ONE TEAM - ONE GOAL !

LADUMAHelping our police – page 6

Going volumetric – page 3

Selling electricity – page 5

October 2013

INTERVENE when necessary

MESSAGE FROM THE MD

Peter Starling

is to be expected that the prolonged ser-ies of strikes currently being experienced in the country will put further pressure on local consumer spending. Local demand forecasts are flat and could be revised down should the current labour unrest not be resolved. While this puts pressure on domestic prices and volumes, we are seeing increasing demand and stable pricing in our international markets with sales into Africa showing some growth during the second half of the year. This, coupled with the exchange rate, more than compensates for the plateaued domestic performance and we expect to finish the year strongly and ahead of previous forecasts.

The improved business performance is supported by the drive for continuous improvement and optimisation; custo-mers more than ever are looking to suppliers to take costs out of the business. Our vision of building strong partnerships to grow with our customers requires us to be creative, committed and continually take the lead in these

Nine months into the year and the business continues to benefit from the improved sugar crop and the weakened rand. The supply chain structure is now firmly in place and the renegotiation of supply contracts complete. The im-proved planning and scheduling tools, together with revised lead times, have allowed substantial cost reductions to be achieved; the initial benefits of these are now apparent and should flow through to the cost line of the business on an ongoing basis as focus will remain on improvement of these operational as-pects for the remainder of the year.

To date, outbound logistics have received the most attention but focus will now shift to inbound logistics and ways to reduce the delivery times to African markets; this will include the consideration of alternative routes to market and possible further distribution initiatives in line with the bulk storage in Ghana.

The domestic economic climate is impacting on local product demand and it

Traineesin the

communityFront cover: Each year the in-service trainees at NCP Alcohols get the opportunity to spread their wings in the com-munity under the auspices of the company’s corporate social investment programme. This year a few bright sparks came up with a Winter Warmer Wizard campaign to collect clothing for the iCare Street Children Drop-In Centre in the Durban CBD. The centre is an opportunity for the street kids of Durban to turn their lives around. Once at the drop-in centre they can rehabilitate themselves and possibly reunite with family members or other organisations that are able to offer them shelter. NCP Alco-hols is a proud supporter of the initiatives of the iCare Centre.

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Look who’s got Laduma

processes. I reiterate that this is not a finite process and change will continue as we search for further ways to create value in an increasingly complex and competitive environment.

Our colleagues in the Alcogroup office in Brussels, Belgium, were seen reading Laduma recently.

Virginie Janssen, their Office Manager, inset, is the informal Laduma correspondent and thanks to her, we are kept up to date and informed about new and breaking news in the Alcogroup.

Work safe, go home safe 3

New handrails and harnesses

We’re goingvolumetric ....

For many years, the petroleum industry has been measuring fuel supplied using the volumetric system, as opposed to the weigh-bridge system – and NCP Alcohols is heading in that direction too.

As Carl Freyer, Engineering Manager, explains, “There are a number of benefits to using volumetric measuring. First and foremost it is extremely accurate – and obviously this keeps both ourselves and our customers happy.

“Another important benefit arises in cases where we are delivering to a customer that has to pay before the tanker leaves our site. Presently, using the weighbridge system, we have to weigh the vehicle when it has been loaded, email the customer the amount to be paid, and then wait for payment before the road tanker can leave. Under the new system, we will be able to load the exact quantity that matches a payment already made.

“NCPA is the first company in our industry to seek approval for volumetric measuring from the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS). In a way, we are establishing the route, and it will be easier for those who follow.”

NCPA installed an electronic volumetric meter at the loading bay in 2002, and recently installed a mechanical volumetric meter. In due course the NRCS will need to approve our meters and automatic shut-off valves.

Carl Freyer, Engineering Manager, with the electronic volumetric meter.

Allan Pillay, Materials Handler, with the new mechanical volumetric meter.

Steps have recently been taken at the gantry loading bay to boost safety for the operators. At left, Themba Gumede, Materials Handler, shows a new harness which includes a fall arrestor attached to an overhead safety rail. Handrails have also been installed so that the operator always has a rail to grip onto when loading a tanker.

Report all near misses4

By subscribing to the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification systems, NCP is broadcasting a message to both customers and competitors that it takes quality management and environmental management seriously.

