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Tanaka Makuwaza Property Reporter
Brick and tile manufacturer, Beta Holdings has come under heavy scrutiny after it failed to deliver products to customers for periods that at times span over six months.

This comes as some customers complained that they bought tiles at Beta Holdings six months ago and to date the company is yet to make deliveries.

Responding to emailed questions, head of marketing and communications at Beta Holdings Cynthia Chizwina said factors like fuel shortages are contributing to such delays.

“Our policy is to communicate with all our customers prior to, during and post-delivery. Delivery lead times are communicated to our customers at point of purchase and we notify every customer by telephone prior to dispatching orders. Our delivery lead times are a function of the nature of the product being ordered. Some products are custom made and require a period of time to manufacture,” she said.

Ms Chizwina said weather conditions contribute to the delivery lead times of their products giving special emphasis on rains saying that they affect the production process as some areas are rendered inaccessible by rains.

“Rains affect the production process and some areas are rendered inaccessible by the rains so that we are unable to deliver to customers until such a time as the roads have cleared which results in delivery delays”

She added: “Where product demand is high our lead times increase.”

However, Ms Chizwina pointed out several measures which the company has already implemented so as to counter the problems they have been facing.

“The company has embarked on several projects which will result in increased capacity and increased efficiencies.

“To this end, in the last year the Group has increased its fleet of delivery trucks from 8 to 14, and invested in state of the art plant and equipment which is now in operation. We continue to look at ways in which we can innovate and bring more efficiencies to improve our customer experience while continuing to provide world class quality infrastructural inputs to the market.”