Behind the Scenes With Alu-Cab

This summer, I visited Alu-Cab’s headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa. What struck me the most about the experience was the sheer size of the operation. Whisked from facility to facility, building to building, and introduced to the multi-step manufacturing process that lies behind each Alu-Cab product, I realized just how large the company is. In hindsight, it makes sense. From North America to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, Alu-Cab products are found all over the world.

Now 24 years old, the company employs 620 people in research, design, sales and marketing, production, quality assurance, and fitment of each product. From its awnings to canopies, campers, rooftop tents, roof conversions, and accessories, Alu-Cab is not only well-known, but a leader in the overland industry.

Eager to know more, I reached out to Alu-Cab Marketing Manager Kate Mainstone about the brand’s history, specifics about the manufacturing process, and the challenges faced by the company along the way. Most of all, I was curious about any exciting products that are in the works for 2024—read on to learn more.

What is Alu-Cab’s origin story?

Jeremy Bergh founded Alu-Cab in 2000, starting the venture in his garage. At that time, Jeremy was a plumber on the road with a deep passion for adventure. His quest for a more accessible canopy/cap/topper/hardtop, allowing side access without the need to crawl into the load bay, led to the creation of the first aluminum canopy of its kind in South Africa. This innovative design set the stage for Alu-Cab’s journey.

In 2000, when Alu-Cab Cape Town opened its doors, and our journey began, our own African travel experiences taught us that space and weight were the two greatest challenges facing any overland traveler. To address this, we developed the first ever aluminum canopy—specifically engineered for adventure travelers.

In the early days, Alu-Cab eagerly embraced a variety of custom vehicle-based projects. Drawing from the experiences in the custom space, the company evolved and streamlined its operations. Learning from these diverse projects, Alu-Cab transitioned into manufacturing repetitive products, utilizing its accumulated knowledge to supply high-quality offerings to the global market. This journey from a garage-based idea to a specialized manufacturer reflects the pioneering spirit and adaptability that defines Alu-Cab.

What makes Alu-Cab unique in terms of materials and design?

We firmly believe in the uniqueness of our design and innovative approach. In an industry where new designs, especially successful ones, are quick to be replicated, our commitment to originality sets us apart. Many of our designs were first to market, innovative, and provided the basic blueprint of how almost all products globally are now designed and built. We choose to lead with creativity and trailblazing ideas, ensuring that our offerings stand out in an ever-evolving industry landscape.

Take me through Alu-Cab’s manufacturing process.

Alu-Cab follows a conventional organizational structure commonly seen in manufacturing companies, with distinct departments.

Research and Design: Where all the great ideas from the directors, customers, and staff come to life at the hands of our experienced and creative team of engineers, designers, draftsmen, and prototype builders.

Sales and Marketing: The start and end point of market research, sales strategy, communications, and B2B [business-to-business] and B2C [business-to-customer] product marketing.

Procurement: Once a product is given the thumbs up, our experienced procurement team looks to source the most innovative, sustainable, and beneficial components, materials, and products to ensure the highest quality goes into each product.

Production: Making thousands of products by hand is no easy task. Our committed team of managers, artisans, craftsmen, and passionate Alu-Cab team members take pride in building, assembling, sealing, checking, finely adjusting, and checking every product that gets our name on it. Our canvas, for example, is sourced from a bespoke supplier, who supplies a coating unique to Alu-Cab products and not found anywhere else. Our aluminum is laser-cut to our exacting specifications by companies solely focused on our supply chain. Every powdercoated part is done in-house to ensure accuracy and consistency of coating, shade, and long-lasting benefit of the Alu-Cab product.

Quality Assurance: Making sure each Alu-Cab product meets the quality expectations of the discerning outdoor customer falls to a team of over 100 quality controllers (QC) who inspect each incoming component at every step of its journey. But, it’s not just the QC team who care about quality, it is ingrained into each staff member, and where an issue is found, a remedy is made.

Boxing and Logistics Management: With a QC sign-off, each Alu-Cab product is carefully boxed (yes, we box all of our products) and stored in our vast warehouse to await shipment all over the world. Our warehouse team of parts pickers, finished goods movers, and container loaders all ensure every Alu-Cab product is 100 percent to spec. Our fleet of vehicles coordinates the intra-factory transport of goods, like ants in a very busy anthill.

Fitment Centre and Fleet Management: Our fitment center operates as a direct-to-consumer insight into product compatibility, fitment issues, technical improvements, and customer feedback. As an ex-works manufacturer, without this client-facing feedback available to us, it would put us at a disadvantage in understanding our global customers. Our vehicle fleet is now 15 strong, with virtually every product we sell attached to one of the vehicles, which gets tested, adapted, and improved upon regularly.

Supporting all of this is a dynamic management team led by our three directors, an executive group of senior managers, senior division managers, and the array of finance, HR, administration, and support staff that steers paperwork in the requisite directions.

The company has grown a lot in the past few years. What are some challenges you’ve had to overcome along the way?

Due to our rapid growth over the last five years, we have ended up being quite fragmented in our manufacturing spaces because we’ve been forced to take whatever properties came up in the area. We have just consolidated 5 of our 15 factories, and around mid to the third quarter of 2024, we will have the rest consolidated into another single building. So we’d have to go down from 15 facilities to 2 facilities, which we believe would be key to unlocking efficiencies and to be able to work more coherently.

Many of our team members come from diverse backgrounds without formal qualifications. At Alu-Cab, we believe in providing opportunities for everyone to succeed. We invest in the growth and development of our staff through an active training program.

The essence of our company revolves around an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement in every aspect of our operations. This pursuit of excellence is a perpetual challenge, driving us to consistently elevate our performance. At the core of our mission is the constant endeavor to surpass customer expectations, ensuring that each interaction and every product reflects our dedication to delivering the very best. In this journey of perpetual betterment, meeting and exceeding the expectations of our valued customers remains our steadfast goal.

What are Alu-Cab’s most popular products?

The popularity of our products varies significantly depending on the geographical location of sales, as climate and culture play substantial roles in shaping preferences. Affordability is another determining factor in product popularity.

In this context, our Alu-Cab canopy stands out as the most sought-after product. Its widespread appeal as the backbone of all accessorizing options, as well as an investment into the value of a vehicle, is a testament to its versatile design and functionality, making it a favored choice across different regions and markets.

Are there any new and exciting products in the works that you can tell me about?

Given the current competitive landscape, anticipate numerous updates by staying connected with our social media channels throughout the upcoming year. What we can share that is extremely exciting are our newly released full-size canopies and prototype Grenadier roof conversion—more information can be found on our website, alu-cab.com.

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