South Africa’s leading supplier of mobile and semi-mobile crushing, screening and material handling solutions, Pilot Crushtec, was in mid-November announced as a joint winner of the 2nd annual Go4Growth competition, and later the same week was named the Nafcoc/JCCI and ABSA, Gauteng Exporter of the Year 2008.

When speaking to the company’s CEO and co-founder, Sandro Scherf, it quickly becomes clear that these two awards were no accident. “We commenced exports during our first year of trading in 1990,” he explains, “so an export culture is deeply embedded in our company culture. When we design a machine, it is always done with exports in mind. This means, for example, that we incorporate European safety and transport standards into all designs, and we ensure that all products will fit into shipping containers with minimal stripping.”

In both 1993 and 1994, Pilot Crushtec won Merit Awards in the State President’s Award for Export Achievement, but this award was discontinued shortly afterward. When the company decided to enter the Nafcoc/JCCI and ABSA Gauteng Exporter of the Year award, they were quietly confident of reaching the finals. Several factors including the company’s 237% growth in exports resulting in export sales exceeding R125m, competition faced in the markets, sustainability of exports and the technical nature of the equipment exported, impressed the judges enough to award both the Large Manufacturing category (turnover exceeding R200 million) and Overall Winner Award to the company.

The Go4Growth Awards, run by SAP Growth Support Services, included as prizes valuable software and consulting services, but the first prize, won jointly by Pilot Crushtec, is the promise of a free listing on the JSE’s AltX Exchange with the assistance of financial services group Vunani Limited.

“We will carefully research this opportunity to list as part of our strategy for future growth,” says Scherf, “and if and when we do list, it will be with a view to securing capital to assist with our growth strategy either through organic or acquisitive growth. .”

Pilot Crushtec was chosen from amongst 320 companies that entered. The company clearly persuaded the judges that they best fulfilled the competition criteria – that they should ‘demonstrate a high potential for, and commitment to, growth,’ and secondly, that they should be able to ‘benefit from the prize they’re awarded.’

“We have grown consistently every year since incorporation,” says Scherf, “and we set ourselves big targets. Exports feature strongly in our growth strategy and we will continue to drive our exports into Africa and the rest of the world. We are also increasingly manufacturing machines with a larger capacity and we continue to expand our product and service offering.”

Scherf is rightly proud of these accolades and attributes the success to clearly defined goals and a fantastic management team and staff. If good things come to those who are prepared, then Pilot Crushtec were clearly prepared twice over. There can be no doubt that the world will be hearing more from them.