PHOTO: Wouter de Lange and operator Leon Mbali of Bagman with one of the company’s compounding extruder lines. Bagman was originally set up as a bag manufacturing business, then became more involved in recycling and has now transitioned further into the compounding area

CHANGING when the need arises is a reality for just about every business, no matter how big or small, and the process brings obvious challenges with it.  On the other hand, NOT being able to change can be even more dangerous.

But change is not something Wouter de Lange of Bagman of East London struggles with. The company was originally involved in bag making, as its name suggests (actually Wildbreak t/a Bagman), then got involved in recycling and has more recently, quite seamlessly, added material compounding to its service range.

With recyclers around the country becoming increasingly involved in ‘tailoring’ materials they supply on, due to customer demand, it was almost inevitable that Wilsonia-based Bagman would move into what is effectively compounding too – and with Wouter there are no half-measures. He trusts in his faith and is fully committed to the task at hand.

With capacity being stretched, Bagman needed an additional extruder but the banks would hear nothing of Wouter’s pleas, so he simply committed and purchased a new line in the last quarter of 2016, to replace a smaller line, dedicated it to the company’s new compounding business and – just months later – the new line is running at 100% capacity and already amortized.

Bagman now needs to add a third extruding line for compounding.

At this stage Bagman is processing 34 grades of material and is a serious hive of activity. But it’s no problem for Wouter, wife and ‘CFO’ Natasja, supervisor Lennox Ulana and the Bagman team.

“Only the client tells me what to do,” says Wouter.