New markets and opportunities have arisen after technical solutions provider BMG expanded its products portfolio with the addition of Fenner conveyor belting products last year.

“BMG decided to sign a long-term agreement in 2018 with polyvinyl chloride solid woven conveyor belting products supplier Fenner Conveyor Belting, making BMG the exclusive distributor of Fenner conveyor belting products locally and in sub-Saharan Africa,” says BMG marketing manager Darryn Wright.

Wright tells Engineering News that, despite BMG being involved with Fenner for several years in South Africa since it acquired power transmission products provider Fenner Power Transmission Distribution SA in 1998 to boost its power transmission division, the expansion of its portfolio has allowed the company to take advantage of new opportunities.

“. . . the extended scope has really put us in a position of power to deal with all the conveyor clients and allows us to offer them a broader basket of goods. Additionally, there are many more clients that we can now service, and we’re able to better support our existing clients.”

While emphasising how well belting is performing in BMG’s portfolio, Wright maintains that the company is constantly exploring the expansion of its product portfolios.

“We have representation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland – and we are actively looking at new regions within sub-Saharan Africa”.

Another aspect of BMG’s operation is that it values innovation in its in-house training initiatives, through which it aims to maintain the upskilling of employees regarding the products and services that they provide, ranging from warehouse [staff] all the way through to sales employees.

“We are constantly updating online modules, whereby we engage our staff [to ensure] they . . . understand the product so that they can sell it better. It’s also about continually sending out in-house communications through email, ensuring that those internal and external stakeholders are both well aware of the products and services on offer.”

In terms of BMG’s most prominent industry successes and markets in 2018, Wright highlights mining as the market it is consistently most involved in, while the broader industrial sector and agriculture are certainly becoming more prominent.

Wright claims that BMG’s offering of a full turnkey solution is vital in 2019. The company is focusing on not only selling products but also providing services, such as installation, servicing and customer consultation for its product range.

BMG is focused on maintaining and strengthening its position in markets in which it features less prominently.

“The reality is that we play in almost all industry segments, and we feature in so many different verticals that it’s more about us trying to reach deeper into the pockets where we have not reached saturation than trying to re-create and form new industry verticals,” states Wright.

After celebrating its twentieth year with Fenner, as well as Fenner’s ninetieth year of business in South Africa, in 2018, BMG’s focus for 2019 and the coming years is to improve customer service and maintain its standards, he concludes.