Precast concrete products manufacturer Rocla is celebrating 100 years in existence in South Africa this month, attributing its success to customer satisfaction, competitive pricing, good-quality products and timeous delivery.

Rocla sales and marketing director Christo van Zyl says another key contributor to the company’s centenary success is meeting unique customer requirements by providing innovative solutions. “When it comes to an innovative product requirement, we can be approached by customers who have technically challenging orders or concepts.”

He explains that Rocla’s technical expertise enables it to adapt existing products or build completely new, one-off products that will meet the required technical specifications.

For example, Rocla delivered 127 concrete cabins to a large photovoltaic farm for the housing of electrical components. “This was a first for the South African market,” highlights Van Zyl.

The company’s ability to manufacture products for an array of different uses and industries is further illustrated by its manufacturing of specialised structures for use in an underground diamond mine for a company based in Gauteng. “Along with their engineers and technical personnel, we came up with a solution [which] used steel and concrete to produce the kinds of products they required.”

Further, Rocla has remained a key player in the industry because of its standard catalogue of products, which have been designed to meet the most basic requirements of key customers in industry, particularly for utility-scale applications in various industries, including electrical generation and distribution, telecommunications, municipal, water reticulation, mining and roads.

Rocla is one of two companies in South Africa to manufacture concrete poles –a spun pole and a cast pole – which are being used primarily in the power transmission, telecommunications and fibre-optic communication sectors. Concrete poles provide an alternative to the traditionally used timber poles, with benefits including less maintenance and mitigation of the damage caused by natural incidents such as fires.

Meanwhile, Van Zyl also points out that the company has numerous manufacturing facilities throughout South Africa, as well as in Botswana and Namibia, through which it is able to service a large section of Southern Africa.

In terms of the next 100 years of its existence, he says Rocla will continue to invest in delivering exceptional service and exceptional-quality products that are provided for customers on schedule.

“We strive to exceed customer expectations,” Van Zyl says, concluding that the company undertakes quarterly customer surveys to obtain feedback on its performance.