Boschpick Engineering announces new business partners

With the backing of the dti’s Black Industrialist Programme and R27 million of IDC funding the company intends to develop it’s manufacturing capabilities and expand into industries that it does not supply.

Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal-based Boschpick Engineering has announced that it has concluded a successful agreement with local entrepreneurs Bongani Khumalo and Phillip Majali and their company Lipsobex, a 100% black youth owned industrial investment company backed by the IDC, whereby the new partners will acquire a 70% shareholding in the company. The remaining 30% shareholding will continue to be held by existing directors – brothers Fred, Carel and Johnny Peens – split equally between the three.

“We have been looking for two years to find suitable partners that would offer value-add solutions that meet both ours and our customers’ business objectives,” said Fred Peens who will remain on as the CEO of the company.

Even though the 70% stake moves Boschpick Engineering’s empowerment status to BBBEE Level 1, Peens makes it clear that this collaboration is not just about BEE scoring.

“Bongani and his business partner in Lipsobex – Phillip Majali – bring diversity into Boschpick Engineering’s ownership structure, but this is no superficial empowerment deal. For most of Boschpick’s history the company has been supplying components and castings into the mining and power industries, countrywide. Although in their mid-thirties both Bongani and Phillip have vast experience in these industries that will facilitate our penetration even further. At this stage we have clients in all of the various minerals and resources processed in the mining industry, including coal, except gold, which we hope to make inroads into with our new partners.”

Bongani Khumalo is a local junior miner from the rural area in Utrecht KwaZulu-Natal. He has been in the mining business for the last 10 years and is a shareholder and director in Khethekile Mining, a company based in Newcastle. He is also the chairperson of the Uitkomst Colliery board, a mine operating in the Utrecht area of KwaZulu-Natal producing thermal and metallurgical coal.

Khumalo is additionally one of the shareholders of MC Mining – listed on the AIM, ASX and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) – a company that is an emerging developer of high-quality coking and thermal coal assets and until recently was known as Coal of Africa (CoAL), before the name change. Pan African Resources, a precious metals producer that is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and the JSE, previously owned Uitkomst Colliery. This is another company that Khumalo had a shareholding in, before it was sold to MC Mining late in 2017.

Khumalo will head up the board of Boschpick Engineering as Chairman and he is stated as saying that he intends to assist the company to reach new heights.

Lipsobex is a 100% black youth owned industrial investment company backed by the IDC. Lipsobex co-directors are Khumalo and Phillip Majali, who has been in the EPC EPCM (Engineering, procurement and construction management) space for the past five years. Majali is currently a partner and director in the Johannesburg, Africa office of Paris, France-based project management, supply chain and procurement company ETE Floex Group.

“I have always wanted to be involved in the strategic manufacturing industry and with this investment in Boschpick Engineering we, Bongani and myself as directors of Lipsobex, have achieved this ambition,” said Majali.

“We are proud to be part of the dti’s Black Industrialist Programme and with the backing of the IDC (Industrial Development Corporation) we have been able to acquire a majority shareholding in Boschpick Engineering. There are many synergies and similar pillars of success that exist between Lipsobex and Boschpick Engineering. It is our vision to grow our combined revenues through this alliance,” says Majali.

Phillip Majali, Fred Peens, Johnny Peens, Bongani Khumalo and Carel Peens

“I am from the rural area of Port St Johns, Transkei and both Bongani and myself know and understand what it means to have a business in the rural areas that supports the local rural people. We have committed ourselves to grow Boschpick, create more jobs for the Newcastle community and value for the Boschpick shareholders.”

“Additionally, the current management team of Boschpick understands that transformation and the transfer of skills is a fundamental must for businesses to strive and grow in South Africa. Fred, Carel and Johnny will continue to run the company in the successful manner that they have done over the last 43 years of the company’s existence.”

Foundry milestone
Boschpick Engineering was originally established in 1975 when the brothers’ father identified a need for an engineering company to provide quality machined components for companies in the Newcastle area. Fred Peens opened up a machine shop, which is still an integral part of the business, and his sons subsequently joined the company at different time intervals.

However the company has since changed its service offerings and today Boschpick is heavily involved in manufacturing mechanical parts, spares replacement and components for light and heavy industry, from raw castings to supplying a fully machined casting or component. The company has been able to accomplish this because in 1988 the brothers made a strategic decision to commission their own foundry, which has now reached the 30-year milestone.

The company concentrates mainly on the steels, which make up about 70% of production. The remaining 30% is made up of cast iron and SG castings. Boschpick have also cast specials that include 26% chrome and manganese.

Since Fred Peens Senior retired, the brothers have broadened and diversified the base of their clients and are no longer dependent on the needs of the few well serviced clients who had become reliant on the quality of the castings supplied by Boschpick. The company now supplies castings nationwide, fully machined where contracted.

ISO certification
Another recent milestone in the company’s history is that it was awarded with ISO 9001:2008 certification in October 2017. This certification has been further enhanced with the company’s manufacturing systems being recognised for ISO 9001:2015, which the company will officially be recognised for in September 2018.

The company has also had two interns for the last two years, both of them recently qualifying. Boschpick have decided to employ one of them.

The future looks bright for Boschpick Engineering and the company sees new developments that include a bigger foundry with the installation of a larger furnace, moulding area and sand production to enable it to expand. Boschpick would also like to introduce new CNC machines to double up production as the growing need to export to international markets beckons.

For more information contact Boschpick Engineering on TEL: 034 375 7281