CISH — China Industrial Service Hub — is a Johannesburg-based industrial engineering and delivery company. We design, source, build, install, and maintain production lines for manufacturers across Africa, with one commercial and technical accountability structure from supplier selection to field support.
Cheap on paper. Expensive in reality. Language, specification, contract risk, freight, customs, and after-sales all sit with you. You discover the gaps after the deposit is paid.
Smooth on the front end. Hollow on the back end. The agent's incentive is the deal, not the running line. When something breaks, they don't have engineers.
Excellent engineering. Frequently over-spec'd for your throughput and priced for a European factory's economics. Service still depends on a flight from Hamburg.
A single Principal Contract Signatory with engineering on both ends. Your contract is with CISH South Africa — not with the Chinese supplier. We carry the supplier risk. One contract replaces the need for a separate freight forwarder, customs broker, and installation contractor. One project lead. Spares in Johannesburg. Engineers who live where you live. No disappearing in year two.
Teams that understand the opportunity, but do not want to learn hard project lessons through deposits, missed FATs, and weak after-sales support.
Businesses that do not want to manage separate contractors for sourcing, controls, installation, and support when one integrated delivery structure would reduce risk.
Plants adding capacity, replacing aging equipment, or entering a new line category where time-to-stable-output matters as much as purchase price.
Manufacturers who know the project is not over when the machine ships, and who want field engineering, spares, and upgrade support to exist after the first year.
Technical Strategy Expert
20+ years in hardware and software design. Expert in IoT, smart hardware, and industrial systems.
Systems Architect
30+ years in electronics and software design. Specialises in IoT system architecture.
Procurement & Logistics Manager
11+ years managing global supply chain. Mandarin-native. Runs all China-side supplier relationships.
Industrial Automation Specialist
Qualified Millwright. N Diploma in Electrical Engineering. Certified Siemens Programmer. 10+ years in ceramic manufacturing and mining automation.
CISH is the entity you can hold accountable. Your contract is with CISH South Africa. We sign with the Chinese supplier separately and carry that risk — it does not pass through to you. This is not an introduction or a referral. It is a delivery contract with a South African legal entity.
Our China office handles audits, FATs, and drawings in Mandarin. Our SA office handles PM, design review, installation, and service in English. Same project lead from kickoff to year-five service.
Commissioning, breakdowns, and upgrades done by engineers who can be on your floor in 24–72 hours — not flying in from Shanghai.
We design lines. We write PLC code. We commission processes. We are accountable for outcomes, not just deliveries.
We price for a 10-year relationship. We are still on the phone in year eleven. Our peers price for the deal — and that's why they disappear in year two.
These are the operating beliefs behind how we scope projects, choose suppliers, and stay involved after commissioning.
A line that arrives on time but never reaches throughput is a failed project.
Documentation in a language your team can't read is not documentation.
Buying the cheapest machine is almost always the most expensive choice.
An OEE dashboard nobody looks at is theatre.
A maintenance contract that always invoices and never visits is theft.
A supplier who won't visit your site after the warranty year is not a supplier.
The three most expensive gaps in China-to-South-Africa production line imports — and what each one actually costs.
The full 12-stage sequence, timeline and landed-cost breakdown — the guide behind the LinkedIn article.
The decision framework behind CISH's three engagement models.
A short call is usually enough to tell whether your project needs sourcing help, hybrid design, turnkey delivery, or just a reality check before you commit budget.