Steel and engineering products supplier Stewarts & Lloyds South Africa has expanded its offering to the local market over the last five years.

Stewarts & Lloyds South Africa central division MD Forbes Williamson tells Engineering News that the company currently manufactures palisade fencing, roofing, open sections and slitting.

“We also offer laser, profile and high-definition plasma cutting, guillotining, bending and robotic welding,” he states, adding that the company also cuts steel sections to customers’ requirements.

Williamson says Stewarts & Lloyds trades predominantly in carbon steel of various grades to meet the requirements of its customer base.

“We have been in business for more than 100 years and have increasingly focused on the steel market sector over the last 15 years. As a nationwide stockist, with more than 30 branches, we stock and supply a range of steel products, such as angles, flats, channels, rounds, squares, beams, columns, sheets, plates, roofing and expanded metal.”

Williamson notes that Stewarts & Lloyds does not manufacture finished products for projects, as the company believes that it is better left to the customers to assemble the products.

“However, we form an integral part of the supply chain of steel-related products to our customers, which, in turn, do business with State-owned companies, such as Transnet and Eskom, and/or government and/or private mining houses, as well as engineering and construction companies,” he adds.

Industry Insights

Williamson tells Engineering News that the lackluster state of the global economy has had a knock-on effect on most of the market sectors that Stewarts & Lloyds services, as well as its customer base.

“These challenges, combined with the resultant low level of activity in the local market, have put margins and cash flow under pressure, whereby some of our long-standing substantial customers are under immense pressure, with many others struggling to pay their accounts on time,” he says.

“In March last year, Stewarts & Lloyds completed a consolidation process, which. . . has centralised various aspects of our operations. This has enabled us to manage the challenge of credit control and inventory level monitoring more effectively,” he states, adding that the company has actually improved turnover figures, as result of the consolidation process.

Williamson emphasises that the majority of local steel merchants and steel mills have to deal with the same challenges as Stewarts & Lloyds.

“. . . some companies depend completely on steel sales and have not streamlined their operations to meet current economic conditions. If the economy does not improve fairly soon, the possibility exists that there could be some casualties,” he warns.

Meanwhile, Williamson notes that Stewarts & Lloyds is one of the few companies in the steel industry that has an active training programme through which staff members consistently receive training in sales, products, management, administration and warehousing skills.

“Stewarts & Lloyds also stocks and supplies a range of steels, tubing, piping, fittings, valves, pumps, irrigation products, fencing and roofing. We also offer a value-added service for certain of these products,” he concludes.