15 September 2021 saw Bosch Rexroth South Africa host its annual Africa Sales Meeting (ASM) virtually. The maiden virtual ASM brought sales personnel from Bosch Rexroth Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia together to plot the way for a successful 2022. The virtual platform hosted 213 Bosch Rexroth delegates from these countries, comprising sales managers, sales engineers, external & internal sales personnel, and senior repairs, service, installations, systems and production personnel.

The annual ASM is an opportunity for the Bosch Rexroth Africa sales force to network with one another and provide business units with opportunities to formulate action plans to achieve sales targets. This year’s theme was ‘Walk the Talk’ – a philosophy in which the Bosch Rexroth Group firmly believes and has proved they do well, as is seen from recent developments since 2019.

“Reflecting on the previous two years and the challenges they brought, it is encouraging to have experienced and seen the great strides we have made by working together to change the company and ourselves,” says Bosch Rexroth Regional President Africa and CEO of the Bosch Rexroth South Africa Group of Companies, Tillmann Olsen. “From a rather traditional, presence- and paper-based organisation, we have steadily moved towards a flexible, digital company with an open mindset and good collaboration,” he says. “These changes are really motivational.”

Olsen adds that personnel have been ‘walking the talk’ for some time already, which is seen by all branches enacting the Group’s slogan – ‘Move now, drive tomorrow, shape Africa’. “This is not something we invented because it sounds great,” he emphasises. “We live it and it is extremely rewarding. This is another example of where we ‘walk the talk’ – the collaboration between Group Companies has never been better, and it is more successful and fun working together.”

Looking to the remainder of the year and into 2022, the aim of the ASM was to motivate all sales personnel to finish 2021 on a high note, and to continually push for additional 2022 sales. To facilitate this collaboration, Olsen presented the Bosch Rexroth worldwide and Bosch Rexroth Africa results for the previous year. Other presentations included a Business Intelligence Dashboard Overview, Group Training, Proximity to Customers, and the Africa Distribution Footprint. Breakout sessions covered Hose Containers/Site Workshops, IoT Connected Mines, and included presentations by Hytec Fluid Technology (HFT) and Tectra Automation.

“The spirit of all our staff really is making the difference,” Olsen says. “We don’t let ourselves, and especially our customers, down, but rise to the occasion instead. A special thanks goes out to our sales teams that keep on pushing without getting deterred by circumstances. This is a fantastic achievement and management has a lot of respect for this kind of performance.”

“The way all of us tackled COVID-19 is exemplary,” Olsen says. “Everyone understood the challenge of keeping one another safe while focusing on our customers and delivering products and services without fail. This wasn’t done by applying pressure and control. By aligning ourselves with each other and taking respective responsibility for our roles, we met each challenge head-on. This is both a huge individual and collective achievement.”

All work and no play would make for a rather intense day, and late afternoon entertainment by renowned mentalist and magician Larry Soffer kept delegates enthralled for the last hour of the virtual meeting.

In conclusion, Gillian Allin, Group Marketing Manager added: “It was an exceptional experience having ASM 2021 online. The digital journey was fast forwarded and the virtual interaction was brilliant.”

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Compiled by: CubicICE

About Bosch Rexroth South Africa Group of Companies
The Bosch Rexroth South Africa Group of Companies (previously the Hytec Group) is Africa’s largest fluid power and automation company. It comprises eight specialist companies: Bosch Rexroth South Africa (previously Hytec Holdings), Hytec South Africa, Tectra Automation, Hytec Fluid Technology, Hydraulic and Automation Warehouse, Hytec Engineering, Hytec Services Africa and HYSA, which collectively source, market and distribute over 30 international hydraulic, pneumatic and automation brands. The Group employs approximately 900 people through a network of 40 sales and service branches across sub-Saharan Africa.