Founded by two British Army Soldiers after World War II, Davis & Shirtliff has developed into the leading supplier of water equipment in the East African region - Manufacturing Digital finds out more
Written by Jennifer Denby & Produced by Eric Konadu
By recognising that the provision of efficient water supplies is essential for the region’s economic development, Davis & Shirtliff has played a committed role in this vital industry.
With origins that date back to 1946, the company has become an ambitious, innovation-led business, primarily focused on five distinctive product sectors; water pumps, water treatment, swimming pools, power generation and renewable energy products.
Headquartered in Nairobi’s industrial area, with subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and a presence in South Sudan, the firm also has a network of eight Kenyan branches, three at the Coast, three upcountry and two around Nairobi.
Led by a mission to become a “first world quality organisation through the highest levels of corporate standards and professionalism”, it is no wonder the company has thrived for over 60 years. In speaking with Alec Davis, CEO, and David Gatende, Managing Director, it is clear they are fully committed to this mission through offering a comprehensive and competitive product range, with regional availability and unrivalled technical and service support.
STRENGTH
Judging by the firm’s impressive client base and extensive product list, Davis & Shirtliff seems head and shoulders above the rest. “First of all, we are much bigger than everyone else in the industry, so we have considerable scale,” says Davis, whose father started the firm.
“But I would say our main strength is our products; we have a very wide range which is supported by a very strong supply chain,” he adds, explaining that the company has become particularly skilled at product delivery through the various challenges faced.
“It’s quite complicated getting the wide range of products that we sell from obscure places all over the world to obscure places in the middle of Africa. That is a challenge because importation into Kenya is quite difficult.”
As well as manufacturing and assembling various water related products through its own manufacturing facility, Davis & Shirtliff regionally distributes high quality equipment from a number of manufacturers in Europe, Japan and Australia including pumps from Grundfos and Pedrollo, engines and generators from Lister and water treatment products from GE Water.
“We’re also a very high standard organisation; we have very good resources, very good premises, and a very sophisticated ERP system, which gives us excellent management control systems,” he adds, going on to explain that Kenyan competitors, without the scale, training or infrastructure, struggle to provide the high level of corporate professionalism that Davis & Shirtliff is able to provide.
It is obvious these strengths haven’t gone unnoticed. Gatende tells us the firm has won 10 awards from the Kenya Institute of Management’s scheme, Company of the Year.
“Since it began in 2000, we’ve won an award every year,” he says. “The first year was in Innovation and Creativity, then we won two awards in Corporate Planning Practices, and for five years we won Quality Management and one for Supply Chain. This year, we got the Judge’s Award for Consistency.”
PRODUCT RANGE
Despite the firm’s diversification, its product range continues to be the backbone of the business. Davis & Shirtliff believes that new products are the lifeblood of all organisations, and as such, has taken a number of important initiatives in the past few months. In the pools business, these include a range of LED lights, of which their power consumption is less than 10 percent of the currently established sealed beam type.
Other important new product initiatives have focused on pump controls and a range of high specification automatic controllers, float switches and pressure switches. “We’re always looking for new products,” confirms Davis. “We’re working on our own branding strategy, so we’re sourcing products from the East; India, Taiwan, China and so on, which are being marketed under the Dayliff brand to compliment and support the premium range of products that we traditionally sell.”
“We also have a product manual that summarises all the products we offer. That’s not really the done thing here, it’s quite unique,” Gatende stresses, highlighting yet another competitive advantage.
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
In discussing the firm’s staff recruitment and development, Davis says: “We have very strict recruitment criteria. Generally, for our sales engineers, we only recruit graduates with first and second class degrees. Then they undergo extensive in-house training, which is a very big priority for the organisation. So we try to recruit good people, and then we develop them once we’ve got them in the business.”
The firm has recently made large investments in supporting infrastructure, including training facilities - which are used for both internal and external training courses - amongst other areas, such as modern office facilities, a fully integrated computer system, repair workshops, mobile service teams and comprehensive spare parts stocks. Davis explains that the future strategy will involve exploiting the initiatives it has taken in the last few years, and capitalising on the various improvements made.
With a recent business venture into the solar and power industries, selling solar modules, it seems the firm is constantly assessing and taking advantage of market opportunities. “Our strategy is to enlarge what we call our footprint,” says Davis, who explains that the firm’s “footprint” is the number of outlets and markets on one axis and the number of products on the other. Davis & Shirtliff will look to expand both its product range and its distribution outlets, while also increasing the number of subsidiaries under its belt.
“At the moment we have 20 branches, and we aim in the short-term at 25,” he adds.
With a huge amount of business in the sectors the firm presently dominates, and an abundance of opportunity on the horizon, Davis & Shirtliff looks set to further increase its already extensive product range, cementing its leading position in Kenya for many years to come. And, guided by a principle which Gatende outlines as: “One person working alone is limited in their endeavours, many people working together have no limit to their achievement,” the company’s 270-strong workforce looks set to make these ambitions a reality.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY: Davis+Shirtliff
CEO: Alec Davis
OPERATIONS: Specialist in water pumps, borehole, water treatment, swimming pool, power and solar powered products
ESTABLISHED: 1946
EMPLOYEES: 270
www.dayliff.com