BÜHLER GROUP: After 50 Years, Bühler Remains Innovator of Choice in SA
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Earlier this year, Bühler celebrated a half century in South Africa at its site in Honeydew, Johannesburg. This international organisation wants to be close to its customers, and its deeply rooted presence in South Africa will assist as it continues to grow on the continent.
“The market of South Africa including the neighbouring countries will double its inhabitants to 400 million people by 2050,” says Stefan Scheiber, Bühler Group CEO, speaking of the mass potential in the region.
Bühler is a global powerhouse in the equipment supply industry for food, automotive, and related industries. Bühler machines and technologies are responsible for food products that feed two billion people and producing automotive parts that move one billion people every day.
In South Africa, Bühler machines are part of various value chains, from grain to FMCG to material processing. The country is a regional hub, servicing the markets of Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, La Reunion, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Machines and parts can be serviced and repaired by our service technicians on site or in our Service Workshops all over Southern Africa. After 50 years of development, this operation runs like a well-oiled machine.
“We partner with the biggest FMCG companies all over Southern Africa. FMCG companies are the basic pillar of the economy of the region. Together with them we ensure food supply to more than 200 million people,” says Managing Director Bühler Southern Africa, Harry Bloechlinger. Everything from flour, rice, pasta, biscuits, chocolate, coffee, and beer comes from Bühler innovation.
But what does the next five decades hold for this exciting and committed corporate? Following the celebration in South Africa, where Johannesburg’s Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse labelled the business a catalyst for growth, Bühler is looking to bring new solutions for African problems. New products are set to be introduced, and new geographies will be added to the company’s strong African portfolio, but the real impact will come from Bühler in the form of skills development and opportunity creation.
“It is extremely important for us to be close to our customers. We are in the region for the region,” says Scheiber.
“This is our motivation and reasons for Bühler to continue strengthening our organisations in South Africa but also in Southern Africa, as we continue to live our vision: innovations for a better world.”
Bühler offers an apprenticeship scheme, based on Swiss curriculum, which will see trainees developed into industry professionals across functions including boiler making, welding, machine operation, painting, and across a range of support roles. The service stations will also receive skills development investment as Bühler looks to build its capability around delivering the highest level of customer service. Internally, investment into people will also help the company to reduce operational costs, ensuring a competitive edge.
This will be furthered by continued collaboration and support of the company’s global operations, partnering closely with other regional teams to bring international credibility to any project undertaken.
“The growing together of the MEA region and the Southern Asian region has reached the next level, so we are changing from a co-existence into a successful partnership with all the great benefits. We can create customer solutions for Middle East and Africa, we can utilise the supply chain, we can focus on the best country sourcing and develop and provide solutions for Africa within that region. It’s a great opportunity for us,” says Head of Middle East – Africa – India Region, Heiko Feuring.
The priorities include a balance around profitable growth, humanity, nature, and economic development. This strategy is centred around a commitment to reduce climate change and generate solutions that unlock sustainable business opportunities in the global food, feed, and automotive industries for customers.
By ensuring these priorities the company continues to post strong results, allowing it to roll out further opportunities around the world. For Stefan Scheiber, African growth is important and the number and scale of opportunities on this thriving continent make expansion here a must.
“South Africa has been, and will remain a country with important customers, both local family-companies and leading regional and global brands. Therefore, a local presence, with local experts is key to secure our business, now and in future,” he concludes.