va n r y n r u b b e r
feature
Market Leader
Van Ryn poised for further african expansion
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With three decades of experience in the rubber industry, Van Ryn Rubber Holdings is well established to understand and react to current and future customer needs. And major capital investment and a strategy of innovation are calculated to continue its three year growth record.
Van Ryn Rubber FEATURE
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urbanbased Van Ryn Rubber Holdings is South Africa’s leading supplier of high volume components to the pipe sealing, automotive, plumbing and general industries. And newly-expanded production facilities along with large capital investment in machines and tools are set to continue the 25% growth posted over the past three years. Innovation is a core component of VRR’s success and position as national leader in its fields. “Innovation and progress allows us to stay ahead of our competitors and facilitates the ability to participate in certain niche markets,” says Sales and Marketing Manager Joe Mouton. www.southafricamag.com
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Van Ryn Rubber FEATURE
Wide customer base VRR was started by Allan van Ryn in 1979 trading under the name Diaphragm Manufacturers and with a focus on producing diaphragms for air, hydraulic and other pumps Re-locating from Johannesburg to Durban in 1991, it began supplying seals and grommets to the automotive industry. Today its varied customer base includes the automotive, construction, mining, electronics, pipe sealing systems and plumbing industries in almost equal proportions, with an average monthly production of eight million parts.
State-of-the art processing With a young and vibrant management team and a world class manufacturing facility, VRR is providing competitively priced products made to international quality standards using
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state-of-the-art processing equipment from both Europe and the East. Van Ryn custom designs and develops both the tooling and rubber compounds within its own laboratory and in-house mixing facility. It also has the ability to mix and control high specification rubber materials to exacting standards.
Principal Market Segments Automotive: VRR supplies to both first and second tier automotive manufacturers, complying with specifications industry specifications. How did the auto sector recession impact on Van Ryn? “Although VRR was affected by the recession, the automotive industry represents around 20% of monthly turnover in value so the impact was and is fairly insignificant,� says Mouton.
Suppliers Of All Polymers And Rubber Chemicals Pipe sealing systems: VRR manufactures complete ranges of both high and low pressure seals and has its own facilities. It also carries both the SABS mark and the WRAS certification. Specialised mouldings: Rubber to metal bonding, high-tech flash free moulding for the explosives industry Fabric reinforced diaphrams and rubberplastic combinations Plumbing materials to severe specifications Automotive brake diaphrams Plumbing: Performance seals and diaphrams Rubber to metal bonding Tap washers to International Standards Fabric reinforced diaphrams
Unique process “VRR has now developed a unique production process which enables the moulding of flash-free components. This eradicates the need for trimming and thereby reduces manufacturing time and costs along with greatly improved quality,” says Joe Mouton. “We are continually exploring new and innovative technologies in the manufacture of rubber compounds and components, a strategy which gives us the edge over our competitors.” How significant are well-developed customer and supply chain relationships? “Suppliers are considered to be partners in the development and growth of VRR, and we have invested in experienced people to initiate and maintain healthy supply chain relationships. “Customer relationships are of vital importance to long lasting and profitable business relationships, and a strong sales team is required to maintain this.” Forty-one percent of South Africa’s privately held business cited the availability of a skilled workforce as the biggest constraint to business growth, according to last year’s Grant Thornton International Business Report - the third consecutive year that workforce issues have been cited
To The Rubber Industry For The Past 30 Years
FRONTIER INDUSTRIES
Phone: 031 563 7595 Fax: 031 563 5410 Email: info@forntind.co.za Cell: 083 775 7291 PO Box 35048 Northway, Durban 4065 7 Alassia, 15 Umgeni Grove, Umgeni Park, Durban North
in Grant Thornton’s survey as the greatest impediment to growth in South Africa. VRR’s response is an extensive in-house and external training programmes to keep its work force abreast of developments and innovations. “We maintain a strong core work force of highly skilled labour. “At the same time the culture of VRR is to empower all levels of the work force to make their own decisions pertaining to manufacturing processes within the parameters of the laid down procedures. Multi functional teams meet on a daily basis to address problems and developments.” While energy supply and price hikes are major challenges as for other South African businesses, VRR is pushing its global market reach. “We have ventured into Africa during the past twelve months and further growth is expected based on current negotiations with companies,” says Joe Mouton. “And further exports into European countries are in an advanced stage of negotiations.” END www.southafricamag.com
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P.O. Box 1165 Kloof, 3640 Tel: +27 31 700 4088 Fax: +27 31 700 4283
www.vanrynrubberholdings.co.za