Light Edge Technology, a Cape PC assembler and PC/server/peripherals distributor, plans to open a second assembly plant in Midrand in September.
The company, which started out as a peripherals and components distributor, incorporated Emerald PC assembly from another company three years ago. Headed by Light Edge`s technical director, Bobby Richter, this company had been supplying the University of Cape Town for some years.
As far as its IT involvement goes, Light Edge now mainly concentrates on distribution and assembly. It also imports motherboards, sub-distributes hard drives among other equipment, is a Microsoft original equipment manufacturer partner and an Intel premier provider.
The company`s corporate clients include Rex Trueform.
"We mainly focus on the channel," says Richter. "If it is a large corporate, and they have a value-added reseller [VAR], he will be invited to the introduction. But we find that with selling a local brand into corporates, there has to be direct contact. Also, lots of VARs build their own PCs, and would not want to push our brand. And bulk orders may be difficult for a VAR to fulfil."
The Cape plant puts out 500 to 600 PCs per month, and is already operating at over-capacity, so Johannesburg was seen as a way to manage spillover production. Johannesburg has 3 500 square metres of production floor space, and will be a replication of the Cape plant.
The company keeps R4 million worth of peripheral stock in Johannesburg, to bolster the business until PC demand hits home in Gauteng. Light Edge employs 120 people throughout the country and turns over R100 million in sales per annum.
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