Self-lubricated polymer bearings and bushes manufacturer VescoPlastics welcomes visitors to its stand (Hall 6 Stand C23) at Electra Mining Africa, which will be held at Nasrec, Johannesburg, from September 10 to 14.
VescoPlastics caters for most bearing and wear-plate-bearing requirements of the mining, industrial, rail and marine sectors – be it pump bearings, underground locomotive bushings or undersea bearings.
“The company produces Vesconite and Vesconite Hilube components, which are seen as the ideal alternative to bronze in mining and other industries, since they can operate in dirty environments, can run dry and operate well in water,” says chairperson Dr Jean-Patrick Leger.
The development of Vesconite started in 1968 in an attempt to find a bearing material suitable for use in ultra-deep mines that extract gold up to 3.5 km below the surface in exceptionally harsh conditions.
VescoPlastics makes rods, machined plates and bushings as stock parts, as well as high-quality finished parts for the agriculture, railways, mining, pumps, heavy transport, hydro, wind turbine, earthmoving and marine industries.
The company prides itself on fast production, turnaround and delivery, with an average global delivery time, using various courier companies with global experience, of three to seven working days. This is shorter for South African clients, which may receive their order within two to three working days.
The company also provides extensive machining services and has the largest machine shop in the Free State, with 67 computer numerically controlled lathes and machining centres, as well as numerous large conventional lathes that are capable of machining bushings up to 3 000 mm in diameter.
Besides its South African warehouse in Johannesburg, VescoPlastics also has warehouses in the US, the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand, with stocking distributors in Argentina, Australia and Singapore.
Leger’s South African Bureau of Standards-approved and ISO 9001-accredited company boasts a staff of 71, 25 of whom are employed in the sales and administration divisions, with 46 in manufacturing.
The company also focuses significantly on training and skills development, and is currently mentoring 23 young people as part of its apprenticeship programmes.
VescoPlastics boasts customers in more than 100 countries, exports over half of its total sales, and dispatches large orders regularly to the US, China, South America and Australasia.