What we do

CFAM Technologies (Pty) Ltd. design, manufacture, install and commission food and feed extrusion plants and related equipment. We established ourselves as a leader in twin-screw extrusion and related technologies.

CFAM has become a market leader with a proven record of building quality and reliable processing plants that can handle the operating conditions and challenges usually experienced in Africa and developing countries.  This is backed by an excellent team.  Our extrusion plants have earned the reputation: “Built in Africa for Africa!”.

CFAM is a well-established company with 22 years of experience in building food & feed processing equipment.

Our Research and Development Centre is equipped with state-of-the-art extruders and related equipment to assist in our clients’ specific development needs related to new product development and new applications of extrusion.  We assist our clients every step of the way, from product idea to formulation, extrusion trials, sample production, sensory evaluation through to financial feasibilities and business plan development.  Our focus is to assist companies to process safe, affordable, nutritional foods and feeds from locally produced agricultural products.

Our engineering team design, manufacture, install and commission the extrusion plants to reproduce the same extruded products as developed in the R&D Centre.  We successfully supplied our clients with advanced and sophisticated extrusion plants in South Africa, Africa as well as the UK, North America, Asia and Europe.

CFAM provides 24-hour maintenance and support to ensure that our clients’ plants continue to operate in a reliable manner. Maintenance schedules and training videos on how to properly maintain the plant are hosted on the plant automation system. All spare parts are in stock for quick delivering when needed.

To assist our clients to become more competitive CFAM also offers training on application of extrusion, management operation and maintenance of extrusion plants as well as dedicated training to plants operators and maintenance staff.

We started to develop our own twin-screw extruder for Africa and the developing world in 1998 at the School for Mechanical Engineering at the North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom, South Africa.  The NWU established CFAM Technologies (Pty) Ltd as a spin-off company in 2007 with the objective to commercialise the new extrusion related developments.  The twin-screw extruders are used in the food industry to produce instant porridges, breakfast cereals, snacks, and plant protein products such as meat analogues and affordable protein meals.  For feeds the extruders are used to produce pet foods, aqua feeds, animal feeds, waste beneficiation as well as other niche applications.

Brand promise

  • Quality
    We do not compromise on the quality of our extruders
  • Integrity
    We conduct our business with integrity, adhere to our ethical values and pride ourselves in being a responsible company
  • Reliable
    Our extruders have earned its reputation as being a reliable extruder built to last
  • Excellent Team
    We take pride in having a winning team that live up to our brand promise
OUR VISION

As the leading manufacturer of twin-screw food extruders in Africa, our vision is to become the supplier of choice for extruders in Africa and the developing world.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to supply reliable extruders of highest quality to Africa and the world backed by an excellent team with values.

Corporate social responsibility

Production of safe, affordable, nutritional foods made from locally produced agricultural products.

CFAM finds itself in the middle of the never-ending global challenge of food security. Therefore, we also focus the bulk of our social responsibility efforts on this area.

In 2019 Mozambique was hit by extreme floods which left thousands of people without food or shelter. CFAM, together with other industry partners, provided 200 000 meals to those in need.

During the Covid-19 crisis, CFAM was able to produce over 1 million meals, which were distributed to families in need. These meals were fortified with extra nutrients and immune boosters.

These are just examples of how CFAM stays involved in the community by actively addressing food security issues.

Our Story

Timeline

1998

It started with an idea

  • Start to develop Africa’s first localised twin-screw extruder as part of master’s degree project with the aim to extrude a precooked bean

2000

First prototype built

  • The first twin-screw extruder was designed and built in the mechanical engineering workshop on the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University. This extruder was rented for more than three years to multi-national company and provided invaluable information to improve the design

2003

First extruder sold

  • The first twin-screw extruder was sold to produce instant porridge as part of a community food support programme

2007

CFAM Technologies Pty Ltd established

  • This was the beginning of a new era. CFAM Technologies was officially established and employed 6 people

2008

Polymer extruder developed

  • Our first polymer extruder was developed to extrude polymers and plastics. These extruders are used to produce engineering plastics, powder paint, master batch and other polymers

2009

TX-Series extruders launched

  • Everything learnt over the past ten years was used to design and build CFAM’s new TX series twin-screw extruders. The New TX80 extruder distinguished itself as a market leader and earned a reputation of Built in Africa for Africa

2015

First turnkey plant developed

  • To meet the need of CFAM’s clients CFAM expanded its offering to provide complete extrusion plants, including the pre- and post-processing equipment. CFAM’s first turn-key extrusion plant was installed in this year

2016

  • Moved to new facilities
  • Until 2016 CFAM was located on the NWU campus. However, since the team outgrew the current facility, CFAM moved to a larger facility on the outskirts of Potchefstroom

2017

First TX120 produced

  • The first TX120 twin screw extruder was designed and built for client without first building a testing prototype. This extruder has production capacity of 4500 kg/h

2018

  • Manufacturing space expanded
  • To expand the manufacturing capacity of CFAM a new 1440 m2 building was built. The total floor area of CFAM was expanded to 2400 m2

2019

Expanded R&D Centre

  • Having a dedicated R&D centre to focus on product development is key to CFAM’s service delivery. A second, larger R&D laboratory of 750 m2 was built to provide our clients a greater R&D experience

2020

  • Raw materials building
  • A new raw material building of 500 m2 was built to house the raw materials used in the R&D Extrusion centre. This building was equipped with grain cleaning equipment, storage silos, milling and mixing equipment
    .

2021

New assembly hall

  • New assembly hall of 2760 m2 was built to enable CFAM to pre-install, pre-commission and pre-test its plants before shipping them out to remote locations in the world. This minimizes rework and saves time on installation at remote installation sites. This expanded the total floor area of CFAM to 6500 m2

2022

  • Expanded site
  • CFAM’s site was expanded to make space for dam, parking areas and paths for better access

Our Footprint

Training

ExtruAfrica is an initiative providing extensive training in the extrusion industry. It consists of a number of extrusion related courses and workshops throughout the year. ExtruAfrica is one of its kind in Africa and provides a unique opportunity for quality technical training partnered with hands-on experience.
Our courses