Tanelec Managing Director, Zahir Saleh said in a recent report that the heavy investment will create employment opportunities covering a variety of skills from technicians to graduate engineers as well as providing business opportunities for local suppliers and service providers.
“Tanelec does complete manufacturing of transformers in Arusha, it is not just assembling of components that we buy but also convert our raw materials into the finished products. We also have the capability to engineer all our products in-house,” Saleh said.
He said currently, Tanelec’s transformers and switchgears are supplied to Tanesco and to private sector customers in Tanzania but also exports to Burundi, DR Congo Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
The Tanelec MD said despite being a unique company in the domestic market, his management is constantly improving products and services through innovation. “We need to strive for continuous improvement because our competitors are all trying to be better at what they do with regards to quality, pricing and reducing order to delivery lead times,” he added.
In the East Africa Region where less than 50 percent of the population has access to electricity with rural areas being worse off at less than 10 percent compared to around 95 to 100 percent in developed countries, the market for electrical equipment is readily available.
“Our East Africa governments and utilities are working hard to improve these statistics within the financing constraints that often prevail. We must do our best to be the preferred supplier of products with the ever increasing competition we see as more and more people recognize Africa as having the most future potential compared with any other continent,” Saleh noted.
Tanelec’s list of products include: distribution transformers at all ratings up to 5,000 KVA and 36 Kilo Volts, Low and medium voltage switchgear, and it has as service and repair division. The company also has the capability to repair products made by other manufacturers with the possibility of repairing transformers for a maximum of 50 percent of the cost of buying a new unit.
Tanelec’s Business Development Manager, Michael Kariithi backed his CEO by saying that more and more customers are recognizing the benefits of servicing their Tanelec products rather than waiting for a failure to occur.
“Through regular servicing carried out by our specialist team, the life expectancy of these products can be significantly extended,” Kariithi said noting that as the largest manufacturers of transformers in East and Central Africa Region, Tanelec transformers represent around 75% of turnover.
The company has been producing transformers at their plant in Arusha since 1981 with an ISO 9001:2015 international quality accreditation and ISO 14001:2015 environmental standard accreditation.
