ECWAMIX CHEMICAL SYSTEMS: Chemical Manufacturer Has the Recipe for Export Expansion
In a challenging manufacturing sector, Ecwamix Chemical Systems is flying high off the back of its best year yet, as several successful projects see the company entering new export markets and supporting local clients with innovative new ideas. GM Max Roux tells Enterprise Africa more about the company’s success.
South Africa’s vital manufacturing industry was partly dismantled during the Covid-19 crisis with many companies closed and many jobs lost. In fact, in October 2020, one of the worst months for pandemic damage, Stats SA reported that 85,000 jobs had been cut in manufacturing alone. Combine the impact of the pandemic with inability of Eskom to keep the power on, and interest rate hikes that have anchored business growth, and the landscape is challenging for all business, especially manufacturing.
However, there is always opportunity in challenges. The key is making the right moves and having the right connections to take advantage when chances come up. For Gauteng-based chemical manufacturing specialist, Ecwamix Chemical Systems, new export markets and new products are opening up channels for growth. The ambitious company is a manufacturer, contract packer, developer, and raw material sourcer, creating defoamers, concentrated surfactant blends, floor coatings, preservative biocides, wax and silicone emulsions, and more.
Building from one single customer as a CC back in 2005, Ecwamix is now a respected 60-employee business that manufactures from a 12,000 m2 Gauteng site. GM Max Roux tells Enterprise Africa that, because of its ability to find new opportunities, 2023 was the best year in the company’s history.
“Business has been exceptional. We have established a core market in South Africa which we maintain and look after key clients, big and small. South Africa is still our key market, but with the expansion we have been focussing on, it has been a very good year. It has taken around 18 months to really show through, but we are very pleased with the results.”
Max Roux, General Manager
BIG DRIVE IN EXPORT
Exports to markets across the continent and in the Middle East have buoyed Ecwamix and taken the multi-million Rand company into a new growth phase, with new premises and recruiting for more staff.
“The export market has been a focus for the past couple of years after we found that the South African market was becoming quite saturated. We decided to invest many resources into export markets, especially the rest of Africa. In the past year, we have also started exporting to the Middle East. The growth has been excellent for the business and we have seen a lot of positivity in the export market, especially in Africa where there is a skills shortage and there is a large demand for products.”
On the continent, Ecwamix has opted for a unique strategy, not simply developing products and selling to distributors. Instead, the company has redesigned the manufacturing process to make everything easier and quicker, and is effectively establishing small manufacturing operations within communities. Capital equipment and raw materials can be provided alongside expertise, and products can be manufactured in-country to assist in cost management.
“We have developed an extensive range of products, where the manufacturing process is a simplified, and we can provide a package for local businesses to set up a manufacturing process,” explains Roux. “In Zimbabwe, for example, where manufacturing capacity is not that strong, we can send all the of the products and related equipment, as well as a person to assist in set up, and they can manufacture locally in the most efficient way possible. It’s all about simplifying the process around manufacturing household chemicals. It’s a way of us giving back, to a certain extent, to communities where access to products is difficult.”
Dishwashing products, cleaning chemicals, and other general cleaning materials can all be made available to communities, typically in more rural areas, with the support of Ecwamix, while creating opportunities at the same time. It’s a unique model that moves the company beyond a chemical manufacturer to become more of a consultant and partner to small business owners.
In the contract manufacturing space, Ecwamix has also built a thriving operation mixing and packing innovative products for various industries where experts in required materials do not have the capacity inhouse.
“Metallurgists, for example, might have a product that they want to supply to a mine but they don’t have the capacity to manufacture,” explains Roux. “We can manufacture for them and supply directly to the customer. In that division of the business, we do everything from bulk supply to the mine through to contract packing for other brands.”
SOURCE OF PRIDE
While growth in manufacturing output was ‘lacklustre’ in 2023 compared to 2022, ongoing issues that hamper the sector have ramped up. Electricity, logistics, economic, and political hurdles continue to blight businesses, and this is why Roux is pleased with progress in the export market.
“Our growth there is something we are proud of,” he says. “At international scale, people overlook Africa. Asia is a big market for manufacturing and exporting, and the fact that we are now exporting to the Middle East shows that we can manufacture and export from here in Africa. There are not many companies doing so thus we are pleased that our decision to invest time and effort into the export market has paid off.”
Future growth will be aided by a push in the remediation category where Ecwamix is developing various solutions for problems including oil spills and mining acid leaks. In the Middle East, where oil is the main commodity, and in Africa where mining remains the backbone of many economies, this range expansion makes perfect sense for Ecwamix considering its capacity and experience.
“Remediation products will be a bigger focus for us in the future; biological remediation of oil spills in mining or petroleum – diesel, petrol, hydrocarbons etc – we have developed a range of products for the remediation of those spills. It’s a more environmentally friendly way of cleaning, and it has become a strong focus for us in the past year. It’s all enzyme-based and is directed at the oil and mining space with some going to other spaces like pit toilets and hygiene. Especially in Africa, it’s a healthier way of maintaining those facilities in rural areas. That is a great range for which we would like to design a marketing campaign around in2024,” details Roux.
Pit toilets remain commonplace across African countries, with research suggesting that as many as 247 million people on the continent are exposed to the unsanitary conditions that fuel antimicrobial resistance.
CUSTOMER FOCUS IS KEY
Right now, the key products for Ecwamix and its clients are defoamers, silicone emulsion, and wax emulsion where the company is one of the largest producers in Africa. Having recently taken over an extra unit on its existing site, bringing total floorspace to a size with which Roux is comfortable for the next three years, the challenge now is to add talent. But this is a difficult and lengthy process.
“Our business is often challenging to recruit for,” he says, “because it takes a lot of time and energy and effort from us to get staff up to speed with the manufacturing processes – it is a big investment that is time consuming. We want to be as efficient as possible but more technical positions mean we have to be very selective and put in a lot of time into training.”
Understanding the multiple inputs that allow the company to thrive makes for a lengthy training and development process, and this is the needed to embed new members into a culture of product and service excellence that has been crafted over the past 18 years.
“We have a strong focus on customer service and despite our success and growth, we do pride ourselves on the fact that we haven’t outgrown our core customers. While some might not be our biggest customers anymore, we still look after them the same way we always have. Customer focus is key, and without that you don’t get far.”
In a troubled manufacturing market, Ecwamix is a shining light that proves what can be done with the right recipe. Where others are cutting, Ecwamix is hiring, while competition slow, Ecwamix is booming in export, while some consolidate, Ecwamix is expanding. The driving force behind all of the company’s success is its ability to see opportunities within challenges – this attribute, says Roux, is something that will never go away.