PERSONALITY PROFILE
test and two hours later, they informed me
the job was mine if I wanted it,” he says.
He hit the ground running and immediately
identified areas in which he could bring
about meaningful change, which led to rapid
advancement. His career has taken him from
tool and die making, mechanical design
engineering, and manufacturing process
engineering, to planning and logistics
management, general management, and
today, COO.
“Having worked as a draftsman and a
toolmaker and being one of the first people
in South Africa to use computer-aided design
(CAD) before coming to Cobra, I realised we
could modernise our design capability,” he
said. He drove the introduction of this relatively
new technology into Cobra’s manufacturing
operation, moving away from labour-intensive
drafting tables in the design process.
He also introduced central planning through
an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system,
which took the organisation from being a
paper-based environment to an electronic one.
LIXIL 2017
He worked through the establishment of
Cobra Watertech, which was born from the
merger between Cobra Brassware and Castle
Brassworks in 1986. The company was
acquired by the Dawn Group in 2004, which
was in turn acquired by the LIXIL Group in
2017. The combined South African assets
were renamed LIXIL Africa.
As Van der Westhuizen seeks to expand
this unique manufacturing operation, he
pushes his teams to the highest levels of
excellence. “LIXIL has poured a significant
amount of capital into our operation, which
lacked investment in new technology for
a long time,” he says. “Over the past 18
months, the main manufacturing plant has
been transformed into a highly specialised,
competitive production facility, putting us at
the forefront of sanitaryware manufacturing
in sub-Sahara Africa.”
As a global leader in sanitaryware
manufacturing, the LIXIL Group has
introduced a long-term business philosophy
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
49
that Van der Westhuizen foresees will
re-establish the relevance of iconic South
African brands such as Cobra, ISCA, Vaal,
Libra, Plexicor, and Apex Valves, as well
as luxury German sanitary brand Grohe,
through effective marketing and customer
engagement platforms.
EXPORT FOCUSED
In the mid-term, LIXIL Africa aims to become
increasingly export-focused, growing jobs by
between 25% and 50% through a balance of
new technology, automation, and labour.
“We are in constant knowledge transfer
and communication with our Japan-based
experts,” he says. “Unfortunately, critical
skills in South Africa are declining and very
difficult to retain. We are also investigating
how technology can help with process
consistency and repeatability, which is vital in
reducing wastage and managing costs.”
LIXIL Africa is investigating modern
technologies such as zinc die casting,
polymer moulding, and various alternative
coating processes, as well as adding impetus
to marketing its existing brands.
“We’re spreading word about our bundle of
power brands made in South Africa, focusing
on selling our materials of trade (MOTs) and
ensuring that our supply chain adheres to
our unwavering after-sales service and On-
Time-In-Full (OTIF) objectives,” he adds.
“We also need to create awareness
about the worrying influx of substandard
products into the market, which debase
the market and make it very difficult to do
business.” With these elements in place,
LIXIL Africa plans to launch new products
at a faster rate than ever to lead the market
in the latest trends in sanitaryware and
technological innovation. Despite witnessing
recent years of constrained economic
growth, particularly in manufacturing, he
remains optimistic about the country’s future.
“I’m optimistic about the future for LIXIL
Africa,” he says. “Manufacturing is a vital
sector of the economy and we need to work
hard to build up the best skills and cutting-
edge technology.” PA
September 2018 Volume 24 I Number 7