A-Plus Automation’s pivot to e-commerce leads to stellar growth

WHEN A-Plus Automation dipped into the red in 2015, founder and managing director Rodney Ham realised something had to be done.

The company started in 2010 as a provider of materials handling systems – complex assemblages of conveyor belts and moving parts – for factories. But its bottom line suffered as the automotive industry, which was then its focus, was taking very long to recover from the 2008 global financial crisis.

In 2012, A-Plus started to move into food manufacturing, seeing this as a recession-proof industry. In 2015, prompted by the company’s losses, Ham decided to venture into even newer territory: e-commerce.