On March 18, 2022, Bühler has celebrated the 50th anniversary of establishing its business in South Africa. The country is of particular importance to Bühler for its customers and Bühler plans to expand its business there as well as to other African nations, a company statement reads.
It began on January 10, 1972, when Bühler MIAG South Africa was registered in Johannesburg. René Schneider founded the joint company, and Hans Widmer was appointed the Managing Director and the offices moved to the Raschers corner in the central district of Johannesburg. As the company grew, a workspace of Rand Steel Engineering in Booysens was purchased. In 1976 Bühler MIAG expanded its offerings and leased a workshop in Wadeville, covering an area of about 9250 m2 on a 24,000 m2 industrial site, which was later purchased in 1978. In the beginning, the company’s main activity was customer service, selling spares and wear parts as well as fluting and welding in the workshop. Soon after, the product portfolio got larger as the business grew and more demands of customers and markets needed to be served.
Now the Johannesburg office is the regional headquarters for the Southern Africa sub-region, from here they are responsible for Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, La Reunion, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Bühler Johannesburg is the central contact point for all inquiries, from grain to consumer goods processing and advanced material processing solutions. Stefan Scheiber, Bühler CEO, says, “South Africa has been, and will remain, a country with particularly important customers, both local family companies and leading regional and global brands. Therefore, a local presence, with local experts has been and will remain key to secure our business, now and in future.”
Bühler South Africa boasts some of the biggest names in the fast-moving consumer goods sector in South Africa as its customers. There is also a variety of customers in the whole of Southern Africa. Harry Bloechlinger, Managing Director, Bühler Southern Africa, says, “We partner with the biggest FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies all over South Africa. FMCG companies are the basic pillar of the economy of the region. And together with them, we ensure food supply to more than 200 million people.”
Bühler is one of over 100 Swiss companies based in South Africa, employing altogether more than 50,000 people. Veronique Haller, Deputy Head of Mission at Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa, says, “Switzerland and South Africa enjoy a very good economic and trade relationship. That relationship partly goes back almost a hundred years ago. We have about a hundred Swiss companies, which are based in South Africa, providing more than 220,000 jobs in total. Swiss companies are not only contributing to the growth of the South African economy but also have a lot of different programs in terms of skills development, community programs, and they contribute to the economic transformation of the country.”
Currently, Bühler South Africa has 220 employees in various departments: project execution, finance, human resources, sales, industrial engineering, IT, procurement, shipping and logistics, and customer service. The company also has a fully operational manufacturing facility, employing boilermakers, welders, machine operators, and painters. Bühler also runs an apprenticeship program that is adapted from the Swiss education system.