In order to enhance its service to its Western and Eastern Cape customers, Stone-Stamcor has embarked on a business improvement project for its Cape Town branch. The new location of the Cape Town branch, along with its new employees in the region will make it easier for customers to interact with the company while also improving product collection and deliveries in the region.

With a long history of local manufacturing and product distribution, dating back to 1942 when the company was founded as J Stone & Co (Africa) (Pty) Ltd, to be renamed Stone-Stamcor (Pty) Ltd in 1965, the company has prided itself on supplying the best product range to the electrical and mechanical industries, along with premium customer service to its clients throughout South Africa.

Stone-Stamcor’s head office is located in Sebenza, Edenvale, in Gauteng, where its 4000m2 of factory and administration facilities support the company’s national footprint and manufacturing operations. The company is ISO 9001 certi­fied (certi­fied by the BSI Group) and is a SANAS accredited BBBEE level 2 certi­fied company.

Moving to a secure office park

In the 1990s, Stone-Stamcor moved its Cape Town office to Maitland, where it has been operating from for over twenty years. Given the changes in the environment and crime situation in the area, the company decided to move and has taken up residence in Unit A4, in the Pinelands Office Park.

Mark Talbot, sales manager for Stone-Stamcor explains that the move will officially take place in November 2019, but the company will be running both the old and new offices until all the administrative tasks are completed. such as having the phone numbers ported to the new office and informing clients of the new premises.

“Our clients will find the new premises is much improved in all aspects. Firstly, the office park is secured with 24-hour security, which means collections and drop-offs will be safer and less stressful. In addition, the location provides for easier access and parking will no longer be a problem due us having more space for visitors as well as the strict access controls at Pinelands Office Park.

New faces in Cape Town

Mark Talbot will be taking over the role of branch manager for the Cape Town branch for the near future, dividing his time between the office in Johannesburg and the Mother City.

The branch will naturally have permanent Capetonians on site to ensure that customer service is given the boost it needs to compete in a tough economy. The role of sales and customer service has been assigned to Wendy Thom, who has over 20-years of sales experience in the electrical industry in the Western Cape region.

“Wendy started on 1 September and is focusing on getting to meet the Stone-Stamcor customers face-to-face, while also assisting in product delivery where she can,” Talbot adds. “Her long experience in the electrical market means she already knows many of our customers and she has slotted into her role with ease. She will be supported by the appointment of a new sales representative in the new financial year, should the business levels increase as expected”

Clinton Alexander is also a known entity in the Cape Town office. He is currently the storeman for Stone-Stamcor and handles internal sales. Clinton often interacts with most of our customers which means he has already built up relationships and knows the product ranges well.

The third staff member in the Cape Town office is another person that customers already know. Sharon Kirby has been and still is responsible for office administration in Cape Town as well as internal sales. Sharon has been with the company for seven years, but her relationship with the company goes back many years. She worked for Stone-Stamcor for many years before her family relocated and she had to leave the company. A few years later, upon another relocation, she re-joined the company in her current position.

Talbot states that the Cape Town branch will be fully supported by the Johannesburg head office. This means any products ordered that may not be immediately available in Cape Town will be sent through to the branch within 24 or 48 hours, depending on volumes. In addition, any queries, support, repairs or advice issues than cannot be dealt with in the branch will have immediate access to the full resources of head office in Johannesburg to resolve the situation quickly.

Full range of products available

Of critical importance to the Stone-Stamcor customer base in Cape Town, Talbot says that the full range of products the company sells will be available from the Cape Town branch. In short, this means that products from the electrical and mechanical divisions of the company will be on sale, along with repairs and advice on the whole product range. As noted above, the Johannesburg office will function in a support role where needed, but customers’ first port of call will be the local branch as the Cape Town staff is well trained and able to assist with any queries customers may have.

The Stone-Stamcor Electrical Division manufactures a comprehensive range of copper and aluminium compression cable connectors (lugs and ferrules) for fitment to cable conductors. Stone-Stamcor has been manufacturing locally for decades and has made a name for itself in the market and established its brand as one associated with well-designed products (which are tested to the SANS IEC 61238-1 standard) as well as reliability and customer service.

The locally manufactured products are supplemented with other types of connectors for earthing and customer speci­fic solutions for special applications. Stone-Stamcor also supplies a full range of compression crimping and cable cutting tools.

The Mechanical Division represents several renowned international companies with high-quality brands. It can supply a range of industrial gearboxes, motors, linear motion control products, converting industry products and rotating unions, to name a few.

“We may be moving, but as far as the product range and service from Stone-Stamcor is concerned, it’s business as usual. Once the move is completed, it will be business better than usual, a statement we will prove and reinforce every day as we go forward with our growth plans for the Cape Town branch and the region as a whole.”