Degrémont South Africa, a locally based subsidiary of Suez Environnement, has carried out more than 100 projects in South Africa since 1968. Recently, a touch of French flair was added to the local contingent when Remy Jaffray joined the South African team as general manager.

Jaffray, who was born and bred in France and educated at the Ecole Centrale de Marseille, has been in the water industry since 2004, having worked for – among others – Veolia Water and Nalco, before joining Degrémont, primarily in wastewater treatment. His appointment as GM to the South African subsidiary of Degrémont is also not his first visit to Africa – he was based in Morocco for a number of years, during which his focus was on drinking water and desalination.

Jaffray is very excited to be part of the South African Degrémont team. “I think it’s a great company. There are many people who have been working for Degrémont for 30 or 40 years –it’s a good indicator of a stable working environment and the continuity in experience is very important,” says Jaffray, although he adds that it is also good to have a young dynamic individualslike him at the helm as this creates an opportunity for not only innovation, but rather innovation and dynamism, tempered by the experience already present in the company.

Degrémont itself has a global vision, being a pure French company, says Jaffray, and he sees his role as primarily creating a link between Degrémont’s head office and Degrémont South Africa because the culture is so different between the two. “If we want todeliver and deliver well, we need to utilise the many experts and experienceavailable to Degrémont on an international scale. If the solid link is not thereand we don’t know who to contact, then how do we create excellence?”

While he admits that South Africa is a very small subsidiary, he believes the local division is up to any size job, big or small.“We have a massive collection of experience and expertise available to us through Degrémont as a whole and at head office. I need to find a good way to work with them to support our local initiatives,” says Jaffray.

His first mission locally therefore is to develop all Degrémont’s South Africa-based activities. “Until nowwe have really only provided a small portion of what we can, such as spare parts. We can provide much more, for example turnkey plants, equipment, drinking water production plants, desalination options, wastewater reuse and biosolids,” explains Jaffray. This necessitates a global perspective in the local office.

Although at the time of the interview, Jaffray had only been in the country for one month, he has already been able to note that the civil construction culture locally is very different from the European one. “In South Africa the consultants are very important. In my country it is much more the client who is important. Therefore here we have a lot more work to do to contact the consultant, explain to them how we can assist them in the design process and how we can further assist in adding value on the project,” continues Jaffray.

According to Jaffray, consultants aren’t always aware of all the technologies that are available to them, and for him it is not merely about market penetration, but rather about educating the market to the technologies available to them. “We also bring a lot of experience to the table.”

Degrémont is different as a company, believes Jaffray.“If we are going to build a wastewater plant for example, we don’t only have the classical plant in our repertoire. We have a very wide research and development department. And we spend a lot of money on how to improve the process, because we don’t want to do what has already been done in the past.”

Additionally, he believes when it comes to water reuse and sludge treatment, Degrémont cannot be beaten. “We are a world leader in this technology. If you consider the water reuse aspect, Degrémont was the first company that entered into water reuse using membrane technology. In this regard, we have spent a lot of money and time into perfecting the use of membrane technology in water reuse, with more than 10 years’ experience in this. By now we know how to manage a number of challenges in this regard too – and we can avoid the mishaps.”

“That is the major difference between Degrémont and its competitors – we have the experience and know-how to assist the consultant,” concludes Jaffray.