High Power Equipment (HPE) Africa has continued to gain impressive market share across the construction industry during 2010, proving that it has a recession-proof business strategy.
2 December, 2010: While 2010 has proven to be a testing year for many businesses in the construction industry, HPE Africa - the sole distributor of Hyundai earthmoving equipment in Southern Africa - can look back on the year and confidently acknowledge that it has been a highly-successful one.
Standing strong during one of the worst recessions in living memory, HPE Africa has bucked the international trend of economic decline, and has expanded its operations - gaining significant market share across southern Africa. HPE Africa managing director Alan Grady believes that the company has successfully defied the devastating effects of the global economic downturn, due to its unrivalled experience and understanding of the African market, coupled with its exclusive range of superior machinery that is backed by strong after-sales support and maintenance.
“During the course of the year, we have seen a substantial amount of growth, which is a fitting way to celebrate our tenth anniversary. Over the past decade, we have grown from strength-to-strength, and become a market-leader by constantly improving on our product range,” says Grady. “HPE Africa strives to ensure that every piece of equipment that the company distributes is of the highest standard, and is able to match up to the harsh African climate and landscape.” Grady points out that Hyundai is widely-regarded as a superior name in construction machinery; however, he stresses the importance of combining an effective after-sales service that compliments and improves this world-renowned reputation. “Having a superior product is a major advantage, but it is still only half the job. In order for us to remain on top of our game and one step ahead of our competitors, we need to ensure that our after-sales service is of the highest quality. As such, our team has put in an enormous amount of work this year, committing themselves to creating excellent customer relationships - and we are reaping the rewards of that hard work and dedication,” Grady continues.
National service manager Hein Stander echoes those sentiments, and points out that HPE Africa offers its clients a full range of personalised maintenance and repair work to its exclusive range of machinery - a service which does not always come as standard in the industry. “What sets us apart from our competitors is the fact that we are serious about service. We are a small company that offers a personal service to all clients. All of our managers can relate to our clients, as they have extensive experience and expertise in the construction industry,” says Stander. “Our team knows exactly what it feels like to have a faulty machine, which is losing them money or creating unnecessary delays as a result of downtime. A faulty piece of machinery can make or break a business, which is why we pull out all the stops when it comes to maintenance.”
Looking to the future, Grady points out that HPE Africa’s current product portfolio will be further expanded in 2011. He says: “HPE Africa will be extending its range of mobile crushing equipment early into the new year, due to popular demand. What’s more, we will also be launching the new-and-improved 9 Series range of Hyundai excavators in South Africa, including the 120-tonner.” As far as expansion is concerned, Grady is confident that HPE Africa will open at least seven new branches across Southern Africa throughout 2011, including four new branches in South Africa, and three across sub-Saharan Africa.
He gains this confidence from the successful-launch of the recently-established East London branch, where the company offers a full range of specialist light construction machinery as part of a new strategic partnership between HPE Africa and Goscor Power Products - a member of the Imperial Group of Companies. “The demand for heavy-duty machinery is increasing, and there are many sales opportunities in the region. The best way to make sure that we achieve these sales is by going out that little bit further and covering extra ground. This strategy has proven to be a successful one, and has seen HPE Africa gaining market share. We look forward to maintaining and even improving that share in 2011,”
Grady continues. Although 2010 has been a story of unprecedented success for HPE Africa, he admits that the company has been faced with a number of challenges - the largest being a substantial decrease in financing from banks across South Africa. “These challenging financial times have not been easy for many people and businesses to deal with, and the construction industry was particularly hard hit by the banking sector’s reluctancy to issue financing. As a result, many HPE Africa clients have found it difficult to purchase new machinery during the course of 2010,” he explains.
Grady explains that a combination of commitment and innovation from the HPE Africa team have been the driving force behind steering the company away from becoming another statistic. “Our entire team has done a fantastic job in coming up with innovative solutions to ensure that HPE Africa has still been able to increase
sales and maintain clients, despite the cuts in financing. Considering the extreme circumstances, HPE Africa has had a remarkably good year, and has actually pulled through the recession stronger than ever before," Grady concludes.