Explains Lorraine Mudaly, SHEQ Manager, “Although we’ve been certified against the ISO 9001 standard since 1986 and the ISO 14001 standard since 2007, we are continually improving the way we do business via our internal audits, management review meetings and non-conformance systems and processes.”

So we were confident when SABS visited during August to audit our quality and environmental systems. We like to see any findings as an ‘improvement opportunity’ or as part of a process of continuous improvement.

“The listings keep our customers happy and keep our competitors at bay,” said Lorraine.

Certificationfor ISO retained

NCPA once again had a stand at the World of Work in an initiative to expose our in-service training programme to top students at the Durban University of Technology. The NCPA stand was staffed by, from left, Trishen Reddy, Chemical In-service Trainee; Jivenika Sewpersadh, Mechanical In-service Trainee; and Lumeshni Govender, Process Technician. They are seen assisting students, from near to far, Bongumusa Xaba, Alicia Daniel and Blessing Mbambo.

Nkululeko Mseleko and Smangele Nzimande doing a risk assessment

At NCP Alcohols, all working procedures require risk assessments and the Opsuite online tool is available to all employees. Using Opsuite as a prevention tool is the right thing to do if you value your safety and that of others, says Sipho-kazi Majozi, Shift Manager. Did you know:

Telling students about our training

• All working procedures

require a risk assessment report number.

• Completing all actions and tasks from the risk assessment keeps all at NCPA safe!

• Anyone has access to the system.

Everyone can useOpsuite for RAPs

p4 Magenta : to make sure we’re all kept safe.

Work safe, play safe 5

We’re selling excess electricity

NCP Alcohols is currently exporting approximately 0.4 mWh of electricity onto the eThekwini Municipality’s electricity grid, and moves are afoot to boost that to 2.5 mWh.

A power purchasing agreement (PPA) was formalised with eThekwini Municipality in early 2012 for a period of three years. It was one of the first PPAs to be drawn up in the Municipality.

The NCP Alcohols facility is categorised as a co-generation plant because we use a by-product of our production process, steam, to generate electricity. Piped gas-fired high-pressure boilers drive a 3 MW steam turbine for 350 days of the year to not only provide all the plant electricity requirements, but also low-pressure steam from the turbine exhaust.

“We’ve been generating electricity on-site for own use since the 1960s when we installed our first turbine. Power-saving initiatives started in 2005, such as variable-speed drives on pumps and fans, conversion of coal-fired to gas-fired boilers, etc. which resulted in electricity savings of 16%,” says Carl Freyer, Engineering Manager. Prior to these energy-saving interventions, all the energy that was generated on site was used up. Since these interventions, in particular the conversion to gas, about 0.4 mWh of electricity became available for export.

Power purchasing agreement with eThekwini Municipality

Realising the potential for being an exporter of electricity, discussions began with eThekwini Electricity and

in 2011, NCP Alcohols installed a Dawson synchronisation control system and a RWW electronic breaker to enable excess power to be exported back to the grid. “We are paid at the Eskom Megaflex tariff, since the municipality will only buy electricity back from a power producer at the same rate that they

Our shareholder EDF Energies Nouvelle has been awarded a wind energy contract in South Africa. Called the Waaineck Wind Farm, it is located 5 km west of Grahamstown in the Makana municipality, in the Eastern Cape.

The 24 MW wind farm will comprise eight wind turbines selling power to Eskom under a 20-year power supply agreement; expected commissioning is in Q3 2014.

The consortium managing the project locally is InnoWind which is a subsidiary of EDF EN, the IDC and the BBBEE company Makana Winds of Change.

pay Eskom for electricity,” says Carl.

NCP Alcohols plans to convert another one of its coal-fired boilers to gas, resulting in an opportunity to sell 2.5 mWh of electricity back to the grid. Freyer noted that it was seldom

necessary for NCP Alcohols to purchase electricity from eThekwini Municipality. “We generate about 98% of the electricity we require for operation and rarely need to pay the municipality for electricity”.

The main electricity users on the site are 15 large water-cooling pumps used in the distillation process, six large pumps and various small pumps used to pump various products around the production site.

Published courtesy of: http://www.kznenergy.org.za/durban-based-ncp-alcohols-powered-by-steam-sells-400kwh-excess-electricity-to-ethekwini-municipality/

Telling students about our trainingNCP Alcohols cogeneration plant base in Durban.

