'Sawubona' to Sandile

Proud of our people
Marcom’s success is due not least to
the commitment of its staff, and it’s
notable that almost all the people who
joined at start-up in 1994 are still with the
company.
John Shabangu was looking for casual
work when he was offered a position
as a sweeper in 1994. Two years later,
he was promoted to team leader
and he’s subsequently moved to the
mould-changing department. ‘It can
be heavy and tough work,’ he says.
‘The moulds have to be treated with
the utmost care and everything has
to be in perfect alignment. If I do my
job properly, it enables the machine
operator to work at peak capacity,
ensuring that we meet both quality and
production targets.’
was a small company on a growth
curve and there was no place for
fancy titles or individualism.’ Jaco
recalls the introduction of IML as being
a real challenge. ‘We were the first
company in the country to attempt to
apply 12 labels at once, using a system
that was made up of unmatched
equipment from different suppliers. In
retrospect, we were probably a little
crazy to even think about it, but we
managed in the end thanks to input
from our international technology
partners Shalom Packaging.’
Technical manager and 12-year
veteran Jaco du Plooy started out
looking after general maintenance.
He’s witnessed tremendous changes
over the years. ‘In the beginning we
all had to do everything, because it
Examples of the new margarine tubs manufactured by Marcom Plastics.
Looking to the East
The recently acquired Unilever business
entailed commissioning a specialist
Chinese engineering factory to make
the sophisticated moulds to Marcom’s
stringent requirements. Technical
manager Jaco du Plooy visited China
on several occasions in order to make
this happen – and it proved to be quite
a cultural experience for the ‘boytjie’
from Pretoria!
‘Communicating was a challenge
at first but thanks to the assistance
of a translator we soon established a
method of understanding each other
– some of the more technical terms
proved to be problematic, though. Also,
being a ‘‘meat and potatoes’’ kind of
guy, the food was an initial obstacle
for me. I learned not to venture very
far from the establishments that were
western oriented, as it was often difficult
to establish exactly what some of the
items on the menu were!’
Nonetheless, Jaco highly recommends
China as a destination. ‘It’s a
fascinating place with a strong service
culture, work ethic and willingness to
go the extra mile – nothing was too
much trouble. They’re keen to learn,
eager to please and not hamstrung by
hierarchy – they just want to get the job
done. Once you’ve experienced the
work environment, you can understand
why the Chinese economy is growing at
such a fast rate compared to the rest of
the world.’
‘The relationship changes from
a supplier/customer one to a
partnership where each party has
a vested interest in the other’s
success.’
ASTRAPAK NEWS 7