Transpec was established in 1985 when Mr Ralph Alford, then Managing Director of TFM Pinetown, acquired full control of the company and re-named it Transpec.

Over the years the company built strong relationships with local Truck OEM’s, Commercial Vehicle Dealers and end users. As the business grew, the available facility at 17 Alexander Road proved to be too small to accommodate the growth and thus in 1986 an additional factory was built in Mahogany Ridge. Located 2km away from the main site, the new facility provided the much needed production area, but presented new logistical and financial problems in the form of staffing and duplicated costs.

The 1990’s were relatively stagnant as the country came to grips with its new dispensation, and the 1998 Automotive Strike almost proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. In 1999 Ralph Alford appointed three new directors, Fernando Goncalves as the Managing Member, Clint Alford heading up Procurement and Rowan Alford to control Finance and Administration. Buoyed by increased export orders into Africa (Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi etc) on the back of the weak rand, the business enjoyed good growth over the next few years.

At the beginning of 2003, a decision was made to take the business to the next level and obtain a suitable site on which to erect a first class facility, which would provide us with the ability to combine our split operation and still have room for future expansion. Through some tough negotiating, Transpec secured the old 28 000m² Motorvia car park located at 1 Alexander Road, Westmead and it was all go. Ithala Finance Corporation came on board and assisted in structuring an affordable solution to the finance, and construction of the new factory buildings began on the new site in August 2003, to be ready for occupation in January 2004. A lot of sacrifices were made by the team to achieve this near impossible task, but at 6 pm on the 31st of December, the last load of equipment was moved into the new premises.

The decision to move could not have been made at a better time, as the commercial vehicle market started a rampant growth phase and with it, the demands on Transpec’s commercial vehicle building services soared. Fortunately the increased local demand for vehicles offset the falling exports and the business continued to grow.

By August of 2004 construction began on additions to the factory area and more production area was added. By July 2005, production area again became a priority as commercial vehicle sales continued to grow, and it was decided to construct a dedicated trailer manufacturing facility. Construction began in December 2005 and occupation took place on the 15th of April 2006. The end result of this market driven expansion programme has been a first class commercial vehicle body and trailer building manufacturing facility.

In 2008 we once again expanded the operation and added a further dedicated body shop.

Offices and staff facilities were expanded and modernised in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Key points related to our history:

• Family owned and managed.
• Continued expansion of our product offering.
• Positive business growth between 2004 and 2010 of around 25% per annum.
• Increasing our capacity allowed for better turnaround time.