Press release, August 8th 2008, CAPE Business News, South Africa

SPEAKING AT a Beachheads luncheon, FRAMECAD Solutions chairman and owner Mark Taylor said “a big part of our future strategy is web strategy. We can reduce the cost of lead generation by 60% by using the web.” But when later interviewed, Taylor was reluctant to detail his web-based plans for competitive reasons. He would add only the company is looking to increase both its global awareness on the Internet and its level of customer service.

FRAMECAD Solutions (formerly Metal Forming Technologies, and renamed so the brand matches the product) is a global leader in light steel frame building solutions. Taylor already had a company, BonPac, supplying steel worldwide. Ten years ago he set up another based on steel frame commercial and residential development. Steel frame construction can mean a timesaving of 300 on conventional building methods - and time equals money. A recent 929sgm extension of a Dubai hotel was designed, built, fitted out and opened within a record 19 days using FRAMECAD’s methods.

Some 96% of revenue is derived offshore and Taylor expects exports to double in the next year. It’s primarily focused on emerging markets in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, India and Africa. That global reach has grown the company by an average 50% a year and around 60% this financial year.

The ability to form and punch holes in steel has been around for decades. What FRAMECAD does differently is offer a custombuilt total package - design, manufacture, materials supply and training. Here’s how it works: FRAMECAD starts with the architect’s design, taking into account local environmental conditions and building regulations. This information is fed into its clever design, detailing and engineering software and then transferred to the manufacturing plants churning out the steel frames. These are assembled into panels and trusses and transported to the construction site where the builders fit the pieces together - a bit like playing with a Meccano set.

FRAMECAD manufactures the steel rollformers at plants in Christchurch, Korea, Taiwan and the US. The rollformers are sold for between US$250,000 and US$1 million to customers who set up their own plants to make the steel panels close to their construction sites.

The company runs training academies to teach customers how to run the plants efficiently to get a faster return on their investment (estimated at one year) and how to build properly with steel framing. It even offers a turnkey operation, setting up and running the plants for a specified time. Part of the strategy for remaining world leader is to spend a whopping 120 of revenue on research and development at its Mt Wellington test facility. “It gives us a competitive advantage,” Taylor says.

FRAMECAD has 30 New Zealand-based staff and scours the world to hire the best; Nadir Elhaji, a native Lebanese hired from the US to head the company’s new Middle East office is an acknowledged leader in cold-formed steel techniques. His presence adds weight t. the company’s sales pitch. “It’s a hard thing when the phone calls start at 6pm. An office in the local time zone will be easier for us any customers,” Taylor says. The company is also opening an office in Australia.

And Taylor’s secrets to success? “Price yourself at a premium, have a clear strategy to market and stick to it.”

FRAMECAD chairman Mark Taylor
PHOTOGRAPHY: JASON DORDAY

http://www.framecad.com

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