17 October 2011
Jasco Electrical Manufacturers, a Jasco Group company, started out over 27 years ago with only 10 employees. Today, the company employs over 300 staff members and has expanded to include a variety of products that it manufactures. Due to this growth, the factory is bursting at its seams, requiring a move to new, larger premises in Pinetown, Kwa-Zulu Natal that will include a combined production factory for the various components and brands that make up the company as it is today. The combined production factory will allow Jasco Electrical Manufacturers to expand its eleven production lines to fifteen, as well as increase its daily output to well over half a million combined pieces a day.
Says Dave MacDonald, Divisional Managing Director of Jasco Electrical Manufacturers, “Over the last three decades, the company evolved and grew at a steady pace. However, as the business expanded with new product lines, we realised we needed to consolidate our manufacturing facilities to improve efficiencies and lower the cost of its operations whilst have the ability to scale for future growth. Starting out small, the growth and expansion has exceeded our expectations and the journey has seen us get involved in many industries including vehicle electronics, components and cabling as well as electrical plugs and chlorine.”
Jasco Electrical Manufacturers, then known as Special Cables, was formed in
1984 when contracted by Defy to manufacture electrical cables for its ‘white goods’. At the time they had exactly two cutting machines, a handful of dedicated workers, and the same pride in their work they have to this day.
The effort seemed to pay off, as in 1985 the factory made its first move to larger premises, a mini factory that was double the size of the original one. Here they expanded the cable business into manufacturing auto wiring and caravan looms, as well as computer and communication cables. A mere four years later, they invested in another new factory in Springfield Park. Here the geyser production line was born in 1990, and two years later, turnover reached a million rand. This provided them with the capital to invest in their own moulding machine to produce PVC plugs for domestic manufacturers in 1994.
According to MacDonald these highlights in the factory history, although still significant, pale in comparison to current production. “We currently run 35 moulding machines; and generate a million rand turnover in two days.”
Today their most profitable products are JustChlor and the Snapper brand.
JustChlor is a locally developed salt chlorinator which has had record sales in France and the Indian Ocean countries in the past 15 years. In 2006 they purchased a small company specialising in high speed progression tools and, more importantly, held a number of patents for “hollow pin technology” in three pin plugs. MacDonald explains that, “This gave us a good grounding for the conversion of the country’s solid pins to the cost effective hollow system, and the Snapper brand followed naturally.”
Concludes MacDonald, “Pinetown, being a central manufacturing point of Durban, provides train and road access for our customers’ delivery and is also conveniently located for 90% of the staff.”
The new Jasco Electrical Manufacturers factory is situated on:
23 Hagar Road
Pinetown
Durban
For more information, visit Jasco Electrical Manufacturers at
Or contact:
Dave MacDonald
Divisional MD
Jasco Electrical Manufacturers
Tel: 031 579 4701
Email: macdonald@jasco.co.za
