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Business Reporter
GIANT building materials producer and supplier, PG Industries, has relocated its Bulawayo PG Centre branch from Donnington Industrial Area to Belmont Industrial Area.

For many years, the company has provided a wide range of products and services, which include timber, boards, doors, glass, concrete roofing tiles, bricks and pavers, hardware, plumbing and other related products.

PG is one of the largest employers in Zimbabwe with more than 600 workers. The company has branches in Harare, Bulawayo, Hwange, Gweru, Masvingo, Kwekwe, Zvishavane, Gokwe, Bindura, Kadoma, Chinhoyi and Mutare.

PG Industries boasts of brands such as PG Timbers, PG Glass, PG Steel, PG Paint and ZIMTILE. Speaking during a recent colourful official opening event in Bulawayo, group sales and operations executive, Mr Innocent Ngoshi, paid tribute to the company’s stakeholders and staff for being loyal to PG.

He chronicled how PG started in 1949 in Bulawayo as a glass company and that is where it got its name Plate Glass (PG). From glass, the company expanded into timber trading. Over the years it grew organically and through acquisitions it acquired DST, Johnson and Fletcher, Masasa Timbers and Zimboards in Mutare, which are now dormant brands.

The company also acquired 100 percent ZIMTILE shareholding in the early 2000s. The current PG brands trade under the PG Centre name.

PG Centre is the main retail unit — the one-stop shop for superior PG brands (PG Timbers, PG Glass, PG Steel, PG Paints and ZIMTILE and other high-quality brands. The company is also an agent for most internationally recognised building and construction brands.

Part of its main supplies include building products for all forms of construction, industrial, agriculture, commercial and the home. PG Timbers also specialises in the manufacturing and distribution of a wide range of timber products, specialising in the manufacturing of pre-fabricated trusses using the MiTek 2020 Software Engineered Design.

Its core business is applying timber, boards and doors into finished products, which include kitchen cupboards and BICs that are used in all forms of construction, furniture industry and home.

PG Glass is the distributor of building float glass, architectural and safety glass. This business unit focuses on providing high quality glass and boasts of specialist skills in glazing. The division also manufactures Masterglaze putty at its plant in Harare.

PG Steel profiles and distributes roofing steel sheets and ridges (chromadek and galvanised) from imported steel coils. The sheets come in different profiles mainly corrugated and IBR (Invented Box Rib) and are profiled to customer’s specific sizes and colours.

PG Sawmill is involved in the sawmilling of mainly pine timber in the Eastern Highlands Plantations. It sawmills structural timber for the construction industry and industrial timber for the furniture and packaging industry.

This timber is distributed to the PG Centre branches countrywide. This is a new business unit, which was set up in an effort to backward integrate to secure critical raw material for the manufacturing roof trusses and also supply of timber to PG Centre branches.

Zimtile is the leading manufacturer and distributor of quality concrete roof tiles, bricks and pavers and other ancillary products. The unit has been awarded various international quality accreditations such as the ISO 9001:2015 Certification, a demonstration of the organisation’s commitment to quality and the ability to satisfy customer requirements.

The maintenance of the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System continues to benefit the company through increased effectiveness, efficiency and cost reduction.

PG also exports concrete roof tiles and ridges and trusses to the region, mainly to Zambia. For the past year, PG has undertaken a lot of recapitalisation. Zimtile plants in both Harare and Bulawayo were recapitalised to increase capacity from 40 000 to 65 000 tiles per day. The company has also invested in new machinery in PG Sawmill, PG Timbers and PG Steel.

Speaking at the same occasion, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Matabeleland regional director, Dr Wellington Chinembiri, applauded the company for the decades of unwavering support to industry and the Zimbabwean populace.

“As Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, we are proud to be part of this journey with PG industries whose origins in the city of Bulawayo date back as far as 1948. PG industries began as a merchandiser of glass and timber,” he said.

“This grand occasion by PG industries has come at an opportune time following the recently launched National Development Strategy by His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa whose vision is premised towards a prosperous Upper Middle-Income Nation by 2030,” said Dr Chinembiri.

He said PG Industries have proven that they believe in the growth of Matabeleland and the growth of the nation as a whole.

“This is proven by their expansion, which is what we are witnessing here today and the 12 branches they have in the country. PG Industries has responded to the call by Bulawayo residents to rejuvenate the city’s industries and business in general in order to create the much-needed employment opportunists for the local and surrounding communities.”

Dr Chinembiri extended his gratitude to PG’s board of directors, staff and associates for remaining resilient despite Zimbabwe’s economic climate. With over 70 years of experience, PG Industries has erected trusses and tiles in commercial and residential properties in Zimbabwe and the region and these have remained standing for decades and hence their motto “Trusted for generations.”