Engineering and construction com- pany Kentz, through the establishment of training solution centres locally and in Mozambique, has assisted 180 people to become skilled artisans over the last six years.

“We are assisting in developing much- needed skills, such as welding, in South Africa and Mozambique,” Kentz regional development director for Africa Colin Crowley tells Engineering News.

The company established the first training centre at its Chamdor fabrication facility, in Krugersdorp, on the West Rand, in March 2010; however, the training centre was relo- cated to Vanderbijlpark in October 2012 “owing to the need for bigger premises, as a result of the growing number of people who were receiving training at the facility”, Crowley explains.

He notes that the training centre provides courses including boilermaking, pipefitting, welding and steel fabrication.

Kentz also established an artisan train- ing facility in Lephalale, in Limpopo, to empower local community members employed during the building of State-owned power utility Eskom’s new Medupi coal-fired power station.

Additionally, Kentz Limitada, the company’s Mozambique operating arm, signed a training agreement with the Mozambique Ministry of Labour in May 2012.

The agreement committed Kentz to training 500 locals over a five-year period in a number of skills sets, including welding and pipe- fitting, as well as scaffolding and crane and machine operating, at its training facility in Tete, Mozambique.

Chamdor Fabrication Facility

Kentz’s 23 735 m2 Chamdor fabrication facility is ISO 3834:2005-compliant in terms of quality requirements for fusion welding of metallic materials.

Crowley notes that the facility’s welding capacity is about 20 000 inches a month, depending on the complexity and size of material used.

“We have several certified quality personnel in the quality assurance and control fields and our work is monitored through the use of several oversight mechanisms, such as inspections, test plan welding procedures, weld history logs and full data packs,” Crowley states.

Therefore, he says that, owing to Kentz’ constant quality monitoring mechanisms, the facility maintains weld repair failure rates of less than 1%.

Further, Crowley highlights that the Chamdor facility uses a range of welding processes; however, owing to the operating pressure requirements of piping, a significant proportion of the fabrication, specifically for root passes, comprises tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding.

He states that orbital TIG welding and automated metal inert gas welding form an important part of the facility’s operations.

Additionally, Crowley points out that submerged arc welding is used wherever possible.

Operational Progression

Meanwhile, Crowley highlights, Kentz is currently involved in several projects locally and in Mozambique.

This includes working on the Medupi power station project, for which Kentz has been contracted by Eskom to supply and fabricate 26 000 t of structural steelwork, 11 000 t of ducting and 1 800 t of piping, as well as 40 000 t of mechanical equipment.

In Mozambique, the company was awarded the second phase of Brazil mining company Vale’s Moatize coal processing plant, located at the company’s Moatize coal mine, in Tete, in March.

Kentz is responsible for providing all structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping construction services associated with the coal processing and handling plant, crushers, stackers, reclaimers and conveyors.

Nonetheless, Crowley tells Engineering News, Kentz is also seeking to expand its opera- tional footprint into other countries bordering South Africa, such as Namibia “where there has been significant development in the mineral processing industries in the last five years”.

“We are also paying close attention to West Africa – specifically countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon and Guinea – owing to their developing mining and petrochemicals industries. Kentz is well placed to provide technological, piping and welding solutions for these sectors,” he states.

Additionally, Crowley says the company plans to strengthen existing facilities and dev- elop new training facilities in future as the com- pany develops it operations locally and into the rest of Africa.

“Kentz believes it is important to add value to the lives of communities in which we operate. This is one of the main reasons for the establishment of training facilities in Lephalale and Tete, as we not only want to employ locals for the duration of a project but also provide them with valuable skills sets, such as welding, which will improve their future employment prospects,” he concludes.