At a presentation in March, Reinforcing & MeshSolutions (RMS), one of the largest reinforcing and mesh manufacturing suppliers in South Africa, introduced customers to their new automated bar reinforcing and pre-assembly facilities at their factory, in Pretoria.

RMS business development director Craig Lester said: “We believe that at RMS we offer the most competitive product and service available. This has been made possible by the company’s investment in the purchase of state-of-the-art machinery and technology. We believe that using automated technology is the way forward to ensure that production processes are streamlined and efficient, and this is what we have accomplished at our factory in Pretoria West.

“Our slogan remains, “Creating Solutions Together” and we believe that reinforcing steel has more value adding concepts that can be beneficial to our construction partners. We offer factory visits to our clients in the form of ‘Exposure Programmes’ that empower our customers with a knowledge of our products and services for their consideration and application to most sites and projects”.

Production Savings
“Automating the production facility in Pretoria has enabled us to reduce our scrap percentage, improve quality and also productivity. As a result, we have seen an improvement in turnaround of orders for delivery, therefore making us more competitive and a preferred supplier of reinforced steel and mesh in the country,” said Lester.

RMS is dedicated to investing in our employees as a way of a continually addressing the cycle of productivity, manufacturing to specifications with greater accuracy and providing ways of improving quicker installation of rebar onsite, all of which will enable our customers to save on time and costs.

New Equipment
RMS, who are now well represented throughout South Africa, opened their Pretoria factory in May 2013. Their Johannesburg facility has been upgraded and automated along with the branches in KwaZulu-Natal, Port Elizabeth and the Western Cape.

RMS has invested several million Rands into the new Pretoria premises, and in addition invested into a Rebar Integrated Management computer systems called Arma+, which will analyse production data and configure the most optimised manufacturing process for work on hand. The system is linked via wide area network to all RMS branches countrywide, offering substantial time savings in processing data and increasing processes.

The company invested in the latest automated equipment from Europe capable of producing reinforcing from 6 mm to 16 mm in bar diameter from 2 t coils.

The assembly equipment produces preliminary cages to more precise centres and produces a more rigid assembled product for better handling and transportation. When implementing an effective progressive delivery programme, handling onsite can also be reduced by applying the Just-In-Time concept.

An added advantage of the pre-assembled elements delivered to site also reduces the risk of material being lost or stolen at site. Rebar Installer’s and/or contractors are able to install the pre-assembled element almost immediately they are delivered to site, reducing onsite laydown area restriction and housekeeping issues.

Pretoria branch manager Michael Day said: “RMS manufactures according to customer specifications and offers the full range service and technical support solutions. In Pretoria, our second largest factory in the country we have 3 000 m² of production space under cover and a further 5 000 m² externally. RMS uses small, medium-and micro-enterprises fixing sub-contractors that are managed and supervised by RMS senior site personnel”.

“Our team is well trained, highly skilled and offers Rebar Contracts Management to projects, with a focus on the turn-around delivery and installation of high quality products to the satisfaction of our customers. We are one of the largest suppliers in the current market,” said Day.

Standards
The RMS group sources their reinforcing bar from the largest and most recognised steel producers locally. They are also manufacturers and suppliers of welded mesh in Southern Africa and adhere to the ISO 9001 quality standards.

RMS was established in 2002 in Elandsfontein, Gauteng and has since expanded their network of branches throughout South Africa to every province.

The more recent branches were opened in Gauteng (Pretoria), Mpumalanga, Free State and Northern Cape.

All Rebar materials comply with SANS 920:2011 and our cut and bent steel to SANS 282:2011. Our mesh material is produced in accordance with SANS 1024:2012 standards.

“We believe that customers who attended our recent launch will be as excited about our automated and pre-assembly facilities and what it has to offer them in time savings and project turnaround.

“I am sure it has highlighted a more cost effective way of producing reinforcing for the industry that we service. We believe that the construction sector in South Africa has huge potential for technological and innovative growth. Our people in conjunction with the technology will provide our stakeholders the added benefits as we lead into the future,” Lester concluded.