COLUMBIT: Commitment to Sound Values Seals Columbit’s Industry Top Spot

For southern Africa’s food producers, industry and macro-economic conditions are beginning to bite. The war in Ukraine, crippling power cuts, adverse weather conditions, challenging currency pricing conditions, and increasing regulatory requirements make for a difficult market. Mix in an inflation storm and the lingering economic effects of the pandemic, and consumer wallets are tighter than ever. Challenged supply alongside lacking disposable income make for a crunch in the market.

A well-developed and technologically advanced food processing sector requires continual servicing from an equipment perspective and, as many companies look more at input costs, it pays to partner with the most experienced and knowledgeable.

In order to process, package, and supply food and beverage products at volume, with high quality, at speed, and in line with regulations, high-spec machinery and automated systems are vital. Technology continues to change this market, but for companies like Columbit – a leading provider of the world’s best equipment – staying ahead of the game is the bread and butter.

Established in South Africa in 1938 by German immigrant Ernest Zeh, the introduction of European technology to Africa has always been a cornerstone of the business. 84 years later and Columbit is still bringing world-class technology from Europe and installing at food and beverage processing businesses across southern Africa.

Importantly, the solutions provided by Columbit are helping users to lower input costs and make savings through various innovative technologies. Right now, this is extremely attractive for embattled organisations.

SPECIALISTS

“All of our machines are imported from Europe, mostly Germany and Italy and we specialise in meat and beverages, with a specific focus on wine. Our Bettcher range of tools are manufactured in the USA,” says GM Werner Rautenbach.

The company boasts a product list from suppliers for the meat processing sector including Eberhardt, Weber, Gunther, Fessmann, Domino, Polyclip, Margurit, Laska and more. These are the leaders in their specific field.

Suppliers for beverages are all Italian, with our key partners being TMG, MBF, Makro, Nortan and Ragazzini.

From processing through sorting and packing to distribution, the machines installed by Columbit come with ongoing support and maintenance.

“In our game, you have to be flexible and constantly aware of the market requirements. We continuously evaluate our offering and if we realise something that the market doesn’t need any more then we will re-consider such equipment and rather focus on products required by our customers.” explains Rautenbach. “As the demand changes, we will search for new products that can satisfy the requirements, on the other hand we have a few products that we have been promoting for many years since these types of technology have been in high demand and we foresee that it will remain like that well into the future. With Polyclip for example, Columbit is the distributor who have been representing Polyclip for the longest period of time, in fact the relationship between Columbit and Polyclip started long before I was born – it is an achievement that we are very proud of. There are a number of our agencies where Columbit started a relationship with the supplier shortly after they formed the company and after many years Columbit is the only company who represented them. This stable relation with our suppliers gives our customers piece of mind as they know it is a trustworthy supplier.”  

Whether it’s slicing, pressing, mincing, injecting, packing or a more indirect input, clients of Columbit know they will get the very best tool for the job and will have first-class after sales service. By combining the best people with unrivalled technology, Columbit has found its recipe for success by sticking to its vision, mission, and core values.

“We believe we have a good team and without our people we can’t do anything. We are fortunate to have a very strong and motivated team who tackle the market well. We don’t try to go overboard – we try to do the basics right and always deliver customer service at the highest level.

“We have been able to attract suppliers of top end equipment over the years and the products we offer are the best available in the market; Columbit does not engage with low quality budget producers – we are seen as the company that supplies the very best equipment available,” details Rautenbach.

BETTER THAN EXPECTED

Even through the challenging Covid lockdowns – where food businesses and their clients were faced with preventative restrictions – Columbit was able to avoid major downturn thanks to a longlist of clients with an installed base around the country. Maintenance and servicing endured and some sales continued to roll in as the company’s listed as critical across the food sector worked as normal.

Asked about the bounce back, Rautenbach has been positively surprised. “It has been better than we expected,” he says.

“However, especially on the wine side in South Africa, for some time the production and packaging of wine was not allowed, and sales and exports of wine was blocked with the industry coming to a standstill – that was a tough time. Being diversified, people still needed to buy food and meat and that helped us. The industry is quite resilient and the sales have returned quite quickly so we are quite satisfied with how we performed through such a difficult time.

