The rebranding and restructuring of heavy engineering company DCD, previously DCD-Dorbyl, is aimed at improving its international competitiveness while manufacturing products and components for the international and local markets, says DCD MD Rob King.

The R380-million investment in a new facility for its Ringrollers division, on Ring road, in Vereeniging, aimed to enhance DCD’s ability to compete internationally and to create sufficient capacity to support government’s local content initiatives, he said, speaking at the roof-wetting ceremony in January.

The Department of Trade and Industry provided financial support for the project through its Critical Infrastructure Programme and investment capital bank Investec Bank, which also holds a 44.4% equity stake in the DCD group, provided debt finance to fund the construction of the facility. This doubles the division’s manufacturing capacity to 30 000 t a year and the facility is expected to be com-pletely equipped by July.

However, Ringrollers GM Stefan Nel noted that the 14 000 m2 facility would begin moving hot metal through its two separate seamless ring manufacturing production lines by the end of March.

Further, while 55% of the division’s products were exported to 42 countries, increased international and local demand was the catalyst for the expansion, said King.

The facility boasts a 3 500 t Hydramech forging press, which has 12 pumps, to power its accumulators, and Wagner Dortmund ring rollers capable of producing seamless rings of up to 4 700 mm in outside diameter and 4 500 kg in weight.

“A ring is supported on three axes and the rolling process takes less than two minutes when the ring roll is in fully automatic mode. An automated retracting device offloads the completed ring onto the new Wolf conveyor system and transfers the product to the hot stacking station.”

The factory also has two Suntory rotary half- furnaces with a heating capacity of 12 t/h. Forged rings that require high geometric accuracy are expanded on the new high-tech- nology SMS Meer expander, which can expand rings of between 400 mm and 3 800 mm inside diameters. Further, the heat treatment capabilities of the factory include both oil and polymer medium quenching tanks, each with a 172 000 ℓ capacity.

“We aim to position ourselves for expected increases in investments in the energy sector and guests can see (during the tour of the facility) sections of the company’s first proto-type wind tower being manufactured,” said King.

The triple-bladed wind towers would be about 80 m tall and the housing for the machinery of the wind turbine is about 4 m in diameter, the rear sections of which were dis- played during the tour. About one hundred 200-mm-long 20-mm-diameter bolts would be used to attach the rear sections to the rest of the structure.

DCD also has significant investment in the Isivunguvungu Wind Energy Converter (I-WEC), which is manufacturing 2.5 MW Aerodyne wind turbines locally and expects to have its demonstration plant complete by the second quarter of this year.

“We aim to well exceed government’s local content targets and are currently able to produce over 50% of our wind turbines as local content, with this percentage expected to grow,” noted King.

The company has been restructured into four main clusters, namely Rail, Mining & Energy, Marine and Defence, each aimed at producing key heavy engineering components and providing services for these industries.

“We have plans to align our capabilities for the manufacture of components for nuclear power plants and for local and export markets, and we are well positioned to assist with the heavy engineering requirements and refurbishment of our ageing fleet of power generation plants,” stated King.

Meanwhile, DCD’s management at all levels has invested R35-million of currency-valuation windfall bonuses in a public benefit organisation, Khulanathi Empowerment, which aims to continually develop skills for the whole industry, not only for DCD, he added, noting that the company aimed to position itself to partner with government to create jobs and reindustrialise the country.

The restructuring of the company was in recognition of the growth opportunities present in supplying a more coordinated and integrated product and services offering across its divisions, with half of its divisions experiencing double-digit growth during the past year, concluded King.

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