EDF EN wind farm deal in SA

Safety first to last

Beware ofnoisy areas

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What a difference!

“Remember to wear the correct PPE to reduce the noise in our marked noise areas and watch out for SHORT BURST noises which are especially harmful and often occur without warning,” Errol Murran, Mechanical Artisan tells Ridwaan Gafoor, Mechanical Trainee.

67 minutes for our police

Armed with spades and shovels, “flower teams” from the South African Police Ser-vices, Greenwood Park and NCP Alcohols get ready to plant some flowers, giving back their 67 minutes to the community as a tribute to the 67 years it took former president Nelson Mandela to finally see peace and reconciliation in South Africa.

Get Organised is an administrative programme called to life in order for the company to keep its electronic and office filing organised. We all know filing is not the greatest pasttime, but according to those that have benefitted from this top retrieval system, the difference it has made and the order it has created is just short of being revolutionary.

‘Before’ and ‘after’ images of filing in the finance and corporate division.

NCP Alcohols celebrated International Mandela Day on 17 July by reaching out to the Greenwood Park police station and replanting the flowerbed at the entrance to the station.

NCP Alcohols people dedicated 67 minutes of their time to providing the policemen and women something pretty to look at when they enter their place of work.

Mark Norton-Amor, Financial Executive, and Gary Bregovits, Operations Executive, approached the replanting very professionally by first discussing their planting strategy and tactics.

Managing Director Peter Starling shows us how it’s done by replanting two flower beds on his own!

Rodgers Niranjan, Procurement Manager, displays his weekend gardening skills.

Who other than our very own Engineering Manager Carl Freyer to fix the police station’s “dying” garden swan with industrial strength glue?

A happy-happy flower bed for all the employees and visitors at the Greenwood Park Police Station – thanks to NCP Alcohols and Umvubu Maintenance Services.

A special word of thanks to the company’s gardening contractors, Umvubu Maintenance Services, for their hard work and dedication towards this initiative.The team worked two full days in order to prepare and clean the flower beds for the volunteers.

Be safe, not sorry 7

Comms Guru

Lorraine Mudaly, SHEQ Manager Kelvin Timm, SHEQ OfficerAllan Pillay, Site LogisticsMathews Dubazane, Plant

Faizee Bodha, Office Zwe Mbhele, PlantRakesh Moona, Boiler House

Bala Padayachee, Laboratory

Errol Murran, Engineering

New safety representatives were appointed in August for three years. They are seen here with Lorraine Mudaly, SHEQ Manager, and Kelvin Timm, SHEQ Officer.

Thanks to Thomas Ngcobo, Internal Messenger and Office Worker, the communication notice and flash boards are religiously updated with news and views. Thomas, who started his career with the company on 18 January 1977, is a vital link in the communications chain.

NCP Alcohols have achieved a zero DIFR (disabling injury frequency rate) for the quarter ending August 2013, thanks to the zeal with which staff treat their own safety and the safety of their visitors and contractors.

New Safety Reps

Zero disabling injuries

Safety rules are your best tools

They worked BIG and CASUAL

CONGRATULATIONS, Mums and Dads

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Friday 6 September was the day for fun lovers to go BIG at work in a casual way. By paying R10 which went to the benefit of organisations of, and for, people with disabilities in South Africa, NCP people were able to support the disabled. Those wearing the Casual Day sticker got a free burger. See here who participated.

Nomfundo Ndwalane’s daughter, Nyakallo, was born on 7 July.

Smangele Nzimande’s son, Andile, was born on 26 April.

Stephen Kitching’s son, Collard, was born on 2 June.

Ricardo Peters’s son, Elijah, was born on 3 June.

Nathi Zikhali’s daughter, Emihle, was born on 30 July.

Ashika Jithoo’s son, Veer, was born on 18 July.

Don Pillay’s son,Vareshan, was born on 1 August.

We’re happy to share the baby boom in Brussels; Young Gaston, son of Charles Vaxelaire, was born on 2 September and little Maxine, daughter of Nathalie Cuvelier, was born on 28 July.

Stembile Mthembu, Andile Dlamini and Mpume Sello

Lorraine Mudaly Elaine Wilson

Vigna Naidoo

Mzo Jama

Lindy Zungu Raj Mothi

Rodgers Niranjan

Nomvula Mgwaba

Sue Stewart and Alfred Ngema