From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Metric Automotive Engineering has recently invested in a factory expansion and several new technological innovations to increase its machining and remanufacturing capabilities and capacity for earthmoving and surface mining equipment. Mia Breytenbach tells us more.

Mia Breytenbach:
Metric Automotive Engineering first started its expansion drive about three years ago to enhance its service offering for surface mining and earthmoving operation equipment that require repairs or remanufacturing to original equipment manufacturer specifications.

The company has noted a shift in the needs of OEM and earthmoving and mining clientele for an upgrade in the service offering, including the need for strict machining tolerances from engineering companies.

Metric Automotive Engineering Director Andrew Yorke:
There has been a huge swing to engines that are electronically controlled, and with that there is a whole group of technologies.

The driver behind a lot of that is emissions and efficiency. You can control an engine a lot better through electronics than you can mechanically. The result of that is they are producing more power, with less fuel, with less emissions.

In order to do that, the OEMS have cut the tolerances, the clearances and machining tolerances down significantly.

So it has changed the market needs in that, when they have components remanufactured, the remanufacturing tolerances are very tight,  and if they are using service providers that don’t have equipment that can deal with that correctly, the repairs  or remanufactured components will not conform to OEM specifcations.

And when those engines are assembled and run and tested and further down the line when they are put into production, issues are going to arise.

Mia Breytenbach:
The acquisition of several new machines includes a Tierratech ultrasonic 750 W cleaning machine, the Berco S75 crankshaft grinder and the Rottler F100 series three-axis computer numerically controlled machine.

Metric Automotive Engineering Director Andrew Yorke:
The first thing we did is we changed part of our cleaning process. We introduced ultrasonic cleaning for components.

It reduces the time it takes to clean components, it’s more environmentally friendly and it’s far more efficient and effective.

That gives us clean components that we can inspect better, the better calls and judgment measures are and also allows us to machine better.

We have invested in new grinding a new grinding machine that allows us to cope with the longer and bigger shafts that have been introduced by the OEMs.

And we have invested in a three-axes CNC machine that can also cope very comfortably with the size of the engine blocks that have been introduced by the OEMs.

Both of those have been introduced to deal with the size, also to help us with capacity and throughput.
We have the capabilities now with our three-axis CNC machine to reverse- engineer, blueprint and write CAD programmes that allows us to do stock standard repairs off a CAD programme.

We are getting repeatability, which is pretty cool, and which is critical and we can turn out tolerances where we can produce a quick turnaround time.
Turnaround time is key in earthmoving and mining.

Mia Breytenbach:
Part of what prompted the acquisitions is the use of larger engines in earthmoving and surface mining equipment, which means that larger engine blocks and crank shafts need to be machined.

However, these machine acquisitions are also unique in Africa, according to Yorke.

Metric Automotive Engineering Director Andrew Yorke:
On the crankshaft grinder there hasn't been a machine of this capacity introduced into this country in the last 35 years, so we are bringing in the latest generation crankshaft grinder.

Obviously it is new, it has very fine tolerances, which means our grinding tolerances can be maintained,
That is a critical factor in grinding a shaft – we have coupled that with air compensators to help us in our grinding process. They are the only compensators in Africa.

So we are able to offer a service here that no one else can provide in Africa.
It is all just moving towards the tolerances and how close we can stick to the OEM specification that is required to remanufacture the component.

On the three-axis CNC machine we have brought in, it’s one of ten in the world it is the only one in Africa, and its just given us capabilities and repeatability that no one can match
And that is critical for our OEM customers who need quick turnaround time but they also need to have their specification and tolerances met every time.

Shannon de Ryhove:
Other news making headlines this week: South African’s manufacturing sector receives a R1.4-billion boost with Unilever’s new facility.

Adding to its almost R4-billion investment in the South African consumer goods manufacturing space over the last four years, international group Unilever has officially unveiled its fourth South African production facility, in Boksburg, Johannesburg.

Unilever global CEO Paul Polman

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy.