Manufacturing Digital profiles Tellumat, South Africa’s privately owned diversified electronics, manufacturing, telecommunications, defence and services group
Written by Ian Armitage & Produced by Isaac Frempong
Tellumat, a privately owned diversified electronics, manufacturing, telecommunications, defence and services group, is a real giant. Born out of Plessey, it has, says CEO Rasheed Hargey, become a “significant player in South Africa’s hi-tech sector”.
“We work in areas as diverse as wireless communications and military and aerospace systems,” he continues.
Tellumat began life in the 1960s, manufacturing and supplying South Africa’s then Post & Telecommunications utility with electronic telephone switching systems. It also developed electronic distance measuring equipment – before the creation of the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS), that is.
Plessey eventually listed on the JSE in 1995, but in October 1998 was acquired by I.T. services group Dimension Data. Didata acquired Plessey’s software and networking businesses as well as its project management capabilities, and the remaining business was acquired in a management buyout to form Tellumat in a back-to-back deal that delisted Plessey from the JSE.
“Since then, Tellumat has built up and sold a number of businesses,” says Graham Meyer, Finance Director. Today, the company focuses on several key areas. “We have identified a number of opportunities,” adds Hargey. “Telecoms is the natural one because the industry is being deregulated as we speak.”
Tellumat, which already exports to numerous African countries is also keen to do more business in key economies in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America. “That is true,” says Hargey. “We look forward to a future of continued innovation and commercial success.”
DEFENCE INDUSTRY
Tellumat is a big player in the defence industry, where it supplies a range of radar and other military systems. It sells its products, not only in South Africa, but in developing countries across the world.
“For many years we have maintained, supported and upgraded the SA Air Force’s long range defence radar systems,” says Marc Anderson,Managing Executive – Defence, talking about the firm’s pedigree and explaining that it develops “identification friend or foe” systems, which use radar to allow aircraft to communicate electronically to identify each other.
“There’s also the company’s navigation business, where we have supplied systems to the Airports Company and the Defence Force, among others,” Anderson adds. It’s a big player in developing avionics subsystems for unmanned aircraft too.
“Tellumat has a long history in the South African defence industry, in designing and manufacturing products for defence and aerospace applications,” Graham Meyer, Finance Director, explains.
“The defence division focuses on three areas - electronic identification, tactical communication, and electronics subsystems for unmanned aircraft,” adds Colin Meintjes, Tellumat Radar’s Managing Executive, the man responsible for radar operations.
MANUFACTURING BUSINESS
When it comes to manufacturing, Tellumat addresses two areas: electronics products are manufactured at Tellumat’s main campus in Retreat and mechanical products are manufactured by its Laingsdale Engineering facility in Cape Town.
“The Laingsdale Engineering factory, based in Maitland, makes high-precision mechanical parts and has very little to do with electronics, which is the main hub of Tellumat’s operations,” says Garry Sleigh, Managing Executive, Laingsdale.
The electronics plant, on the other hand, is a turnkey manufacturer that offers design services, industrialisation, manufacturing, repairs and maintenance.
External clients account for a large percentage of the electronics factory’s output and the rest is for internal Tellumat work, says Hargey. “The facility can produce anything from consumer products to complex, technically integrated products,” he explains.
“It produces things like remote controls and can do sophisticated military equipment and aviation products,” adds Sleigh.
TELECOMS
Tellumat’s telecoms business is huge too and it provides both fixed-line (mainly PBX solutions) and wireless communications in two separately managed business units.
“Tellumat is a significant player in South Africa’s telecommunications, particularly in CPE (customer premises equipment), and has a long history of manufacturing and supplying products to Telkom, Neotel and other key industry players,” says Bennie Langenhoven, the man managing the Telecoms business unit and reporting directly to the CEO, Rasheed Hargey.
He went onto explain that Tellumat’s bestknown product was the Telkom Diana PBX and that it was designed and developed at the firm’s factory in Cape Town.
“Today, the company offers a wide range of locally developed and imported PBX and wireless solutions,” Langenhoven continues. “Tellumat still works closely with Telkom, but its relationship has expanded to include the supply of consumer-focused products like handsets.”
The company’ s CEO, Rasheed Hargey, adds: “We plan to expand that business in Africa in the next few years as the industry becomes deregulated, beginning with a focus on the Southern Africa region.”
He went onto explain that the Wireless Solutions division is focused on “supplying high-end broadband communications equipment such us microwave and Wimax” to telecom operators, which are increasingly demanding a “complete solution from suppliers including services such as network design, RF planning, installation, commissioning and maintenance”
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: Tellumat
CEO: Rasheed Hargey
OPERATIONS: Electronics, manufacturing, telecommunications and defence services
ESTABLISHED: 1960s
EMPLOYEES: 250
www.tellumat.com
Edited by Ben Lobel
View Digital Corporate Profile of Tellumat in Manufacturing Digital December 2009