NEWS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Continued from page 7
5. What challenges are you experiencing
in the industry currently?
DVW: The biggest challenges that we
are experiencing are people and the
development of skills. As we are one of the
very few companies placing emphasis on
this, it puts constraints on profitability when
competing with companies who do not
spend on the development of people,
but rather look at short-term profits. We will
however stick to our policy of developing
people as without this, there will be no
future industry.
Sadly, another of our challenges is losing
young upcoming staff to countries outside
of Africa. This is of huge concern and does
have a negative effect on our succession
plan from time to time. Unfortunately, a lack
of skills in our industry is not isolated to South
Africa, making moving to another country
a lot easier.
6. How was the 2018 business year for
MRE? And what is your forecast for
2019?
DVW: We are looking forward to the
new financial year, but without a crystal
ball it is very difficult to predict what
this year will bring. Having said that, our
enquiry books are very busy and this
is always a good sign. Talk within the
industry is that the coming financial year
should be better than the current one.
Let’s hope so.
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7. How do you see the future of the
company? Where are you heading?
DVW: MRE, over the past two and a half
years, has placed huge emphasis on
succession plans, systems, and controls. We
have installed SAP with a job costing add on.
It has been a roller-coaster journey, but we
believe we are getting close to our original
goals set for this project. An ERP system is
never complete as one will always grow it
to obtain better controls and reports. We
believe the ERP system to be an integral part
of our succession plan and future growth.
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We need two things for succession and
future growth to be successful: the right
people and the correct systems. If we
can get this right, then we intend to open
further branches throughout South Africa
and southern Africa.
Over the next 10 years or so, the existing
founders will need to move on and
make space for the younger people we
are training and employing to take the
company to the next level. Meticulous
planning is required to ensure a smooth
transition. CLA
1. Dennis van der Westhuizen in his
youth before cell phones and PCs.
2. The latest MRE compressor package
with the light grey colour scheme.
Dennis van der Westhuizen in his youth before cell phones and PCs.
COLD LINK AFRICA • March/April 2019
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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