Now in its second official year on African soil, just what will 2017 hold in store for SMC Pneumatics South Africa and its customers? Since opening doors to its 4312m² Midrand head office in April 2016, SMC Pneumatics has gone from strength to strength. With its total customer satisfaction philosophy underpinned by its status of world market leader in pneumatics, the industry has high expectations of SMC and the company has worked hard to deliver.

Spearheaded by General Manager, Adrian Buddingh together with the support of SMC Pneumatics United Kingdom and the company’s head office in Japan, the management team put together a local team made up of some of the top talent in the country and today the team comprises of over 63 members, nationwide. In addition, select long-standing employees from the United Kingdom have been contracted to South Africa to ensure that the team aligns to international standards in manufacturing and in doing business ‘the SMC way’.

In creating a local culture, Adrian Buddingh together with the team has established a local mission and vision which will once again be carried out in 2017 and beyond. “In establishing our local values, we challenged each team member to come up with a proposed value for SMC, these have been put up in the office and I am proud to say that the team works towards these every day,” explains Buddingh. “Much like in 2016, this year will once again see us striving to create an open, engaging and dynamic environment in which we collaborate with our customers and partners to not only deliver on our promises and products, but to constantly innovate, grow, challenge, learn and collaborate, together”.

True to its founding culture and ‘open door’ approach, SMC South Africa’s state-of-the-art showroom, manned trade counter, warehouse facilities and fully-operational local production facilities are open and ready to welcome visitors at any time during business hours. “Tours with our sales team is encouraged to best understand the history and culture of SMC, meet the team and to understand our capabilities. It is also an opportunity for us to get to know our customers and how we can solve their unique automation requirements,” says Buddingh.

So, just what does SMC’s 2017 business strategy look like? “Much like last year, we continue to entrench the SMC brand in the local market whilst promoting the quality associated with Japanese design. We will continue to connect and build on relationships by truly listening to and meeting our customer’s needs. SMC describes itself as customer centric, and this is what our team is continuously working on”

Building on the success of SMC’s first showcase at Electra Mining last year, SMC will be exhibiting at ProPak Cape this year and will look to fresh and creative ways to reach out to its customers and target market. “As we continue to push the envelope and create change in the industry, we believe that this will once again be another big year for us wherein we continue to build on and achieve our objectives, so keep watching this space.” Buddingh concludes.