"The
Bridge That Links The Total Materials Handling Systems Together"
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RAPID GROWTH PROPELS DDL EQUIPMENT TO NEXT CORPORATE
MILESTONE
Rapid growth experienced by materials handing and docking
and sealing equipment specialists DDL Equipment has prompted
managing director Andrew Stewart to transform the company
from a close corporation to a Proprietary Limited company
and to make a share option available to its employee body.
DDL
Equipment Staff at Johannesburg HQ
Established in the 1970s, DDL Equipment ¾ a Proudly
South African company ¾ specialises in the design and
layout of material handling systems including loading dock
equipment, dock Ievellers, dock seals. The company also
supplies industrial door hardware such as sectional doors,
high-speed doors and swing doors and distributes Nergeco and
Bernos products in South Africa.
"Maintaining sustainable growth and international
quality standards has been an ongoing challenge," says
Stewart, "but as the company reaches its present
milestone, I’m very confident that our operation will use
the past three decades as a firm foundation upon which to
extend its growth and reach further than ever before.
Paul de Grauw
PE Branch Manager
"The evolution of the company has been nothing short
of amazing and as its founder, I’m proud to say that the
company has kept pace, not only with the demanding
requirements of materials handling in Southern Africa, but
also with the government’s Black Economic Empowerment
requirements.
"Stewart says among the many corporate highlights in DDL
Equipment’s history to date, the recent Hot Dip
Galvanizing Award, from the Hot Dip Galvanizers Association
of Southern Africa, for hot dip galvanising dock
levellers, is among the foremost.
Galvanised Dock levellers
are used mainly in the meat industry, where there are high
levels of corrosion. He predicts that the market for hot dip galvanised dock levellers will broaden, both in South
Africa’s coastal areas and internationally.
With the introduction of Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Points (HACCP) and the imminent tightening of legislation
governing safety food handling, DDL has kept pace with the
industry’s changing requirements and is able to provide
advice and technology to ensure chillers, freezers and cold
rooms operate in line with these stringent directives.
Malcolm Casey
CT Branch Manager
"HACCP’s systematic approach to food safety is
aimed at preventing hazards that could cause food-borne
illnesses by monitoring the progress of foodstuffs
throughout their progress through the food chain," says
Stewart. "This means care has to be take at all stages
at which food is handled ¾ from primary production to
processing, manufacturing, distribution and retail, to the
point of consumption ¾ to ensure that potentially harmful
biological, chemical or physical hazards do not compromise
food safety.
In 2004 the company moved to larger premises in Bramley
View, Johannesburg, and unveiled what is probably the only
permanent exhibition of working docking equipment in the
local logistics industry. This line-up of full scale docking
equipment, dock sealing systems and high-speed door units is
permanently on display to the industry in a 25m X 5m
showroom.
"My overriding dream is to see the African logistics
world align with international standards and DDL’s
contribution to this goal has been to make nearly 40 years
of research and development in the logistics industry freely
available to visitors on our web site at www.ddl.co.za,"
says Stewart.
DDL
Equipment Shareholders
Back Row
centre: Stephen Dawtrey, Nelson Masheve
Seated:
Andre
w T.C. Stewart, Johann Smith
"Fast-tracking of communications, information
technology and the immediate availability of specifications
and design drawings are becoming increasingly critical in
the materials handling industry. Professionals such as
architects, consulting engineers, project engineers,
quantity surveyors and construction companies can now
download our technical drawings at the touch of a
button."
DDL Equipment has branches in Durban, Port Elizabeth,
East London and Cape Town and distributors across the Sadec
region.
Issued on behalf of:
Andrew TC Stewart
Tel: +27 11 443 4233
DDL Equipment
Fax: +27 11 882 4569
PO Box 210
E-mail: ddl@icon.co.za
Strathavon 2031
South Africa
March 2006
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