The Lasher Tool Story

Рет қаралды 487

Күн бұрын

Lasher Tools' commitment to superior products is clearly reflected in
its high standards of quality that competitors struggle or simply fail,
to match. The first shovel appeared on the South African market
over 90 years ago, and was manufactured by the African Shovel
Company, and today, the company - now well-known as Lasher
Tools - is still making shovels of all shapes and sizes, as well as a
host of similar tools.
It was a firm of mining engineers, Blane & Co. Ltd., which founded
African Shovel Co. in 1928, with a factory in Barlow Street,
Germiston. Shovels were then followed by picks, spades, forks and
other garden and mining tools. In those days, the workforce had a
core of men from Sheffield, England and 64 people were on the
payroll by the early 1930s. Today, the Lasher team consists of over
700 able bodies, all working together to produce tough, reliable
tools, guaranteed. Steel was imported from England until Iscor
material became available in 1939, and ash handles were also
imported until experiments with local timer proved successful. In
fact, even stinkwood was tried!
The Second Wold War produced supply problems, and local
materials had to be used almost exclusively, although it had been
company policy to use local material wherever possible from the
beginning. Not only did the firm survive those trying times, but in
1950, built a second factory in what was then Aerodrome Road (now
Sigma Road, Industries West, Germiston.) Spear & Jackson of
England (which held a minority shareholding in the firm), opened a
saw factory in Vanderbijlpark in 1948, which was taken over by
African Shovel Co. in 1962. At the same time, Blane & Co. Ltd, which
was already handling sales and marketing of the shovel division,
took on Spear & Jackson saws too.
In 1971, the Norton Group took a controlling interest in African
Shovel Co. and the name was changed to Lasher Tools. The task of
removing rock and rubble with shovels was known as lashing and
the Scottish miners who came to South Africa at the turn of the last
century, were known as Lashers. Lasher Tools finally became a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Norton in 1973. Growth from this period
demanded new factory premises, which were built in Ladysmith.
Here, saws, blades and cane knives are made.
Today, some 15% of production goes overseas to the UK, Europe,
the Americas, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Africa and
Indian Ocean Islands. The export operation is certainly not treated
as a side-line for there is a fully-equipped department to deal with
this side of the business. In 1989, Ussher Inventions, Lasher Tools'
biggest competitor, bought out Lasher Tools, making Lasher Tools
the largest manufacturer of non-mechanical tools in Africa.
Ussher Inventions also boasts a long and proud history, having been
founded back in 1913. They manufactured the first South African
wheelbarrow in 1922. Production at the Wadeville, Germiston plant
can be divided into three parts, namely forgings, pressings and
finishing. In the forging shop, raw billets of steel are fashioned, red
hot, into picks and mattocks. Shovels, spades and wheelbarrows ar
sheared and pressed from sheet steel. The finishing shop puts it all
together with finishes of bitumen, lacquer or powder coating. Lasher
Tools produces in excess of 1200 different stock items.
At Lasher Tools, a shovel isn't just a shovel. There are far more
shapes and sizes than most people would imagine. Apart from the
more obvious varieties, such as round-nose and square-mouth
blades, there are types for cleaning ash from industrial boilers, solid
socket shovels, and pit pan shovels. We even make ceremonial
spades. Specialised products are also made for customers, with
close attention being paid to client relations to ensure ultimate
satisfaction. Lasher's aspiration for the future is to continue with its
mission statement of servicing Africa and the world with a branded
range of quality hand tools. As long as there are buildings to erect,
roads to build, fields to sow and hoe, mines to mine and gardens to
grow, we will continue to manufacture tough, reliable tools.
Guaranteed. Lasher Tools don't come tougher.