Welding and Fabrication Specialist
Total years of experience :14 years, 2 Months
In 2007 I was appointed as Welder and Fabrication Specialist for Sub-Saharan Africa. My portfolio includes training and support of marketing personal with a continental view of increasing the Linde Footprint in Africa. I leverage my superior technical background in manufacturing to successfully develop new solutions to meet demanding Metallurgical and Welding challenges.
•Responsible for developing Afrox specific selling expertise of welding processes and applications, while working closely with the research & development and manufacturing. I utilize the Afrox Advanced Fabrication Sales Methodology, this includes the efficiency analysis and engineered cost reductions, while interacting with a broad spectrum of Linde associates, external vendors and suppliers as well as existing and prospective customers.
•It is necessary for me to manage a team of appointed Welding and Gases Specialists on the African Continent, including Swaziland, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe etc. and in the 9 provinces in South Africa.
•I was required to address customer inquiries, to provide customer service, and to promote sales and gross margin profitability that is both pleasing to Afrox as well as our customers.
•I provide assistance to Reps at customer workshops and I provide customers with welding and fabrication knowledge and marketing literature to promote the Afrox shielding gases, welding products and services. In addition to providing welder training, sales approach strategies and welding and product specialist support to all our sales force, I demonstrate various welding process to clients - GMAW, MMA, GTAW, FCW, SAW including Shielding Gases, Welding Apparatus and Consumables.
This was a state-of-the-art research and development facility based on one of Afrox/Linde sites in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was the only one of its kind in Africa and in the Southern Hemisphere. All the work done here was of a highly sensitive and confidential nature. It was here that we developed the Afrox range of industrial gases, mixed gases, special gases and shielding gases that are today exported all over Africa, into engineering workshops and food manufacturing plants.
•The Afrox range of welding consumables were also developed at this facility. All of which are now being manufactured on a massive scale +- 12 tons a day at our Welding Consumables Factory in South Africa. 80% of the consumables made here are exported to the four corners of the world and the rest is sold locally and into Africa.
•During this period, my portfolio included daily operations, conducting and supervising tests, trials and experiments, and continuous improvement through research and development.
•I assisted internal and external sales staff to become more aware of customers’ needs by providing feedback on the outcome of tests and trials, with both Afrox/Linde and opposition welding products.
•I was an assessor for trainees at customer workshops and practical training courses, and I was responsible for annual budgeting while ensuring that health and safety is maintained through good practices and strictly adhered to with ongoing risk assessments.