Page 6 - Issue 27

6 Cover

PPC Botswana :

creating value for its Products,Stakeholders

and Communities

• tour of the PPC Plant

retoria Portland Cement Company Botswana (PPC ) readymix operation was acquired in 1999, with an associated
held a Media tour of their plant and quarry as a way of 50% shareholding in the adjacent Kgale Quarry. The remainder
Psharing their development and also the products they of the quarry shareholding was acquired in 2004.The readymix
have on offer and the processes involved. operation was sold in 2008, but the interest in Kgale Quarry
was retained. Kgale Quarries obtained Quarries of Botswana
Founded in the early eighties by the Botswana Development (Mokolodi, Francistown and Selibe Phikwe) in 2011.
Corporation, BOCEM, now known as PPC was established to
stimulate industrial development in Botswana through the The ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) certification was
manufacturing and distribution of cement. For this purpose, a obtained in September 2003 and the ISO 14001 (Environmental
deposit of limestone was identified at Naka-la-Phala, between Management System) certification in May 2004.
Palapye and Serowe and measures were put in place to PPC also takes pride in its community involvement and
exploit this area. In the late 90’s BDC entered into partnership CSR initiatives. They have embraced a variety of socially
with South Arica’s Pretoria Portland Cement Company (PPC) responsible business practices which include a commitment
to undertake this project. to proactively invest in the social development needs of the
communities in which they operate.
Initially sales were rather slow in the early years of operation
with customers somewhat skeptical about the company’s The Cement company has identified disadvantaged
product quality and the new brand of cement that has entered communities and locally they have been involved in the
the local market. Results from a market survey carried out renovation of Gabaresepe Day Care center in Mokolodi village
amongst cement users in Gaborone and the surrounding areas ,they built a sewing factory for Molepolole Women .They also
indicated that the overwhelming majority of users had more sponsor the King of the hill marathon and built a bakery for
trust in the existing PPC products (sourced ex-PPC Slurry). women in a village. PPC Empowers local SMME’s by using
In 1997, a business decision was taken to change the name local transporters ,manufacturers of cement bags and the
from CEMPACK to PPC Botswana (Pty) Ltd (PPC Botswana) pallets are manufactured locally.
to align the operation with its parent company in 1997. The
South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) quality mark was The company Managing Director Mr. Tuelo Botlhole and
obtained for PC 25 and PC 15 in the same year to provide Engineer Thabo Modise who is the Engineering Manager of
assurance to the market that the products produced were of PPC took us for the plant tour.
a high standard and quality.

The product range supplied from the Gaborone facility was
bagged PC 25 and PC 15 and OPC in bulk form. At this stage,
the split between PC 25 and PC 15 bags was approximately
50/50. PC 25 grew in popularity and became the predominant
bagged product. This resulted in excessive turnaround times
due to long queues on the PC 25 loading bay, impacting
negatively on customer service. In 2000, PC 25 and PC 15 were
rebranded as Botcem and Surebuild respectively. The current
products out of the depot are OPC and bagged Botcem. These
products are supplied into the local Botswana market only.A

Issue 27 - May /June 2020 www.engineerbw.com