Saftronics 1
Saftronics started in South Africa in the early 1970’s making electronic factory automation equipment. By the end of the 70’s it was the largest company of its kind in South Africa. They then expanded to Canada in the late 70’s to access a larger market with about a 100 or more employees, they became the third largest company of its kind in Canada. Wanting to access North America Canada was the easiest to get in to. The original plan was to export from Canada to the U.S but they found that there were indirect obstacles to making successful marketing in the U.S, such as different manufacturing standards, culture, measuring practices.
In 1981 Saftronics established a finishing assembly plant in Buffalo New York and started to develop a U.S sales channel to carry the products from coast to coast. It grew rapidly and the company wanted to move south, choosing Fort Myers as the new location in 1986 with 24 people they stared building a serious business in North America reaching out to other parts of the U.S and the world. Late 1990’s the company expanded to over 260 employees and over $60 million dollars in sales with 7 locations in the U.S and sold products to several other export markets such as Central America, South America, Australia, South Africa and several European countries. In 2005 the company was bought by Emerson
Saftronics 2
Electric a fortune 100, who are a $15 billion a years organization with 150 thousand employees.
General Problem
Wanting to develop a customer base in Central and South America because they felt they had a competitive advantage being based in Florida because this was a gateway to the Latin countries. Saftronics hired a dedicated Spanish speaking sales manager who had ...