Specialist die caster Pressure Die Casting (PDC), based in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, has been rewarded for the company’s achievements on a number of fronts with the award of the Nedbank sponsored Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business (PCB) Business of The Year for 2014, in the manufacturing sector.

The awards ceremony was held in November at the Royal Showgrounds and honoured the remarkable achievements of business people in Pietermaritzburg. Previous winners of the award include Somta Tools and Ramsay Engineering.

John Bush – Area Manager, Nedbank KZN Inland hands over the award to PDC MD Mike Wolhuter

“We were very proud and honoured to be awarded the PCB Business of the Year for Manufacturing at the Annual Awards Banquet 2014. All credit must go to our management and staff for this award,” said PDC MD Mike Wolhuter. Wolhuter has recently been appointed to the PCB board and is hoping to contribute to the organisation by representing the manufacturing community of Pietermaritzburg and focusing on issues such as electricity availability, tariffs and other industry issues.

“Some of the factors that influenced the judges decision included the significant growth in company turnover and profit over the past few years. Another reason was that 30% of the company’s turnover this year was for components that two years ago were imported either from China or India and are now locally manufactured cost effectively.”

“Although this ‘home shoring’ exercise has proved to be very successful for us, it is only one of a number of factors that the company and the staff have implemented that contributed positively to the bottom line.”

“The judges also complimented us on the international competitiveness of the company as more than 50% of product manufactured by PDC is exported.”

“But it is not just about product and manufacturing. Mention was made of the company’s strong commitment to its staff, which includes staff education and training opportunities. We also have the only factory clinic in Pietermaritzburg that is licensed to dispense anti retrovirals (ARV’s) to staff.”

“This has resulted in a world class average attendance rate of staff of 98% and an average employee service of 10 years.”

PDC, a specialist die caster of brass and aluminium castings, was established in 1952. The company manufactures a range of components, with weights from just a few grams to 800 grams, with current production runs from 1 000 to millions of components per annum. The manufacturing process that a component follows varies according to its complexity, and sub-assemblies are made according to the customer’s brief.

PDC manufacture more than 100 different components for a number of industries, the primary ones being the architectural and building hardware industry, the fire protection industry, the power reticulation industry, the OEM and aftermarket automotive industry and the plumbing industry.

The company’s tool room is an integral part of the process and critical to the successful manufacture of high quality products. All tools and dies are made and serviced in their own toolroom.

PDC has been a certified ISO 9001 company since 1997 and is audited regularly to ensure conformity and continuous improvement.

“We are a full service supplier working with our customers to provide a die casting solution that includes component design, tooling design, tool and die manufacture, material alloying and analysis, high pressure die casting, fettling and CNC machining, testing and assembly, metrology, packaging and logistics,” explained Wolhuter.

For further details contact Pressure Die Casting on TEL: 033 397 5500 or visit www.pdc.co.za