It may be South Africa’s only manufacturer of specification heat exchanger tubing and scheduled stainless steel piping, but Salmac has set its sights on providing excellence in products and service further afield than the South African market.
Nell Turner of Salmac’s Export Sales Division explains: “Salmac’s exports currently form a large portion of the company’s total sales. This is a tremendous achievement, and we are – thanks to the expansion of our production facilities – in a position to further exploit the enormous potential of export markets.”
“In fact,” continues Turner, “during the past 3 months, exports to the United Kingdom alone have grown so much that Salmac is now a major player in the supply of stainless steel pipe to that country.”
With an established network of customers in Holland, Belgium and Germany, Salmac has turned its attention to South America, and the company is pleased with progress made on the subcontinent. “We conduct regular business with one of Chile’s largest stainless steel pipe stockists,” elaborates Turner, “and recently closed our first deal in Brazil.
What is the secret to Salmac’s success in international markets? “Customers want much more than good prices when purchasing stainless steel piping,” says Turner. “Salmac has shorter turnaround times than most of our international competitors, the quality of our products is comparable with any other supplier in the world, and our rate of on-time deliveries continuously reaches 90%.
While Salmac’s export achievements are impressive, the company has no intention of resting on its laurels.
“Our new production facility will enable us to further improve our turnaround times, and we are constantly examining our internal procedures to further improve our on-time delivery rate,” says Turner. “Perhaps the most important development in Salmac’s future export drive is our application for TUV accreditation, which will give us an important edge in the highly competitive international arena.”