Originally established as a closed corporation in 1995, Allmech has grown into a leading South African manufacturer of boilers and supplier of water treatment components, servicing the entire country and expanding its services beyond the borders. While 2024 has brought its share of challenges, MD Lionel Maasdorp says it’s been a good year overall and the company is positioned well for 2025, which will mark 30 years in the business.
“With the 2024 national election came hope for change, and change did happen,” he says. “It hasn’t been in all places as expected, but for us the best is the fact that we have not had loadshedding. One does not realise how disruptive it is and how much it affects business operations. We have seen a significant increase in enquiries and orders for our electric steam products. We’ve had a very busy workshop and were able to get all the projects out as planned.”
Maasdorp says one of the focuses for 2024 was to expand into new industries and sales rep, Lynette Morrey. Who headed up this initiative made significant progress and exceeded expectations in growing the client base.
“We also had several firsts as a business, including importing several new Runxin valves,” he says. As the only authorised South African agent for Runxin valves, Allmech was invited to visit the global Wenzhou Runxin Manufacturing Machine Co., headquartered in China, to experience the latest technological developments and decide which new products to bring to the local market. They have since begun to stock an automatic pool filtration valve, irrigation valve with rain sensor, and a leak detection shutoff valve.
“Imports have been slow and costly, but by managing our stock and keeping costs down where possible we have been able to keep our prices unchanged for most of the year,” says Maasdorp. “Material shortages for manufacturing of some of the valves have delayed our imports from China by as much as 5 months, but we’ve been able to expand our client base in the water treatment division. Certain new industries have found some of our unique Runxin vales a great addition to their product offering, such as pool shops and pump supplying companies.”
Allmech has also managed to increase awareness of its range in areas including Namibia, the Western Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga, where previously its main focus was in Gauteng and KZN. “Our Runxin range now covers over 150 products,” says Maasdorp. This includes:
- Water softener valves: Used to remove hardness (calcium, magnesium) from water through an ion exchange process.
- Filter control valves: Manage the flow and filtration processes in water treatment systems, ensuring water quality.
- Pool filter valves: Available in both automatic and manual types, these valves control the filtration of pool water.
- Electronic ceramic ball valves (2-way): Electrically controlled valves with a ceramic ball for precise flow control.
- Electronic ceramic ball valves (3-way): Similar to 2-way valves but with an additional port for more complex flow control.
- Manual ceramic ball valves: Manually operated valves using a ceramic ball for reliable sealing and flow control.
- Runxin repair and maintenance spares for all Allmech ranges from Runxin valves
- Irrigation valves: Used in irrigation systems to control the flow of water to different zones or areas.
- Leak detection valves: Designed to detect and respond to leaks in a system, helping to prevent water loss and damage.
- Diskfilters: Filtration systems that use disks to remove impurities from water.
- Domestic RO systems: Reverse osmosis systems for home use, providing purified drinking water by removing contaminants.
Maasdorp says that as the company prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Allmech is embarking on an expansion plan for 2025, which includes stocking an even wider range of the Runxin valves. “Who knows – it might even end up with us securing new premises to accommodate us all and the stock under one roof!” he says. “Allmech celebrates 30 years of customer service next year, and considering that we have some staff who have been with us for over 20 years, we hope to keep going for at least the next 30 years.”