It was a day of fun, fellowship and hard work as members of ARC Manufacturing Ltd joined forces with representatives from the Hunt’s Bay Police Station and the Police Youth Club to renovate and repair sections of the Haile Selassie High School in Kingston.

The move which came amidst prolonged violence in the community saw the Spanish Town Road citizens and school body giving their support to paint and repair the male and female bathrooms, do a complete overhaul of the Home Economics classroom and bathroom, as well as the cosmetology department. The school is set to undergo further renovations, as it provides a haven for students from surrounding communities.

ARC Manufacturing said it strives to be a pillar of support for the community by taking on projects aimed at improving the lives of citizens in the area, especially children.

“We don’t want to just exist in our community, we want to be felt. ARC is known as the building materials specialist but we want to also be known to build relationships in communities across Jamaica”, states Executive Chairman, Norman Horne.

ARC employs more than 350 workers, with over half of its workforce originating from the surrounding area. ARC Manufacturing is a leading manufacturer of premium-quality building materials  and serves both domestic and international markets.

Published by Loop Jamaica.

ARC MANUFACTURING has struck a deal with Chinese firm Biola to produce a range of forklifts to be sold under the ARC name.

Executive Chairman Norman Horne says he spent about three months touring facilities and looking at different models before settling on a supply partner.

“The company that produces for us is Biola. Without calling any names, they are the same company that produces for some international brands,” Horne told the Financial Gleaner.

Horne says the normal route for the procurement of forklifts in Jamaica is to purchase second-hand brand-name units at auction such as Hyster or Toyota, and ship them in.

The problem is that wear and tear in the industrial world has less to do with calendar age than hours of use. It is therefore not a stretch to find that a six-year-old forklift can outperform one that is, say, four years old, simply because the newer one was used for more hours, according to Horne. He says many who procured equipment on the basis of age ended up with machines in need of frequent repair.

His own firm, he added, was among them.

“In former times, many industrial firms had these second-hand forklifts that we had to rely on and the downtime was simply horrendous. It was unbelievable the parts issues and service issues we had,” Horne said of the 22 forklifts that made up Arc’s fleet.

Arc Manufacturing has been expanding into new areas – including the commissioning, two weeks ago, of a metal slitting plant.

Arc Manufacturing has initially invested US$1.6 million in the development of its forklifts and the creation of a division to handle distribution and sale of the equipment to Jamaican companies, Horne says.

PLEASED WITH PERFORMANCE
The Bell Road, Kingston-based company has been testing the Biola-made forklifts in its own shop for six months to assess their functionality.

“We brought in 10 so far, and the purpose of that was so that we could test them. We did that over the last six months and we’re absolutely pleased with their performance, and we’re ready to make them available to the public,” Horne said.

“The type of work we had to use 22 old forks to do, we now use 10 to do the same, with excess capacity left over,” he added.

Horne says the Arc forklifts span the full range, from 10 tonnes down to 3 tonnes of lifting capacity. They are available in diesel engines for heavy industrial applications and flex-fuel gas/LPG for closed warehouse or food-processing applications.

He would not, however, say the price of the units, only that an average forklift would be about 70 per-cent of the cost of a second-hand name brand forklift. Checks by the Financial Gleaner indicate that a Hyster would run about $48,00 to $54,000.

Arc Manufacturing has ordered 100 forklifts from Biola, of which 10 has been delivered and another 20 is due to be shipped by the end of June.

Four of the forklifts have been sold so far, and Horne says he will be offering full servicing of the equipment.

“We’ll be taking 20 for our personal use and release 80 to the trade,” said Horne.

“We have all the parts. There are two mechanics and we’ll be taking on some from the automotive school [JAGAS]. They are being trained to service these units. This should allow us to provide a full package,” he said.

Published by The Jamaica Gleaner

Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the Government has commenced a programme of trade facilitation to increase Jamaica’s chances of global competitiveness.

He was speaking at the launch of ARC Manufacturing Limited’s metal slitting plant, at the company’s Bell Road address in Kingston, recently.

“Some weeks ago, the Cabinet approved a number of initiatives to further enhance and facilitate trade, including the elimination of a number of fees and charges that are no longer relevant but have been on the books and people have been collecting,” he said.

Mr. Shaw said this programme seeks to give local manufacturers a competitive advantage. “It cannot be that we are encouraging local value-added manufacturing, but encourage low duty importation of competitor goods. I am going to be focusing on trade facilitation. We have to make it easier for people who want to add value in Jamaica and create jobs and create prosperity in our country,” the Minister emphasized.

Another measure is the recently launched Jamaica Trade Information Portal (JTIP). The portal provides a single authoritative source for trade information relating to import-export regulations, requirements and processes, which businesses can easily access at any time.

Meanwhile, the Minister commended the management of ARC Manufacturing Limited for its state-of-the-art metal slitting plant valued at US$425,000, which he said, will support national development.

Mr. Shaw argued that establishment of the metal slitting plant comes at an opportune time, as with the increased activity in the local construction sector, this service will meet the demands of the manufacturing sector, specifically the building materials industry.

For his part, Executive Chairman, ARC Manufacturing Limited, Norman Horne, pointed out that the plant is the first of its kind in Jamaica, and that investment in the facility seeks to meet the demand of the local manufacturing industry.

“We have invested in two slitters. They both can do the same thing. One is high speed and the other is medium speed. This industry is new to Jamaica. In our country, we don’t have all the dynamics aligned that are ideal for manufacturing; therefore, we have to look to our advantages and try to capitalize on those,” he said.

Metal slitting refers to the process by which metal sheets are fed lengthwise through a slitter machine and cut into narrow coils. It is an essential manufacturing process which is used in the production of essential building materials, including guttering, roofing tiles, barrel capping, purlins, tracks and studs.

Published by The Jamaica Information Service (JIS).