The incorporation of DCD Venco into DCD Heavy Engineering in Vereeniging is consolidating the capacity of two iconic South African manufacturing operations into an optimised business well placed for growth, according to DCD Heavy Engineering general manager Dawie Marais.

“Moving DCD Venco from Newcastle was not an easy decision, but it was clear to the holding DCD Group that the businesses needed to be resized and aligned to market conditions,” said Marais. “Over recent years, the depressed state of the mining industry in particular made trading conditions very difficult for both firms.”

With operations now being brought under DCD Heavy Engineering’s three operational units – North Works, South Works and Vanderbijlpark – the cost base is being reduced and the utilisation of facilities optimised, he said. While DCD Venco’s Newcastle facilities offered light and medium fabrication and machining capabilities, the Vereeniging sites service customers across a range of work from light to ultra-heavy in grade.

“The result is that the consolidated facilities can provide the same services as the two facilities offered separately,” said Marais. “For Venco customers, we can now offer more capacity in terms of manufacturing space, lifting capacity and ‘under hook’ clearance.”

While not all staff could be relocated, he highlighted the importance of retaining the decades of specialised engineering skills within the DCD Group that allows high quality standards to be applied throughout the planning, procurement and manufacturing processes.

“The company has in recent years invested over R100 million in equipment and machine upgrades to improve its overall technological offering,” he said. “We also invest heavily in skills development, having expanded our training facility in 2014 where apprentices are trained as fitters and turners, electricians, boiler-makers, welders and riggers.”

DCD Heavy Engineering’s Vereeniging facilities boast crane capacities of 20 to 70 tons at South Works and 20 to 60 tons at North Works – with 13 m and 9 m under hook respectively. On the machining side, there is crane capacity at North Works from 7 to 40 tons, and at Vanderbijlpark from 20 to 100 tons.

Services at DCD Heavy Engineering include vertical and horizontal rolling, turning, machining, heat treatment, shot blasting and painting.