2 December, 2010: While 2010 has proven to be a testing year for many businesses in the construction industry, HPE Africa - the sole distributor of Hyundai earthmoving equipment in Southern Africa - can look back on the year and confidently acknowledge that it has been a highly-successful one.
Standing strong during one of the worst recessions in living memory, HPE Africa has bucked the international trend of economic decline, and has expanded its operations - gaining significant market share across southern Africa. HPE Africa managing director Alan Grady believes that the company has successfully defied the devastating effects of the global economic downturn, due to its unrivalled experience and understanding of the African market, coupled with its exclusive range of superior machinery that is backed by strong after-sales support and maintenance.
“During the course of the year, we have seen a substantial amount of growth, which is a fitting way to celebrate our tenth anniversary. Over the past decade, we have grown from strength-to-strength, and become a market-leader by constantly improving on our product range,” says Grady. “HPE Africa strives to ensure that every piece of equipment that the company distributes is of the highest standard, and is able to match up to the harsh African climate and landscape.” Grady points out that Hyundai is widely-regarded as a superior name in construction machinery; however, he stresses the importance of combining an effective after-sales service that compliments and improves this world-renowned reputation. “Having a superior product is a major advantage, but it is still only half the job. In order for us to remain on top of our game and one step ahead of our competitors, we need to ensure that our after-sales service is of the highest quality. As such, our team has put in an enormous amount of work this year, committing themselves to creating excellent customer relationships - and we are reaping the rewards of that hard work and dedication,” Grady continues.
National service manager Hein Stander echoes those sentiments, and points out that HPE Africa offers its clients a full range of personalised maintenance and repair work to its exclusive range of machinery - a service which does not always come as standard in the industry. “What sets us apart from our competitors is the fact that we are serious about service. We are a small company that offers a personal service to all clients. All of our managers can relate to our clients, as they have extensive experience and expertise in the construction industry,” says Stander. “Our team knows exactly what it feels like to have a faulty machine, which is losing them money or creating unnecessary delays as a result of downtime. A faulty piece of machinery can make or break a business, which is why we pull out all the stops when it comes to maintenance.”
Looking to the future, Grady points out that HPE Africa’s current product portfolio will be further expanded in 2011. He says: “HPE Africa will be extending its range of mobile crushing equipment early into the new year, due to popular demand. What’s more, we will also be launching the new-and-improved 9 Series range of Hyundai excavators in South Africa, including the 120-tonner.” As far as expansion is concerned, Grady is confident that HPE Africa will open at least seven new branches across Southern Africa throughout 2011, including four new branches in South Africa, and three across sub-Saharan Africa.
He gains this confidence from the successful-launch of the recently-established East London branch, where the company offers a full range of specialist light construction machinery as part of a new strategic partnership between HPE Africa and Goscor Power Products - a member of the Imperial Group of Companies. “The demand for heavy-duty machinery is increasing, and there are many sales opportunities in the region. The best way to make sure that we achieve these sales is by going out that little bit further and covering extra ground. This strategy has proven to be a successful one, and has seen HPE Africa gaining market share. We look forward to maintaining and even improving that share in 2011,”
Grady continues. Although 2010 has been a story of unprecedented success for HPE Africa, he admits that the company has been faced with a number of challenges - the largest being a substantial decrease in financing from banks across South Africa. “These challenging financial times have not been easy for many people and businesses to deal with, and the construction industry was particularly hard hit by the banking sector’s reluctancy to issue financing. As a result, many HPE Africa clients have found it difficult to purchase new machinery during the course of 2010,” he explains.
Grady explains that a combination of commitment and innovation from the HPE Africa team have been the driving force behind steering the company away from becoming another statistic. “Our entire team has done a fantastic job in coming up with innovative solutions to ensure that HPE Africa has still been able to increase
sales and maintain clients, despite the cuts in financing. Considering the extreme circumstances, HPE Africa has had a remarkably good year, and has actually pulled through the recession stronger than ever before," Grady concludes.