The business was established in 2006 as primarily a distributor of Truck Accessories to its customer base. The founder of the business, Cameron Abbott, came to recognise that manufacturing the company’s own products was essential in order to provide a world-class service to its customer base, the result of this realisation was the establishment of a manufacturing facility in 2013.
The six pillars on which our business is built are:
The CACSA Vision
Our goal is to remain a leading supplier of accessories for trucks and light commercial vehicle styling products in South Africa and enter export markets in support of our business development strategy.
The CACSA Values
Our Values and beliefs consistently guide us, namely:
Value Added Service
We are in a trusted partnership with our clients. We work with our clients to provide solutions that best address their specific needs in protecting their investments. We take ownership and are accountable for our actions.
Truck Market
CACSA has established itself a leading market share in the South African truck market for truck accessories.
Our main product lines are as follows:
Light Commercial Vehicle Market
Towards the end of 2020 CACSA entered the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) styling products market. CACSA intends to grow in the Manufacturer Approved Accessory Market (OES) with all major brands sold in South Africa.
The journey has started with receiving approval from Toyota South Africa for accessory supply of the Patented Retractable Tonneau Cover with integrated Styling bar
Our main product lines are:
Our Manufacturing Capability
Commercial Auto Components SA is housed in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Westmead; Pinetown with the following processes and technologies:
Our People
Leadership:
CACSA is led by the founder, Cameron Abbott and General Manager, Richard Thompson. The skill set of the leadership team is complementary with Cameron having a wealth of market knowledge having been in the truck industry since 2003 while Richard has management, technical and business development skills accumulated since 2001 when he started working in the passenger and LCV vehicle original equipment and accessories markets.
The leadership of CACSA is committed to seeing it play a positive role in the South African economy as well as Nation Building though transformation.
Sales and Marketing:
From inception CACSA has had a strong Sales and Marketing competence. Customer service excellence and customer care are what the business was built on and as such the business has a national sales footprint with sales representation in all regions of South Africa.
CACSA sales representatives visit most customers monthly ensuring that they are satisfied with the service offered and collaborate with the dealer sales teams to maximise their value proposition for the end user.
CACSA has a Customer Care team based at the national distribution warehouse that provides the vital link between the customer, CACSA sales team, and operations. Their role ensures that order and lead-time information is communicated to all stake holders thus managing customer expectations.
Customer Services:
Customer Services is the nerve centre of the business. This division is managed by our team of trained staff who oversee all customer orientated business processes.
Customer services includes:
Parts Distribution
The central warehouse is situated in Durban from which all orders are distributed both nationally and cross border. The well-stocked finished-goods warehouse enables CACSA to meet industry leading order-to-delivery lead-times. Daily deliveries are dispatched to the end user via courier service with delivery lead-times varying slightly relative to the destination.
In some cases, deliveries will be made with our own fleet of vehicles particularly in cases where CACSA will fit the products for the customer.
Fitment Service
Mobile fitment teams that specialise in on-site fitment of our products are a value-added service offering. The fitment service can be, in some cases, part of the vehicle manufacturers supply chain or at a dealership or end user’s premises.
If a customer chooses to fit our products as part of their value-chain, we work closely with them to develop a lean inventory pull-system (Kanban) to optimise the value stream.
Engineering:
We believe that engineering is the heartbeat of the business and as such have a dedicated design engineering team who work under the Engineering Manager.
Our engineering team play a key role in the strategic plans for business growth of heavy-duty commercial trucks as well as in the light commercial vehicle market.
In-house design of both product and process, minimizes the need to outsource design and or process fabrication work. Our in-house design processes allow us to take products from concept to saleable product in record time.
Operations:
The gross profit of the business is made or lost on the factory floor. We are fortunate to have an excellent operations team who expertly manage this division and make an important contribution to the sustainability of the business through stable production, efficient direct labour cost and supply chain management ensuring we optimise headcount, raw materials supply, and inventory.
Human Resources:
The CACSA professional human resources team emulate the company values coupled with the desire to see the CACSA family flourish, this makes them a positive driving force in the business.
They uphold our values which are best summarised in these words “The responsibility of a company is to serve the customer. The responsibility of leadership is to serve their people so that their people may better serve the customer. If leaders fail to serve their people first, both customer and company will suffer.” Simon Sinek