Andrew Crickmay presents the annual Sawmill Productivity Award to Deon Breytenbach of Merensky Timber.
Congratulations to Merensky Timber’s Langeni Sawmill for participating in the Crickmay & Associates Intermill Comparison and attaining the 2022 Sawmill Improvement Award.
Andrew Crickmay announced the winner in June during Sawmilling South Africa’s (SSA’s) annual general meeting at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa campus. Deon Breytenbach, Merensky’s processing executive, accepted the trophy on behalf of Langeni’s operations manager, Phillip Tshikhudu.
Crickmay’s legendary father, David, started the Intermill Comparison in 1988 when the timber marketing agreement collapsed, exposing mills to competition they never had before resulting in a “bloodbath”.
“There were 144 formal sawmills in South Africa 1988, and today there are fewer than 40 sawmills,” Crickmay explains. “It is interesting to note that of the original 15 competing sawmills, 14 are still around and produce 90% of the volumes of traded timber reflected in the Intermill Comparison”.
When the South African Lumber Millers Association (Salma) dissolved, the programme was supported by SSA. Participating sawmills provide confidential business information to Crickmay & Associates for analysis, benchmarking and reporting.
“We appreciate the valuable data we have been entrusted with for 37 years,” Crickmay comments. “We assure you that the integrity and confidentiality of your data are secure. Years ago, Solly Tucker of York, told my dad that Crickmay are the only people ‘who know the colour of my underpants’, and don’t tell anyone”.
The annual Sawmill Improvement Awards recognises the sawmill that improved its productivity and competitiveness over five years. The focus is on improvement, with the winning mill not necessarily being the most profitable
The winning sawmill scored the highest against the following criteria over five years:
| IMPROVEMENT ASPECT | % |
| Nett margin | 50 |
| Labour productivity | 15 |
| Recovery | 15 |
| Nett average selling price | 10 |
| Total costs, including admin | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
The 2022 runners-up sawmills, in alphabetical order, were:
- AC Whitcher
- Bracken
- e’Mpuluzi
- Jessievale
- Kubusi
- Lawa
- MTO George
- RF Gevers
- Thornville