Plascon is a company with serious clout in South Africa, where it had its origins 125 years ago.
The paint brand operates through an extensive network of facilities across Southern, East and West Africa, with 15 manufacturing plants and more than 3 000 employees producing paints and coatings across decorative, automotive and industrial, which are distributed to over 20 countries on the African continent and Indian Ocean islands.
Background
It all began with humble beginnings in 1889 when a young Welshman, Herbert Evans arrived in the shanty mining town of Johannesburg with a cart, ladder, and paintbrushes and ambition matched only by his integrity.
Herbert then set up his own company, Herbert Evans & Co.
In 1910, he launched the first “ready-mixed” colour paints in South Africa. In 1915, Parthenon became the trademark of Herbert Evans & Co. and included the development of a floor polish and a revolutionary “best elastic” carriage varnish formulated to accommodate the expansion and contraction of wooden carriage wheels and underwork.
Innovation, quality and customer service became the hallmark of the company and the reason for the success of Herbert Evans & Co.
Meanwhile, during the 1940s, another young businessman named Solly Rudner was building his own company, Chrome Chemicals, the manufacturer of Plascon Paint.
Plascon quickly became a hit and recognized as an industry leading product that in 1945 created its own company, Plascon Paints and Chemical Industries.
A merger between these two leaders was inevitable and in 1970, Plascon Paints and Chemical Industries merged with Herbert Evans & Co to form Plascon Evans — a 100 million litre a year corporation, ranked amongst the top 20 paint producers in the world
For the next 30 years, Plascon became the driver of innovation and excellence in the retail, trade, industrial and furniture coatings markets in South and Southern Africa.
Kansai Acquisition
In 2012, Plascon was acquired by a Japanese based company, Kansai, for an undisclosed amount and was officially renamed to Kansai Plascon.
Kansai Plascon continues to champion the Plascon brand as it expands into Africa as the continent’s number one coatings company.
The company already has factories and brand presence in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi and Zambia.
