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About us
The success of the initial system, coupled with the demands of the automotive market encouraged the MD of Barpro, Peter Spears, to investigate other applications where the concept of mobile racking could be used. The cold storage industry was identified and in 1969 a Storax system was installed at Christiaan Salvesen’s Pinewood Studios cold store. Thereafter, Storax mobile racking slowly became popular in both British and European cold stores as well as in normal ambient warehousing where there was no more space to build additional storage capacity. In 1990, Gert Wolfson, a Cape Town ice cream manufacturer, World War 2 bomber pilot and entrepreneur, came across Storax mobiles at a cold storage convention in the US and saw the potential for them in South African cold stores. He became an agent for Storax and, together with Peter Spears, marketed the product in South Africa with the first Storax system being installed at Lusitania’s Hermanus cold store in early 1991. This was followed by a system at Commercial Cold Storage’s Duncan Dock cold store in 1993 and by 1996 there were 34 Storax systems in operation throughout the country. In the same year, Gert Wolfson decided to retire, and it was decided to start a local company called Barpro Storage SA (Pty) Ltd. Barpro Storage SA began trading in September of that year as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Barpro Group. Its offices were on the first floor of Gert Wolfson’s building in Shropshire Street, Paarden Eiland, with the first employees being James Cunningham, who had cold store experience, and Abdullah Khan, who had previously worked for Gert Wolfson.
The business environment in South Africa was negative in the period 1996 to 2000 and it was only after the economy started to grow again from 2001 that business improved for Barpro Storage SA. The number and size of South Africa’s cold stores increased, due mainly to changing tastes among the emerging middle class and the large scale electrification undertaken by ESKOM. Frozen foods became increasingly popular with chicken becoming a leading source of protein. As of 2010, Barpro Storage SA has completed projects for many food processing and cold storage companies in Southern Africa including some situated in Mauritius and Namibia. As industrial land becomes scarce and building costs go up, Storax systems are also being installed in normal ambient warehouses. Applications include motor car storage, pharmaceuticals, flavourings and the storage of paper products. Barpro Storage SA is based at 3 Warbler Close in Montague Gardens, Cape Town.
We wish to create a work environment which is safe, open, honest and trustworthy. It should nurture learning and growth and inspire excellence in all that we do. Our performance is assessed and managed, with the aim of continuous improvement. We aim to develop productive relationships with both existing and potential customers so as to fully understand their needs and to effectively communicate the benefits of using Barpro Storage. We aim to maintain and improve relations with our suppliers.
"I am very impressed with your service so far. The people that you have sent know exactly what they are doing, they are pleasant and professional. Thank you." "I am over the moon with the mobile racking", he says. "It is easy to use, I have sufficient additional capacity and can access any pallet quickly by moving the mobiles." "Stock control has greatly improved," he continues. "I have labelled the pallet slots and all stock must be put away as nothing can be left in the open aisle." I have also been able to consolidate all my stock in one place." Previously I was using 3 offsite warehouses" "Barpro Storage provides excellent service levels" "Storax Mobiles are a reliable; good quality system" "We enjoy receiving the monthly Barpro Newsletter" "Barpro staff are always willing to help" "It is expensive but worth it" "The technical team has a good understanding of the system" "The drivers are using the remotes and they work well. They save time because the drivers do not need to get out of their reach trucks to move the mobiles manually" "Our colleagues at Barpro SA are doing a great job in supporting STORAX within the region. The high quality of the mobile rack system fits well with Barpro SA's dedicated customer care. The winners are the STORAX clients, who have efficient, reliable storage systems and low operational costs" "Store manager, Steven Shrewsbury was present at the handover and commented that the mobile racking system was "simple yet efficient to operate" and added "loads of racking space"." "Successful Operator and Supervisor courses have been held country wide and the attendees have had many positive comments: "The course was very informative which gave more insight to the entire operation"." "Thank you for doing such a professional and painless job" "When asked how the staff are coping with the new system, Andrew Cousins mentioned that there was initial concern that it would be a "complex system', but that all staff are operating the system as if they've been using it for years" "Mobile racking is the way to go. Regarding preventative maintenance, Bernard said that he'd prefer to have 20 minutes of downtime for a service, than a couple of days downtime due to major repairs" "Emaco T545 is a very good, easy to use product. We used Emaco T545 in our butchery for an area about 30m2. The temperature in the room is between 8-10deg C. Emaco T545 is very easy to apply and highly recommended as a floor repair product" |
 Contact us Tel: (021) 552 9190 Fax: (021) 552 9170 Email: barpro@iafrica.com Should you have any enquiries, please click here to fill out our enquiry form. |
In 1968 the first Storax system was installed in the raw materials store of an engineering company called Barpro, latterly known as the Barpro Group, situated in Bromsgrove near Birmingham in the UK. The initial system was designed to save space and to allow immediate access to each type of raw material stock. As a supplier to the automotive industry, Barpro held a significant amount of rod and bar stock which was difficult to store efficiently.
In 2000 the Barpro Group’s mobile racking business was sold to the Portuguese company, F Ramada and became known as Storax Racking Systems. F Ramada is a diversified engineering company whose products include pallet racking and mobile bases. As F Ramada did not want to buy Barpro Storage SA, it remained part of the Barpro Group until a management buyout in 2001. Barpro Storage SA then concluded a marketing agreement with Storax Racking Systems and became it’s agent for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean islands.
