Natie van der Westhuizen.

LIXIL

Van der Westhuizen starts his day every morning at five and often ends it after ten at night. He oversees every aspect of operations at the Cobra factory in Krugersdorp. Since the acquisition of Grohe-Dawn WaterTech by LIXIL in 2017, his job has expanded to integrating the group’ s South African manufacturing operations of Cobra, Apex Valves, Vaal Sanitaryware, and Libra Baths.

Few people have dedicated as much of their lives to a company as Van der Westhuizen has, who is the COO at LIXIL Africa. In his 35 years with the company, he has led it through significant changes without losing his sense of drive and excitement.

EARLY DAYS“ I’ ve always enjoyed a wonderful growth path at Cobra,” he says.“ I’ ve had 36 different jobs in the business, since I started here in 1983.”

Joining Cobra was a stroke of destiny for Van der Westhuizen. After matric, his parents did not have the resources to send him to university— he could either join the police force, the railway service, or the arms and steel industry. He chose the latter and joined Armscor, through which he entered a technical college to study drafting and design, eventually qualifying as a mechanical design engineer at Wits Technicon. He also obtained a management diploma at UNISA and later an MBL at RAU, today known as the University of Johannesburg.

“ In 1983, during my time at Armscor, I walked to a corner shop in Krugersdorp, where I lived, to buy a newspaper,” he says.“ By chance, I saw a notice placed by Cobra( formerly Consolidated Brassware), which was German-owned at the time, advertising a design engineer position.

“ I phoned the number and they called me in for an interview. As I walked out, they gave me a