Serviettes
Softex Femcare is a division within Softex Tissue Products, birthed under a vision of providing a “Total Hygienic Package” to its customers. Since Softex was already in the tissue business, diversification into the feminine and baby ware products was inevitable. The division was launched in September 2006 with premium brands namely Nurse Cotton wool, Assure sanitary pads, Assure Tampons and Baby Disposable Nappies.
The brands have gained wide range acceptance in the market and are currently being distributed through all major retail and wholesale outlets. However, efforts are currently underway to make sure that this range of products is available to all Softex customers at arms length. Softex Femcare is thus expanding its distribution arm to cover small retail shops, pharmacies, salons and flea markets. All this is part of Femcare’s initiative to avail affordable sanitary products to every woman in Zimbabwe and beyond.
Hygiene Products Hand washing and soap systems/dispensers Toilet seat cleaners Sanitary bins Bins sanitizers Sanitizer dispensers Refills Aerosol dispensers & refills
For more information please contact: Tel: +263 4 770099 Fax: +263 4 770132 www.artcorp.co.zw
Femcare Products Assure Sanitary Pads Assure Tampons Nurse Cotton Wool Baby Disposable Nappies Adult diapers Sweety diapers Softex sanitary pads Softex panty liners
biggest supplier is National Waste Collections, which is a group company,” says Chijokwe. “Our main customer is a sister company called Softex and they take 50 percent of our output.” Like Kadoma Paper Mills, both National Waste Collections and Softex are primarily Zimbabwean companies, collecting local waste and selling to the local market respectively. However, Kadoma is not constrained by its national borders and also exports to Zambia, Malawi and Burundi. Additionally, while the majority of the waste paper used in the manufacture of its tissue products comes from Zimbabwe, is also imports from South Africa and the pulp for its virgin tissue comes from much farther afield. “The hardwood pulp comes from Mondi in South Africa, then the softwood we combine it with for the virgin tissue comes from Austria and Sweden,” says Chijokwe - both of which are known for their sustainable forestry industries. The company also uses a lot of coal in its manufacturing processes, which fires the boilers, and is also sourced from local businesses. While the global economic crisis did not impact on Kadoma Paper Mills’ market, its supply chain was affected. “We don’t sell to Europe, so we were not affected in that respect, however, some of our suppliers are European and one or two companies who used to supply us have folded due to the financial crisis.” Although Kadoma Paper Mills is the only producer of tissue and fine paper products in Zimbabwe, it is not without competition. Both South 6
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Kadoma Paper Mills FEATURE
African and Chinese paper mills export to the Zimbabwean market and normally have larger facilities. An additional challenge is that these competitors will sometimes sell the finished product direct to shops, rather than selling in bulk to companies that then cut and finish the product for sale to the consumer. “Right now, we are quite small and only producing 15 tonnes a day, which makes it very difficult to compete in terms of economies of scale,” says Chijokwe. However, the company does have in place a plan to overcome this hurdle. “We are currently doing feasibility studies into doubling our production capacity from 15 tonnes to 30 tonnes per day,” explains Chijokwe. “The main question is whether it would be better for us to purchase an additional machine with the same capacity as our current one, or to upgrade it to 30 tonnes a day. Once a decision has been made on that, we will be able to move ahead with the project.” Another problem facing the organisation has been a national skills shortage, “In the period between 2005 and 2008 in particular, we lost a lot of people to South Africa and so there is a real difficulty finding people to work with us who have the relevant skills,” says Chijokwe. “To overcome this, we are providing training ourselves to young people. We have a quality assurance department, which is linked with our training office. They provide the necessary basic training, but also keep an eye on trends in the industry worldwide, so we can put in place programmes to ensure that our employees have all the relevant
We have a quality assurance department, which is linked with our training office. They provide the necessary basic training, but also keep an eye on trends in the industry worldwide, so we can put in place programmes to ensure that our employees have all the relevant skills and that their knowledge is up to date skills and that their knowledge is up to date.” While the production of recycled paper could be considered an environmental business strategy in itself, Kadoma Paper Mills also has other active green programmes in place “As a company we are ISO 14000 certified, we have a separate quality certificate as well, and we run within the national benchmark,” says Chijokwe. “As part of this, we have an environmental management system in place whereby we monitor and try to reduce the water consumption per tonne of paper, coal usage per tonne of paper, electricity and the usage of the waste paper. Unfortunately, we are not able to measuring pollution levels currently, as we don’t have the capacity to do that. But in general terms, our commitment is to try to minimise our consumption of natural resources as a far as possible.” The main objective for the company in the near term is to implement its expansion strategy, doubling the capacity of the plant. “We know that there is the market capacity and the demand for us to double our rate of production. We aim to be have decided how we are going to achieve this soon and have it up and running by 2017, which is what will take the company forward in the long-term.” END www.southafricamag.com
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