Service is what keeps the wheels of the manufacturing industry going. Companies that excel in this regard seem to stand out more as the pool of expertise in the country is diminishing. Unitemp has come up with a unique concept that combines engineering expertise with a novel human resource approach.
The story of Unitemp began about 26 years ago when a British immigrant started the company Industrial Electronics and Automation, the focus being to provide a specialised workshop in terms of heating elements and temperature sensing for the local fishing and shipping industry. This marine business declined over time and the company began to enter other industrial markets for heating and process control solutions, the entity name changing to the more fitting 'Unitemp'.
The renaissance of the company came about 10 years ago when three Namibian businessmen who had known each other from childhood, decided to acquire Unitemp. The three were Hans Hitzeroth (ex Rhomberg-Bräsler Controls), his brother Ulf (ex ADE) and Dieter Bütow (who had spent several years with companies like Siemens, Motorola and Spectrum Communications).
Combining local manufacture and imports to generate exports
The diversified nature of their experience was to become of major benefit to the company. The biggest initial change to be implemented at Unitemp was to restrict self-manufacture to lines where they could keep up with technology and produce cost-effectively. This saw the company retire from the manufacture of electronic control modules where volumes were comparatively small, this void being filled by the acquisition of sole distribution rights for the Italian company Gefran. Gefran are a quality manufacturer of process controllers and indicators, signal converters, data loggers and solid state relays and Unitemp uses its own in-house expertise to add value by tailoring these units for local requirements. A good example of this being the UniCon 500, a fully modular hotrunner system that allows easy control of moulds in the plastic injection industry. Other products and components are supplied through leading German experts Heitec Heisskanal Technik, HotSet and Feller Engineering, so that Unitemp can provide total solutions for the plastics industry.
In terms of local project capability, the design and manufacture of heating systems, temperature sensors and infrared heating solutions was retained. This has proved to be a sound strategic decision as today a high percentage of the locally manufactured products are exported through agreements put into place with Unitemp's main overseas principals. By selling through these principals Unitemp can successfully export the lower value devices at competitive prices, as there are no large marketing costs associated with the distribution.
As an example of the local manufacturing capability Unitemp produces thermocouples (types J, K, T, L, R and S) and RTD type temperature sensors in a wide variety of sizes and with a multitude of mountings. Thermocouples for the plastics and packaging industries are supplied for replacements into machines made by a large number of international manufacturers including Arburg, Mannesman Demag, Kawagucchi, Engel, Toshiba, Goldstar, TMC and many others. PT100 platinum resistance type temperature sensors are used extensively by the food & beverage, textile, leather and shoe industries, and are made directly to customer specification. Naturally Unitemp can supply all accessories for its range of temperature sensors including compensation cable and connectors.
Diversified industries covered by a distribution network
When the revitalised Unitemp started operations 10 years ago, the focus was strongly into the plastics and packaging industry where its range of heating and temperature measurement solutions was well known. Having established a strong and growing presence in this industry countrywide and in the neighbouring states, Unitemp has extended its market focus to industry in general, encompassing areas that include textiles, food and beverage, mining and so forth, where their specialist distributors act on their behalf. The customers of Unitemp are widely spread throughout local industry but include amongst others the Nampak Group, I&J, SA Nylon Spinners, Iscor, Macadams, AMC, Volkswagen, PPC, SAB, Universities and Technikons etc.
Unitemp has distribution rights for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa for all their products and besides its head office and manufacturing facility in Cape Town it has an office in Isando. The actual sales are made through a combination of own sales representatives and a network of specialised distributors who focus on specific areas of industry. The objective of Unitemp is to supply and support this distribution chain allowing it to compete throughout the region with lower overhead and better service and back-up facilities.
A major achievement for Unitemp was for it to be approached by German company Testo to represent them in terms of their wide range of portable electronic measuring equipment. Testo offers a broad range of portable instruments capable of measuring temperature, humidity, air velocity, pressure, air quality, light level and sound. They also specialise in flue gas analysis and gas detection, particularly important in process control, power generation and boilers. A range of products is also available for monitoring and documenting in-door air quality in office blocks for example so as to identify and deal with the so-called 'sick building syndrome'. Very relevant in terms of the export of food and fish products is the company's range of HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points) testing and logging, contact and noncontact temperature and humidity measurement devices that allow companies to demonstrate compliance with strict HACCP requirements.
Diverse product range ensures better solutions
In terms of other principals Unitemp has Elpro Technologies of Australia whose range of radio telemetry products allows them to offer wireless solutions for monitoring and control in the industrial environment. For other applications requiring radio data transfer like access control or environmental control systems, Elpro Technologies' modems have been adopted as the de-facto standard solution by expert manufacturers like Impro Technologies, who are a major exporter of technological systems from SA.
Just announced is the news that Unitemp has been appointed by US-based Osram Sylvania (a Siemens company) to distribute its range of specialist air and gas heating solutions, a product portfolio that totally complements the current offerings of Unitemp.
Strength through innovative team approach
Unitemp attributes its success in the new South Africa to its innovative approach to 'management' of its diversified workforce. From 1994 the company turned the traditional management and remuneration system on its head. The so-called bonus payment in the form of a 13th salary cheque was abolished since it was perceived as a basic right and thus held no incentive.
The 13th cheque was replaced by a true profit share system whereby following a successful quarter a percentage of the total profit is allocated as a bonus to the staff. The major difference to similar incentive schemes is that the owners of Unitemp allocate the profit share as a lump sum and the employees decide how it should be divided within the team. Naturally, in the first year of operation, the staff were new to such an idea and decided to simply distribute the profit equally between all team members - irrespective of individual performance, responsibility level etc. Over time they have agreed amongst themselves on a much more equitable method of distribution, whereby everyone's share is calculated according to a formula that takes performance, responsibility and expertise into consideration, with an equally important upliftment factor for the lower income members taken into account. A significant change in company performance resulted, as every member of the team became a self-motivated manager of a microcosm in the company, being watched and judged in performance by his peers. The basic goal of a business to generate profit for growth of the company and each person has become a reality.
Another innovative move made by Unitemp was to allow greater participation in the determination of base salary, whereby team members effectively set their own salaries for the next year. This is not a one-sided input of course! Staff have to motivate for their new salary based on what they are going to do in the next 12 months that will increase turnover and profit and thus justify the increase. To the surprise of the management - in only a single case has an unrealistic and unjustifiable increase in salary been requested. Market forces were allowed to resolve the issue: the employee would resign and re-apply for the position, thereby competing against other applicants. The employee reconsidered and agreement on a reasonable and market related basis was reached.
While Dieter Bütow is exuberant about how their new policies have worked for Unitemp, he stresses that this unique system can probably only work well in a small-to-medium company where an opportunity can be created for everybody to understand how a business functions. Personal interaction between staff, management and the shareholders is a pre-requisite. The role of traditional management itself is played down and acts more as a catalyst in decision-making.
It is worth noting that many of the staff have been working at Unitemp in excess of 10 years and find the new approach more challenging and rewarding due to the increased responsibility and reward.
Not just another job...
Over and above all else Unitemp believe that their staff should see employment with the company as a career and not just another job. The team approach is widely used with management keeping a low profile, while succession planning is in place from within the company. This is an admirable policy in today's general culture of continuous change where employees rarely have any long-term future and are hired and fired at the beck of market demand. Perhaps other local companies (economists continue to stress that the future lies with the SME) could learn from the Unitemp example where true participation (and profit share) eliminates conflict management and increases productivity.
Unitemp
(021) 762 8995
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