South African producer and supplier of corrosion protection rubber sheeting, Rema Tip Top South Africa, has acquired Specialised Rubber Products (SRP), a local company operating in the same field. SRP, formerly part of the Dunlop group, will be merged with Rema Tip Top’s operations at its Brakpan production facility in Gauteng.
The acquisition follows another deal involving the Dunlop group in which Rema Tip Top’s conveyor belting division formed an alliance with Dunlop Belting Products.
Rema Tip Top’s acquisition of SRP is confined to its production equipment, technologies and tie-ups with its applicator partners around the country, which constitute the downstream link in the supply chain to end-user customers. “SRP’s operations will be completely consolidated into ours,” says Rema Tip Top GM Dries van Coller. “Their production equipment will be transferred and re-established in our factory and their range of products will become part of our product line-up.”
Increasing the product range
The acquisition will further broaden Rema Tip Top’s market base and increase the range of rubber compounds the company can produce to provide a greater diversity of solutions to many different industries.
“SRP has trusted brand names in both cured and uncured sheeting, which is similar to what we offer,” says van Coller. “This acquisition broadens our range by 50%, allowing us to offer twice the number of compounds provided by our closest competitor.”
Superior quality standards
More than 25 applicator partners previously linked to SRP will benefit substantially from linking up with Rema Tip Top, which sets strict standards of quality for its own production and those of its partners alike to ensure consistent reliability and durability of the final products.
To ensure that quality standards are observed and maintained, the company provides comprehensive training to all its accredited partners and monitors them in regular inspections by senior technicians.
“Our quality improvements have paid off for us and our applicator partners in the form of greater customer satisfaction and increased market share,” says van Coller. “In recent years we have extended our involvement in setting performance and quality standards for applicators, recognising the fact that only a close partnership with them can ensure high-quality final products.
A focus on growth and diversification
Rema Tip Top South Africa is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rema Tip Top GmbH of Munich, Germany, a global leading producer and supplier of specialised rubber products and services for many industries.
“We have expanded our production capacity and diversified our product range,” says van Coller, “increasing our market share from around 10% five years ago to over 35% today, which includes the gains resulting from SRP coming on board. Our acquisition of SRP is integral to this process of continuous development, diversification and growth.”
The company has made sizeable investments in expanding its plant capacity during the past three years, marking the initial phase of an eight-year investment plan. In addition to corrosion protection solutions, the local company has two other divisions, covering conveyor maintenance, repair services and wear protection products.
Market leader in cured sheeting
The corrosion protection division’s products encompass three categories: chemical-cured, steam-cured and cured sheeting. Cured sheeting undergoes curing for corrosion protection during the manufacturing process in which the sheeting itself is being produced. For the other two types the curing processes are carried out separately after the sheeting has been manufactured.
Van Coller says that Rema Tip Top is the leading supplier in the local market of cured sheeting thanks to using its unique carbon nitrogen bonding layer, which has superior adhesion qualities. Its cured sheets, used for skirting, conveyor belt systems and repairs, offer the advantage of ease and speed of use. “The bonding layer on the sheeting can achieve full bond strength in two hours, compared with a minimum of six hours in the case of the other types,” says van Coller.
Chemical-cured sheeting is produced mainly for equipment that cannot be easily moved to a factory site for attachment of the sheeting, which therefore has to be done at the site where the equipment is situated.
The steam-cured sheets are the company’s premium range of products with high adhesion and vulcanisation characteristics. They are best suited for applications where the materials used or processes applied subject them to high levels of stress or abrasion, including agitator blades and chutes.