Manufacturing a variety of ball, butterfly and check valves,
Enserve Engineering, of Vanderbijlpark, is in the process of
establishing a branch in Nigeria’s Port Harcourt. Enserve MD
Steve Bannister says that instead of merely appointing an agent in
Nigeria, the company decided to establish an office and
fully-fledged repair centre. He says that this is an effort to
offer “full technical support” from Enserve’s
Nigeria office. He adds that the company has identified suitable
premises and is in the process of sending equipment and stock to
its Nigeria office.
In addition to fulfilling black economic-empowerment requirements,
with 51% of the company owned by Malose Ledwaba, Enserve recently
acquired ISO 9000 accreditation.
The company was audited by TUV in April this year and certified as
ISO compliant. Bannister says that the process involved revisiting
all of the company’s systems and processes to ensure that
Enserve met with ISO standards.
With branches in Sasolburg, Durban and Secunda, Enserve offers full
manufacturing and refurbishment services. The company’s
Sasolburg branch specialises in the refurbishment of safety and
control valves, while Enserve’s general repair centre is in
Durban.
Additionally, Enserve offers a 24-hour repair service with over
R2-million of stocked spare parts for the IPV range, which it
oversees since IPV was incorporated into Enserve.
Employing 73 people, the company manufactures full-bore and
reduced-bore fire-safe ball valves, butterfly valves and check
valves for the petrochemicals, paper, sugar, iron and steel
industries.
The products are manufactured from raw castings supplied by local
foundries. These are machined to drawing prior to being assembled
and are individually pressure tested.
Enserve has supplied its products to a number of key South African
projects. Last year, the company supplied its low-emission ball
valves to the Richards Bay Foskor project to the value of between
R300 000 and R400 000.
Besides this project, Enserve has a supply contract with Impala
pla- tinum to supply and repair reduced bore ball valves as well as
a similar contract with Highveld Steel to supply reduced-bore ball
valves.
Although the company predo- minantly supplies to these major
projects through agents, Enserve supplies catalyst ball valves to
Petro SA, in Mossel Bay, on an ongoing basis. Bannister says that
this contract is valued at about R1-million yearly.
Enserve regularly develops new products, working according to the
sizes and pressure ratings that are called for by customers. At
present, the company is in the process of developing metal seated
ball valves for high-temperature applications, low-emission valves
for hazardous products and specially-engineered valves for slurry
applications. “We’re constantly designing new
products,” enthuses Bannister, adding that Enserve is one of
the few companies with design capacity for ball valves.
The company recently launched its new range of low-emission valves.
Bannister says that the valves have been very well received by
industry with a number of key customers making the valves stock
items.
The new range offers double bearing support of the stem to minimise
the effect of radial forces, the main cause of stem leaks. It also
offers a full packed gland-stem sealing arrangement, energised by a
live loaded gland follower.
Bannister says that the test results have exceeded the requirements
of all current specifications. The new valves have been tested in
excess of 30 000 cycles without any signs of leakage.
Enserve is so confident of the valves’ capabilities that it
offers a five-year warranty on the gland-sealing arrangement.
Bannister says that the company also has the capacity to design
speciality products for customers and often carries out design
changes to standard products to suit specific applications. Enserve
specialises in valve pro- ducts for use in the presence of highly
corrosive or toxic substances. This is particularly relevant in the
chemicals industry or where ammonia, chlorine, caustic soda and
sulphuric acid are present.
To tackle these substances, compon- ents are constructed from
robust materials, such as carbon steel, alloy 20, Monel as well as
stainless steel.
Bannister says that Enserve’s locally-designed and
-manufactured product range offers an advantage to end users as
they are low maintenance, have extremely low emission levels and a
robust stem-support bearing design. |
|
