Andy Gouws

Consulting for The Combustion Group for supply chain management and development of a strategic marketing plan for the rollout of the supply of compressed natural gas (CNG) using product sourced from the Sasol natural gas lines in Germiston, Boksburg and Johannesburg to LPG and diesel customers in a 100 km radius, using high pressure CNG transport vehicles.

Job Responsibilities
• Manage 13 national sales and marketing staff.
• Management of all activities related to the Sales and Marketing functions of the company, including the management of Key Accounts.
• Signing up of new business in line with company margin requirements, management of assets, credit related issues and maintaining customer relations in line with company objectives.
• Management of all sales and budget related activities for the Sales and marketing divisions in line with management requirements.
• Maintaining good customer relationships and up to date customer information.
• Maintain volumes as per contract are maintained and that management is advised immediately when any unplanned deviations are detected.
• Complete all expense reports, leave forms and other related company documentation in line with company policies & procedures.
• Maintain customers within their allocated credit limited.
• Compile job descriptions and limits of authority for all staff members.
• Appraise all staff once a year and that corrective action is put in place where required.
• Mentor and train staff reporting to the position.
• Set and maintain all customer prices in Pastel.
• Undertake management of all activities related to the marketing functions of the company in terms of corporate gifts, promotions and branding.

Significant successes: • Negotiated 3 x 25 ton per month accounts (ALS Chemicals, Edenvale, Trellidor, Phoenix and Behr South Africa in Durban) over 5 year supply period, each worth R3 mil/annum securing this at a gross margin in excess of 25% against competitors such as Afrox and Easigas.
• Negotiated a R5 mil/annum contract with a major Reatile appointed distributor, MIA Gas in Boksburg.
• Secured a letter of intent from Xstrata, Boshoek for the supply of propane over a 5 year supply period at a revenue stream of R7 mil/year.

Feb/05 - Present
• Management of the technical commercial proposal preparation and submission for large Tonnage supply schemes.
• Responsible for undertaking regular systematic and detailed analytical reviews of all potential Tonnage investments for Afrox and proritising of the investments for senior management;
• Tender proposal preparation and presentation to senior executive management of large and medium sized industrial customers;
• Development of technical and commercial concepts for Tonnage supply of atmospheric and process gases to large industrial customers;
• Generation of detailed technical, commercial and legal business cases to match customer contracts;
• Acquisition of new Tonnage supply contracts in South Africa and in African Operations;
• Establishment and management of business contacts to relevant customers;
• Contract preparation and negotiation with large industrial customers;
• Presentation of the project to the Afrox and Linde Investment Committees;
• Management of internal investment process for project approval;
• Management of internal project team regarding the technology, legal and financial details of the project;
• Developing medium and longer term on-site Tonnage strategies and plans for specific customers as identified by the Bulk and Tonnage business;

AFP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Al Faisaliah Group, and supplies packaging products in the dairy, beverage, juice, food, bakery and purified mineral water industries both locally and in export markets in the Middle East. Their capabilities include blow molding of bottles of various sizes and shapes, printing on cups and containers for the dairy industry, thermoforming of high impact polystyrene cups, lids and containers, injection molding of caps, spoons and crates.

Job Responsibilities
• Staff of three sales consultants, a marketing analyst and a sales co-ordinator;
• Sales and marketing;
• New product development and market development of the R75 million plastic and flexible packaging business and market opportunities within Saudi Arabia and the Middle East;
• Contract negotiation.

Air Products is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial and specialty gases as well as specialty chemicals to the Southern Africa gas and chemicals industry. The company is privately controlled, is 50% owed by Air Products and Chemicals (Inc) (APCI) (USA) and 50% by Metkor (part of the Rembrandt Group of Companies (Remgro.

National Sales Manager: Packaged Gases in Air Products, with 5 Regional and Facility Sales Managers and 33 Sales Engineers and Marketing personnel, 2 PR personnel.

Job Responsibilities
• Fully responsible and accountable for the packaged gas sales, marketing, and development of gas application R100 million business and market opportunities within South Africa, in line with corporate business objectives in the cylinder and specialty gas businesses. Increased revenue year on year by 22%;
• Responsible for all price administration, address book information in J D Edwards (centralized enterprise wide software system;
• Organisation of annual regional distributor conferences, including venue sourcing, compilation of agenda, generation of all promotional material, development of PowerPoint presentation material and presentation on welding gases, incentive program and other new offerings;
• Design and development of over 19 brochures for commercial technologies, new product launch campaigns and niche market development programs, including Cryogenic Fill-at-Site Technology (Cryofast), Ammonia and Polarsnow.