Plumbing Africa September 2022 | Page 19

FEATURE 17
Advanced Valves Staff .
they are importing from gets most of the revenue and the job creation , becoming wealthy at our expense , which is a major negative to the South African economy .
6 . Does the Government provide support to local manufacturers in the way of incentives and if so , what form ? I have heard there are government programs and grants , but I have never relied on this type of funding or these incentives .
7 . If not , what should they be doing to encourage local manufacture ? It ’ s very simple - stop allowing non-compliant products to be imported that are in direct competition with locally manufactured products . The DTIC has no idea how to control this . Brass componentry must be DZR and comply to SANS standards for plumbing in this country , yet container loads full of non-DZR noncompliant products are being imported though our ports daily . The result is the homeowner loses out in the long run as failures and non-complying products are inferior and noncompliant and therefore fail way before they should .
8 . Are your staff in the factory trained in specific tasks or can they multi-task ? We have staff that can perform many tasks and we do rotate our members into different jobs , to grow them and keep them interested in their work . This also helps if we have absenteeism , so we can switch people around quickly .
Rubber compression moulding section .
Plastic injection moulding and CNC milling and turning section .
9 . If there are speciality skills required , do you encourage upskilling / training ? Yes , we do lots of official training inhouse and though MerSETA and this helps uplift our capabilities within our organisation be to come stronger and more skilled in manufacturing techniques . PA
Laser etching on a thermostatic relief valve .
September 2022 Volume 28 I Number 7 www . plumbingafrica . co . za