In line with the requirements of the codes, PPC engages the services of Empowerlogic, a recognised rating agency, to conduct its third broad-based black economic empowerment generic scorecard audit.

PPC’s objective is to obtain a recognition level 4 by 2009, resulting in 100% of spend claimable by customers.

PPC’s skills development scored a considerable 9.64 points out of the allocated 15 points – achieving 64,3% on the BBBEE scorecard. This was according to an interim audit conducted by Empowerlogic (October 2006 – May 2007).

This positive scorecard rating was a major achievement for Learning for Growth at PPC. The key contributors to achieving this score are the number of learnerships run at PPC in Engineering, Sales & Marketing, and Operations, as well as the structured Learning & Development departments at site and group level; and the company’s drive to provide nationally recognised learning interventions.

Just as the company focuses on employees’ health and safety, it is equally important to focus on ensuring the health and safety of our customers. Information on the safe use of PPC products is printed on the bags, delivery notes, silos and tankers; providing clear instructions and information to prevent any health or safety related incidents. Detailed product safety data sheets are made available and a toll-free telephone number is published extensively to further assist PPC’s customers during their time of need. Quality assurance and technical experts, employees of the company, are available to engage continually with customers as part of PPC’s customer service ethos.

There were no instances of non-compliance with regulations concerning customer health and safety, nor any penalties or fines imposed for any breach recorded in the past year. Similarly no complaints were upheld by regulatory or official organisations with regard to health and safety in respect of PPC products and services.

Procedures to deal with product quality non-conformance's form part of the integrated SHEQ (safety, health, environment and quality) management systems. Customer focus groups are held regularly enabling the company to address issues relating to product information. There were no instances of non-compliance with any regulations concerning packaging and product information and labelling, nor were any fines or penalties for breaches recorded.

The company’s strategic approach to marketing related or company-specific advertising, is in accordance with the guidelines of the National Advertising Standards Authority. Accredited and noteworthy service providers are employed to manage the design and placement of the adverts on behalf of PPC. As such, no breaches of advertising or market regulations were reported in the 2007 financial year.

Furthermore, information security policies and procedures have been implemented throughout PPC to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of all customers.

At the very core of PPC’s Kambuku culture is the recognition and rewarding of employees who have, through their efforts, innovation and passion, made an extraordinary contribution to the company during the financial year.

The PPC Achiever Awards is an annual event where 18 achiever ‘nominees’, and their partners, chosen from all of the company’s sites, are treated to a gala event where they are feted and recognised for their individual input. Of the 18 nominees, ten achievers are selected with an overall winner, second and third place acknowledgment and reward.

Ashleigh Montgomery is an exceptional employee. She is a benefits specialist in the organisational performance department at PPC’s head office in Sandton. Following the unbundling of PPC from Barloworld in January this year, Ashleigh quickly realised the effect that it would have on benefits for Team PPC. She worked long and tirelessly in finding a suitable alternative medical aid scheme which would be the closest fit to the PPC employee profile. She was responsible for communicating to all employees and pensioners the conditions and implications of the change-over to the new scheme – going to the extent of personally visiting pensioners in their homes, some as far afield as Margate.

In addition, Ashleigh played an integral role in streamlining procedures in the PPC Retirement and PPC Negotiated funds. As a result all queries and turn-around times on retirement funding and risk benefits have improved to above-average levels in the industry.

The outcome of her recommendations and changes, is that the company will save as much as R4 million a year. Ashleigh brings the slogan ‘My benefits, my better life’ to bear in everything that she does and has contributed significantly to the success of the ‘new dawn’ of PPC.

Kingsley Kaars, a shift operator at PPC’s Lime Acres plant is going places. He loves a challenge and has proved his worth time and time again. He and his team have successfully reduced both production and engineering unplanned kiln stops by their attention to detail and focus on addressing any issues on hand. Some of their successes achieved include a 40% reduction in kiln stops, a 4% improvement in kiln heat consumption while maintaining consistent quality, a 15% improvement in output and a reduction of 35% in refractory consumption. Through his enthusiastic leadership and innovation Kingsley has developed a highly motivated team which has risen from being the weakest team to be the best performing team this year. A great role model, Kingsley loves sharing his knowledge with others and encourages his team to grow and develop themselves.

Florence Phaswana, information technology manager from PPC Zimbabwe is a highly motivated, efficient and dedicated member of staff. Because the Zimbabwe operation’s ERP system became obsolete in May 2007, due to a Julian date issue, it was essential to implement an appropriate alternative. Florence project managed the successful delivery and implementation of SAP within four months and within budget. She united a diverse project team and met all business requirements during the implementation. This project took huge effort and many additional hours over and above her normal responsibilities. This has been one of the most successful IT projects in the group. Florence is always eager to share her knowledge and skills with team members and is a patient and committed coach to them. Passionate about Invocoms, Florence has led her team to winning the best Invocom award two years in a row.

Torsten Fjastad, organisational performance manager, takes his responsibilities for operational performance on the huge Batsweledi construction project at the Dwaalboom site very seriously. ‘Tosh’ as he is affectionately known, has achieved the project’s vision of ensuring that wherever possible the labour and skills from the local communities would be employed on the project. He set up a forum representing the local villages, now known as Ward 29, to facilitate the recruitment of local labour. A register of over 2 000 names was compiled from which contractors could make their selections. The forum has maintained local labour employment levels at almost 40%, well in excess of the project’s target of 25%. Tosh’s efforts have empowered local people and avoided PPC having to construct an additional 60% of the current accommodation space and the provision of all the associated services and meals that go with this.

