Exporting to 25 countries worldwide

Multiple prize-winning company PFK Electronics, which has recently added the KwaZulu Natal Top Business and the 2009 KZN ‘Exporter of the Year’ awards to its list of other trophies, has refined its import/ export programmes to a high gloss. Established in 1985 by a group of electronic engineers with a strong grounding in design and manufacturing, the company has developed into a major designer and manufacturer of automotive electronic systems to global markets. It has acquired a niche market in designing and manufacturing of automotive electronic security systems, supplying both the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the aftermarket. It has experienced growth in excess of 30% since 1996. Privately owned with a staff complement of around 400 people, it is situated in Durban, with two subsidiaries – Knightwatch, based in Kent in the UK, and Autowatch in Perth, Australia. “Currently,” said group sales and marketing director, Colin Snyman, PFK is one of the two largest designers and manufacturers of automotive security products in SA with a greater than 65 % market share in the local security aftermarket. “We export 70% of our manufactured products to customers in 25 countries worldwide. And, for major clients, we also cater for unique customer branding.” PFK’s specialist design expertise encompasses embedded microcontroller and radio frequency based vehicle security systems; keyless entry systems; global system for mobile communications (GSM) based tracking systems; Alcolocks (an alcohol breath analyser-based immobiliser system); and controller area network BUS (Canbus) controllers (a two-wire protocol found extensively in modern vehicles). To help give it access to the global market, according to sales administration manager, Kapil Singh, the company complies with a number of international standards. The company’s freight system caters for both import and export traffic, he added, both airfreight and sea freight, and road for shorter distances. The import traffic is mostly from outside sources, especially China and Europe, and either by air or sea. “The ruling here,” said Singh, “is if the consignment is very heavy, we would use sea. But, if it is a viable issue, we bring it in by air. “But we also get components from distributors in SA,” he added, “where they source them and ship them in, and we just buy from them. Most of this comes to us by road, but some is still by air.” When deciding whether it is air or sea for exports, the company uses a formula including volume, product value, timing and cost. But a primary deciding force in this choice is the fact that the company’s buyers don’t want to sit with expensive items in stock, and the distribution scheduling tends to be on a just-in-time (JIT) basis. “This clients’ preference means that most of our export traffic is by air,” he added, “although if the cargo is large, we would use sea freight if possible.” An unusual choice is evidenced by a large client in California in the US, which asked PFK to use sea freight. “To cope with this,” said Singh, “we have got into a cycle – with pre-planned monthly shipments.” But its Durban situation offers PFK one big advantage when it comes to seafreight. “As the major port in SA, it has direct shipping connections to East Asia, South East Asia, the Arabian Gulf, the Indian Ocean Islands (IOL), East and West Africa, Europe, and North and South America,” Singh added. Local sales are conducted through the company’s sales office in Johannesburg and multiple distributors around the country, and distribution here is by road in KwaZulu Natal, but to Johannesburg and other outlying centres by air. For over the border sales the predominant mode is air, according to Singh. “We also have an express trade,” he added, “where we use DHL, TNT, UPS or one of the other express/courier companies. This is mainly for our traffic in documentation or urgent items.” PFK Electronics manufactures and distributes over 1.2-million units a year.