RUBBER Products Manufacturers (Rubber Products), currently under judicial management, plans to launch new products and services that will help it to move abreast with market trends and return to solvency.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
The company is saddled with a debt of over $3,8 million, which could take about six years to clear, according to Nyasha Motsi, the company’s provisional judicial manager.
In his latest report, Motsi revealed that Rubber Products had set up a research and development team tasked with designing and producing prototype products, which would plug the current gap in the company’s product portfolio.
“Currently, the team is working on special products for the rail industry to align the company with the shifting trends in that sector across the region,” Motsi said.
“Soon the company will be able to supply products suitable for new and old technologies in the rail industry in every African country with potential to positioning itself as a leading African supplier in this sector.”
The company manufactures belts, hosepipes, vacuum breaker hoses (the breaking system of locomotives), among other products.
Motsi said the market outlook for 2018 was very positive, spurred mainly by efforts to become more visible.
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Besides the rail industry, Motsi said, Rubber Products was also working with three major mining companies in the development of high value specialised products that would bring additional income into the company.
“Due to market demand, the Research and Development Team is also seeking to resuscitate other products such as furnace hoses which were no longer being produced at Rubber Products,” he said.
“Additional to these specialised products the company is also working on a variety of smaller mouldings under an import substitution program with various stakeholders. There are more than 10 moulds and dies that seek to create new products never manufactured at Rubber Products before.”
The company plans to map-out more than 300 small-scale mines for business opportunities over the next three years so that “we can truly establish ourselves as major mining suppliers”.