Adopting a policy of ‘management by walk-around’ Tosh ensures that any HR issues are promptly resolved. Proudly African, Tosh is in tune with the drumbeat of Kambuku, putting people first, always.

Andre van Niekerk, SHE (Safety, Health & Environment) practitioner trainee is responsible for the full risk function at the Saldanha operation. His dedication towards creating a safe working place is evident to everyone at the plant. Under Andre’s control the number of findings on the ISO and JAP (Joint Audit Process) systems audits was reduced by 55% within the first six months. His general knowledge of the plant helps him create practical solutions to risk problems which all employees can easily relate to. He was instrumental in the project to sell dolomite fines, generated as a waste product at Saldanha, to a third party. Because of his knowledge of the product all possible SHE risks could be resolved. Without the resolution of these risks, the saving of R750 000 per annum on this project could not be realised. Andre is an excellent communicator and an energetic and enthusiastic member of Team PPC.

Anne-Marie Mostert is a cement sales consultant for Mpumalanga, based at the Nelspruit offices. She maintains excellent customer relationships, establishes new contacts with key stakeholders in local government and the surrounding municipalities and still manages to contribute enormously to the overall running of the Nelspruit branch. Anne-Marie is an excellent team player and a true brand ambassador for PPC Cement. Her attitude of giving wherever she can, led her to train and develop two black entrepreneurs to tender in order to procure and supply cement on two major construction projects with stringent BEE requirements. Through her contacts in local government and municipalities she familiarised herself with finer details of these contracts and dedicated her time and energy into finding persons with the necessary drive and potential to fulfil these contracts. The successful development and management of these two little businesses secured sales for PPC and strengthened our brand image with local stakeholders and surrounding communities. PPC’s reputation as a ‘Nation Building Company’ has been enhanced by her.

Enoch Magxala is a shift supervisor mining at Riebeeck’s quarry and crusher operation. From humble beginnings as a contract worker in 1972 Enoch has made a huge impression on both the De Hoek and Riebeeck plants and on members of these operations over the past 35 years. He has grown and developed from being a construction worker, to Cat operator, assistant quarry foreman and then quarry foreman to his present position. His wealth of mining experience makes him an ideal coach and a pillar of strength to his colleagues. He took over the day-to-day running of the quarry for almost a year during 2006 when PPC was recruiting a mining manager. Enoch has played a major part in most CBF (cheaper, better, faster) ideas at the quarry – one example is the ‘Grizzly’ project involving the grids at the primary crusher which were closed due to damage to the conveyor belt. Later, when blasting practices changed, Enoch questioned the reasons for closing the ‘Grizzly’. His innovative suggestions resulted in reopening the Grizzly, the upshot of which has been an increase of 40% in the total output of the primary crusher operation, improved productivity and a cost saving of about R1 million a year. Enoch has walked many ‘extra miles’ for PPC, not only during the past year, but for more than 30 years.

Petrus de Bruyn is a fitter and turner working on general maintenance of mechanical equipment at the Slurry operation. A dedicated and committed employee, Petrus regularly stands in for the mechanical foreman when he is not on site, and not only maintains the status quo, but continually focuses on how to improve performance. He is acknowledged as one of the best coaches Slurry has ever had, not confining his efforts to coaching his own team members, but extending it to contractors on a regular basis. There are many examples of Petrus’ valuable contribution to the company. One is during the recent shutdown of kiln SK8 when, with his usual insistence on work done to the highest standard, he was adamant that certain compensators in the gas handling section of the plant be stripped. This was against the advice of the supplier who deemed them in good order. Upon dismantling it was discovered that the inside steel sections had almost torn loose which would have resulted in a catastrophic failure of the fan. Through his persistence several million rand in potential equipment damage was saved. Other innovative suggestions range from the overall optimisation of the crusher screen gearboxes, resulting in major cost savings; idler modifications at the palletiser, resulting in great reliability increases; changes to bulk loading to prevent equipment damage by trucks, the list is endless.

KD Sibanda is an instrument technician at Colleen Bawn cement factory in Zimbabwe. KD has proved himself time and time again, winning in all categories for ‘cheaper, better, faster’ suggestions. A recent value add came about through the design and implementation of an alternative way to monitor the ESP (electrostatic precipitator) fan-breaker’s ‘no voltage state’, virtually cost free. A programme was implemented in the programmable logic controller system that monitored the level of current to the fan motor to warn the operator of any malfunction. If an ESP ‘fan trip’ occurred without being noticed by the operator the damage to the plant control could be expensive with estimated downtime of five days leading to a loss of revenue of over R3 million (excluding the cost of repair to the equipment). Consistently coming up with cost saving innovations, teaching his colleagues and constantly finding solutions, KD is a great team player.

Manny da Silva, from Group Laboratory Services (situated at Jupiter factory) is responsible for technical support and the design and manufacture of specialised instrumentation and laboratory equipment to all PPC sites’ laboratories. Manny is a diligent, committed manager and is always looking for new and improved ideas or alternative solutions. He and his team work continually towards improved service delivery and sharing of knowledge and expertise. Manny’s contribution to ‘cheaper, better, faster’ is considerable, a few examples being: the design and manufacture of 15 mortar mixers for PPC laboratories, saving the company more than R1,2 million; the implementation of a custom-designed humidification system in all PPC laboratories at a saving of half a million rand; the manufacture of homogenising mixers for Group Laboratory Services, Port Elizabeth and Dwaalboom at a cost saving of R50 000. Manny has continually improved critical equipment, culminating in the total redesign and manufacture of some of the equipment used by PPC. The redesigned equipment was found to be significantly more accurate and reliable than the original or commercially available models. Manny is a man constantly ‘in search of excellence’, and a worthy achiever.