Innovation, patience and determination over many years at steel manufacturer Macsteel Roofing has paid off.

In March, Macsteel’s industry-leading roofing products and solutions had a substantial increase in sales, confirming Macsteel as the new leader in the South African industrial roofing market, explains Macsteel Roofing group product specialist Dave Reid.

He explains that the company, which is based in Gauteng, used to be an unassuming product category in the Macsteel stable. In 2013, Macsteel identified an opportunity for growth and acquired Arona Roofing, which had developed a promising roofing product called Novotexi. Reid was tasked to tackle the South African roofing market.

Further, contrary to expectations, the roofing product did not immediately take off. At times Reid did get despondent but always took heart from Macsteel CEO Mike Benfield’s advice that “good things take time to achieve”.

Instead of accepting the status quo, Reid and his roofing team decided to spend their time innovating. They took a good product, looked for ways to make it even better and ended up “reinventing the wheel” in the roofing market.

The result was an improved product, the Novotexi 440 – with design innovations that enabled it to withstand extreme wind pressures and a ground-breaking new way to roll out roofing on site called Sky Forming.

Reid highlights that Sky Forming is the biggest innovation that the Macsteel Roofing team has brought to the market. It is the process in which a containerised roll-forming mill is lifted into the sky, sometimes as high 22 m, and tied to the eave of the building being constructed, allowing roof sheets to be rolled straight onto the roof.

It was an unheard-of production innovation, and it took three months to assure the Department of Employment and Labour of the safety and efficacy of the new production process.

This changed the dynamics in the market as it gave Reid the edge when marketing the great new product and industry-changing application process. Architects, engineers and quantity surveyors soon began specifying Macsteel Roofing products and the team started winning contracts to supply mega building projects, nationally.

The Novatexi 440 soon became the anchor product in the big building projects which, in turn, allowed the cross-selling of Macsteel’s structural and related steel products.

Macsteel Roofing recently finished its biggest project to date - transport and logistics company DSV’s warehouse, covering a massive 133 000 m2, with an additional 30 000 m2 of cladding added to that. Now Macsteel products are in the process of being specified for an even bigger project.

“We are really proud of what the team achieved. March was a record month for us. In that time, we rolled 80 000 m2 of roofing and all the hard work, patience and innovation paid off in the end,” says Reid.

He adds that, true to the spirit of pursuing reinvention, Macsteel Roofing’s innovative products, processes and customercentric approach are allowing the company to expand in a struggling South African economy.

Further, the company is currently setting up operations in KwaZulu-Natal, with further plans to build a branch in the Western Cape, Reid concludes.