“We are fortunate as we didn’t need to reduce our headcount or anything that could affect our service delivery negatively. We made adjustments and we limited expenses, but we were fortunate that we did not need cut staff numbers as that is the last thing we ever want to do.”

With millions of formal sector jobs cut in South Africa during 2020, to commit to employees and a strong presence in the market is a statement of intent. A core value for Columbit is the retention and promotion of honesty and integrity within the company and it is employees that deliver this culture. Across the entire geographic market served by the business, even after the pandemic, this value is core in the Columbit offering.

“We have meat and beverage processing equipment for which we cover most of southern Africa. We have customers in Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia, and we cover all areas,” says Rautenbach, who has been with the business for more than two decades.

80 people serve clients with the company’s other core values: Quality, Innovation and Service in order to assist with the issue of efficiency. For the wine industry, quality is non-negotiable, and in food processing innovation around freshness and longevity is vital.

QUALITY & INNOVATION

“The customers’ requirements to improve productivity with rising input costs is an important factor,” details Rautenbach. “Everyone needs to increase productivity and lower costs, this forms an important part when we consider what to offer our clients. The need to reduce input cost has been a huge motivation for more automation.”

Even from an operational viewpoint, machine suppliers are reimagining composition to ensure maximum efficiency, and Columbit is noticing change.

“High hygiene standards, traceability and food safety is extremely important when producing food, fortunately with such good machine suppliers these requirements are high on their priority list and our machine suppliers make such a huge effort ensuring their machines are easy cleaning with access to all the important areas to be cleaned.” says Rautenbach.

The country’s big companies and multinational corporates employ some 75% of the food processing industry’s people, and account for more than 90% of the industry. These are the companies that rely on top class equipment, that is well serviced, efficiently designed, and drives productivity.

“The environment has been characterised by consistent pressure to reduce input costs,” reiterates Rautenbach.

In the wine industry – where Columbit is well-known across the Western Cape thanks to its range of corks, capsules, wine barrels and screwcaps – there is again strong demand for a partner with such a track record and a clear focus on quality.

“Locally Columbit add value to the range of consumable products. We partnered with a local screw cap producer where Columbit receive the plain screwcap and in our factory and print the customers unique design on the screw cap. Further, we have a factory that produces capsules that cover the wine cork. We obtain the aluminium material and manufacture the capsules here in Cape Town for the industry. In our cork treatment facility, we complete final treatment, printing and top branding on imported corks.” says Rautenbach, highlighting the importance of the company’s involvement in an industry worth R55 billion to the Western and Northern Cape economies.

WIDENING SCOPE

Going forward, Columbit is excited about further success as the impact of the pandemic lessens and a localisation programme continues to encourage food processing businesses to thrive. By bringing in more quality equipment through an expanding range of contacts, the company will be able to exploit new opportunities.

“We are very fortunate that we were able to reach an agreement with a machine manufacturer to represent them in our area. We are of the opinion that will give us some good growth and widen our scope of supply for our customers. This will definitely help to give clients a better offering and we have made good progress already.

“We have a number of other ideas and initiatives that we are busy with behind the scenes but it is too early to talk about these just yet,” Rautenbach teases.

Currently self-labelled ‘large enough to make a difference but small enough to care’, Columbit deals with clients with flexibility but acts as an extension of its suppliers. Leaning on the commitment and expertise of its staff while delighting customers with each interaction, this is a business perfectly positioned for further growth as the industries it serves search for quality. 

“We have great inhouse technical teams who are regularly trained by the machine suppliers. Columbit makes significant investments ensuring our team of technicians are up to date with the technology we offer. We handle the lifecycle of the product, with spare parts and repairs, keeping the equipment in top condition with original spare parts from the manufacturers.

“A good product combined with a good back up service is a winning recipe,” concludes Rautenbach.

Something which will not change is the commitment to sound values, only enhancing an already sterling reputation. Columbit sits proudly atop the food processing and wine equipment industry, and it would take something rather drastic to change that anytime soon.