"We never turn down a job" - Interview

1. What is your professional background and why did you choose "Dry Ice Solutions"?

My professional background is in sales and marketing management. I have been working in sales for 19 years. I trained as a chef and later obtained my B-Com in sales and marketing. I have been working in the dry ice industry since late 2011 and have developed a real passion for this business. Despite my success as a sales representative for a dry ice company here in South Africa, after five years in sales I decided to become the owner and director of my own dry ice company and founded Dry Ice Solutions South Africa.

2. Who are your main customers and how do you help them with dry ice blasting?

We focus intensively on four sectors where daily dry ice cleaning is required and where we have also achieved great success with our dry ice cleaning services.
The automotive industry; this sector accounts for up to 40% of our total monthly turnover in the dry ice cleaning sector.
Printing companies; printing companies are characterised by high volumes, meaning they used to face a challenging, regular cleaning regime every month. However, we have developed a solution whereby we only clean in this sector once a quarter. This is one of my personal favourite sectors.
Food industry; in the food industry, we have seen a huge increase in the demand for dry ice cleaning. With over 60 hours of cleaning per month, it is no surprise that this sector accounts for up to 35% of our total monthly turnover in the dry ice blasting sector.
Plastics industry; The plastics industry is more interested in the equipment than in the cleaning service itself. That’s absolutely fine with us, as we now offer a wide range of ASCO dry ice blasting machines, making us a total solutions provider in the field of dry ice cleaning.

3. What was the most difficult dry ice blasting job? How did you overcome the challenge?

It’s really hard to single out one particular job. Every job has its own challenges. We never turn down a job. There have been times when the team and I have been blasting for up to 17 hours. But there are also challenging sites where an object needs to be cleaned. Not all jobs are the same, but we overcome every task with good teamwork and business ethics.

4. Dry Ice Solutions is a new partner for ASCO Dry Ice Blasting Technology. What was the deciding factor in this decision?

It really was a simple decision! As a company, we strive to be the best in every area of our business. To achieve this, you have to work with the best and have the best equipment at your disposal. With over 17 years’ experience in dry ice cleaning, we only want to work with the best dry ice blasting machines. We had the privilege of working with the ASCOJET 1701 on a huge project for one of the largest car manufacturers here in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). We were impressed by its performance, and I said to our operations manager: “This is a machine and a company I could work with every day”. That’s why we wanted to work with ASCO and become a partner.