Orion Organisation, based at Atlantis in the Western Cape, is a NPO dedicated to caring and providing for the needs of people living with disabilities. Kaytech’s factory is also in Atlantis, so when the need arose it was an easy decision to support Orion and get them to package Flashpacks® for the DIY market.
Careways, a NPO reaching out to intellectually impaired adults is situated close to the Kaytech Head Office in Pinetown. This has led to a partnership between the two organisations with Careways making up sample cards to showcase the various Kaytech products.
Such partnerships are of mutual benefit to both parties but most importantly provide the individuals in the work groups with a sense of purpose.
Learnership Programmes
Kaytech runs various Learnership Programmes focusing on core skills that relate to fields of work within the company. Managed by Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), these Learnerships culminate in a NQF registered qualification. First rolled out for employees in 2010 the Learnership Programs now also cater for unemployed learners, with the intention of not only boosting their skills and education but also strengthening Kaytech’s employment pool.
Scholarships
The Kaytech Empowerment Trust (KET) was established in 2012 with the objective of providing financial assistance to Learner Beneficiaries and charitable organisations. It is through this channel that Kaytech has supported numerous students and scholars, focusing primarily on scarce and critical skills within the civil engineering industry.
Specialised transport consultancy skills are made available to Kaytech’s black owned QSE/EME transporters. The benefits reaped by both the transporters and Kaytech make it a win-win arrangement. Aaron Ngcobo was employed by Kaytech for 17 years and on retirement set up a transport business, Mafuze Transport. By satisfying Kaytech’s and other clients’ needs the business is growing day by day.
Professional Development
Accredited CPD courses in geosynthetics are provided, free of charge, to universities, engineering consultants as well as contractors, in particular emerging contractors. Kaytech also provides extensive on-the-job training by qualified technical staff and engineers.
Employee Training & Development
Kaytech believes strongly in the empowerment and upliftment of their employees. Internal promotion and succession planning are key elements in their approach, with training and development performing a pivotal role.
More than 76.5m recycled polyester (PET) cold drink bottles are used annually for the manufacture of bidim®. These cut PET bottles are converted directly into continuous filament which is laid down and needlepunched to produce bidim®. This not only helps reduces the amount of waste going to landfill; it creates a significant number of income generating opportunities for the people involved with bottle collection.
A member of Petco since 2009, Kaytech was the proud recipient of the Recycling Innovator of the Year Award in 2018.
In our continued efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, energy consumption of the various processes at the Kaytech factory was assessed. In order to reduce this consumption we had to look at alternative energy solutions to supplement the ESKOM power supply.
As a result a 613 kilowatt solar array has been installed that supplements 7% of the factory’s power needs. The system is grid tied so energy is not stored which means the factory is still reliant on the grid supply of electricity.
