Local valves manufacturer Ainsworth Engineering completed an R80-million delivery of 393 gate and multidoor reflux valves to a local water board to bolster and upgrade its stock of valves for future projects, Ainsworth Engineering director Colleen Moir tells Engineering News.  

“The delivery of all valves was completed in March - they range from 100 mm to 1 400 mm,” she states, adding that all the valves were manufactured at the company’s factory in Robertsham, Johannesburg.

Moir says the manufacturing of the valves took about two years to complete, as some valves took up to 52 weeks to manufacture.

“This particular order far exceeded our expectations, as we are not used to receiving an order of this size. However, Ainsworth Engineering is fortunate to employ staff who have not only the required skills but also the drive to complete such an order, which contributed to the order being completed on time,” she enthuses.

The company sourced all the materials for the manufacturing of the valves locally and used local foundaries, including its associated company Active Foundry and two other foundries located in Germiston, on Johannesburg’s East Rand and in KwaZulu-Natal.

Industry Challenges

In the past ten years, the company has realigned its business strategy to produce valves for specific applications as opposed to generic applications, partly because of the flood of cheap generic valve systems imports from Europe and Asia.

Another major challenge for Ainsworth Engineering is the lack of local demand, which the company hopes will be addressed by the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s)  speedy implementation of the designation of valves for local procurement by State-owned entities.

In May, Engineering News reported that the DTI had been investigating the designation of sectors in the engineering industry for the last two years, with the process finally signed off by Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies in January.

“In essence, all valves, manual gearboxes and pneumatic actuators will require a minimum of 80% local content,” explained local Valve and Actuator Manufacturers Cluster of South Africa champion Ross Hunter.

All State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will receive an instruction note from the National Treasury regarding the workings of the procurement process.

Ainsworth Engineering MD Werner Kienhöfer believes that designation will enable valve manufacturers – including Ainsworth Engineering – to substantially increase production capacity and create additional job opportunities.

Platinum Anniversary

Kienhöfer points out that the company is celebrating 70 years of local operations this year.

“In the 1960s, we manufactured our first butterfly valves and these were installed in large water pipelines in South Africa, as well as in Namibia, Angola and Mozambique. Many of these valves are still in use,” he states.

Further, Kienhöfer notes that in 1970, the company added sleeve control valves to its product range, with many being installed at dams in South Africa.

“In 1974, the company manufactured a 2 300 mm sleeve control valve, specifically for the Vanderkloof dam, in the Northern Cape, as well as three 1 900 mm and three 1 000 mm sleeve valves,” he says.

Moir points out that in the 1970s, Ainsworth Engineering manufactured several sleeve control valves for other dam projects in South Africa, including two 1 676 mm sleeve control valves for the Pongola dam, in KwaZulu-Natal; two 1 676 mm sleeve control valves for Blyderivierpoort dam, in Mpumalanga; and two 1 900 mm sleeve control valves for the Mthatha dam, in the Eastern Cape.

“All these valves are still in operation. There is probably not a single South African river of importance whose waters have not, at some point, flown through an Ainsworth valve,” Moir concludes.