With over 25 years of international industry experience Erasmus, who will be based at MechCaL’s manufacturing facility and head office in Pretoria, brings a wealth of operational and business experience to MechCaL. Erasmus’ experience includes developing guidance and control systems and strategic system analysis for weaponry and defense programs; commercialization of state enterprises and strategic planning for Deloitte Management Consulting; development of identification and intelligent control technologies; business and product development on an international scale; and serving as a company President, COO, CTO and Director and managing global operations for a publicly listed company. Most recently, Erasmus acted a as a consultant to various businesses in the technology and renewables sectors and consulted for PwC Advisory Services.
Commenting on his appointment, Erasmus said: “When I engaged with MechCaL on this specific opportunity, it was much like a déjà vu experience of my previous career. There are distinct differences though with the MechCaL opportunity providing a more favorable platform to take a locally developed technology to the global market with TLT Turbo as a strategic partner that truly is a global leader in its industry. This together with various new emerging applications for MechCaL’s technology really excites me.”
MechCaL has gone through a period of interim management under the guidance of Professor Jan du Plessis who was appointed to the position of Acting Managing Director in order to facilitate the shareholder sale to German owned firm, TLT Turbo, in early 2016. Following this, Prof du Plessis ensured that the company continued to experience growth in product development, human resources talent attraction and retention and in enhancements to their manufacturing facility until such time that a suitable leader could be appointed. “We have no doubt that Luther Ersamus is the ideal candidate for this position and I believe that he will do a stellar job in leading MechCaL into the future,” said Prof du Plessis whose immediate and continued support as a member of the board of directors, as an independent expert and in a business development capacity will continue.
MechCaL overcame several industry related challenges and continued to experience growth in all areas of the business during this interim management period. Erasmus credits the success achieved to MechCaL’s innovative strategies and strong team. “The team really stuck to their core values and ethos, including ethical business practices, and never stopped believing in their innovative technology and products. During this difficult period they kept the manufacturing side of the business at optimal levels and remained committed to a relentless focus on developing new technologies and improved advanced composites processes that provides MechCaL with a distinct advantage in the local and international market,” says Erasmus.
In discussing his medium term plans for MechCaL, Erasmus notes that the company has faced challenges related to the down cycle in the commodity markets and the South African economy over the past 12 to 18 months. He explains that he is looking forward to achieving two specific goals in the medium term. “Firstly I would like to address a number of internal aspects such as contract management and intellectual property management and securitization, BB-BEE, scaling and optimizing of production which will include second sourcing where required, and looking after MechCaL’s most valuable asset –its people. Secondly, in terms of MechCaL’s technology, my external focus will be on developing the OEM potential to diversify our applications and markets, as well as geographic growth.”
Erasmus concludes by saying that he is looking forward to interacting with the TLT-Tubrbo German and global team and to working closely with MechCaL’s engineering team. “The outcome of managing engineering teams can be really a satisfying and fulfilling process. I am mostly looking forward to guiding this unique and strong team by exploiting their collective expertise in a global CFRP market that is already in excess of US$ 20 billion per annum and growing by over 10% annually.”
