BUSINESS AND TRAINING
35
Valsir strategic changes
By Eamonn Ryan
Plumbing Africa met with Valsir group export sales director
Tommaso Gruppi from Italy on his recent visit to South Africa to
catch up on events at the South African business.
Earlier this year Valsir Italy increased their
shareholding in Valsir Uneeq (Pty) Ltd, South African
business and distribution partner for Valsir SpA,
acquiring 100% shareholding and ownership.
This has enabled Valsir to further invest in the local
operation, improve stockholding efficiencies and grow the
business.
Valsir is today a solid and expanding international company
within a group whose true points of cohesion and strength lie
within a strong sense of collaboration and the contribution of
specific professional skills of each single component.
“We had challenges in the past due to the different
strategies of the two shareholders (in South Africa) as
to how to develop the local business. For instance, the
local operation had a bi focus – with a big emphasis on
developing the energy products such as underfloor heating,
which is not a common practice in the local market. We have
since exited this business and refocused our competencies,
allowing Valsir Uneeq to focus on the core competencies of
the business.
“This divergence in focus was not healthy because, as
Valsir, we need to meet the requirements and prospects of
our customers and market, understanding their needs and
delivering on expectation. This bi focus approach impacted on
our ability to service the market efficiently, with interruptions
in stock supply and consequently a relatively inflexible
response time to handing customer needs,” says Gruppi.
Valsir Uneeq marketing manager Dorianne Isaacman notes
that the company did not altogether walk away from the
underfloor heating business, but rather appointed a local
partner to concentrate on this specialised market sector,
allowing Valsir itself to focus on its core plumbing business.
Gruppi adds, “We are working towards aligning the business
in South Africa with our worldwide model. Now we have
more frequently deliveries from Valsir Italy – every two
weeks rather than three times a year – giving more flexibility
of stock as well as the ability to tailor products to South
November 2019 Volume 25 I Number 9
According to its website, Valsir was founded in 1987, on the
basis of a precise industrial strategy adopted by the Silmar
Group – a holding that is leader in the plumbing and heating
market with a sales turnover of over EUR900-million and
2 600 employees – with factories in Italy, in Valsabbia to
the north of Brescia and abroad in Portugal, Poland, Russia,
Romania, the Ukraine, France and South Africa.
Valsir Group export sales director (Italy), Tommaso Gruppi.
African conditions, such as the need for DZR brass, thereby
increasing the Valsir range available to the local market.
With our greater purchasing resources in Italy, we are able to
handle sub-suppliers in a more professional manner.”
“It also reduces the need for managing large amounts of
stock from infrequent deliveries. Warehousing is lean, and the
company can better manage its stockturn,” says Isaacman.
Gruppi notes that nobody was unhappy with the product
solutions Valsir brought to the market. “But with undiluted
ownership we can now bring even more solutions to market,
such as our TropeaS revolutionary in-wall flushing cisterns
and our push-fit piping solution which enables drainage
piping to be installed in large buildings without it having to
be welded – which is time-consuming, costly and prone to
human error. It also has outstanding acoustic benefits, which
is becoming increasingly specified by designers in certain
environments like commercial buildings, hospitality and
healthcare facilities,” he explains.
One such solution, says technical sales engineer Casper
Maree, is to put acoustic piping on the ground floor and
less expensive pipes on the upper floors, for instance in a
restaurant. “With a waste solution we know where it makes
the most noise and can put in a low decibel pipe there. The
range we offer means that engineers have greater options in
the design of a building for a custom-fit solution, which has
many advantages and is much appreciated.”
Once the new structure and model is fully embedded, says
Gruppi, a new MD will be appointed. PA
www.plumbingafrica.co.za