Providing locally manufactured goods and supporting local manufacturing are massively important for the growth of the South African economy, says plastic conveyor components manufacturer IRP Engineering Plastics MD Kris Kibble.

“Supporting international supply over local manufacture and supply will impact only negatively on our economy. “IRP Engineering Plastics places a large focus on local manufacture and it is an issue that we constantly reiterate to our market.”

IRP Engineering Plastics provides engineering and conveyor component solutions for the food, beverage and packaging industries. Innovation, introducing new products and enhancing its current products helps the company to stay competitive in the industry, he advances.

Moreover, Kibble says the company has always been at the forefront of using innovative manufacturing software, such as Edgecam and Featurecam, which are computer-aided manufacturing software, as well as Autodesk Inventor, a computer- aided design application for three-dimensional (3D) mechanical design, simulation, visualisation and documentation.

IRP Engineering Plastics recently invested in new and more advanced 3D manufacturing software. “This software enables us to manufacture complex 3D parts such as feed scrolls, infeed worms, augers, inverters and reinverters, in a fraction of the time that we previously manufactured the same parts,” Kibble highlights.

The company is constantly looking to use the software on more applications, as this increases efficiency and the delivery time of these complex parts, he explains. “The new 3D software enables IRP Engineering Plastics to increase capacity, improve service, reduce costs and provides the company with a competitive edge.”

He says the company cannot name the software, as this would eliminate the competitive advantage it currently has from sourcing and implementing it. IRP Engineering has been using the software for about three months and Kibble mentions that the company has completed several new and reoccurring projects.

Further, the company will continue to enhance its existing conveyor component products and solutions, as well as enhance and increase its current production capacity and introduce new conveyor component products and solutions.

“We have currently invested in four product enhancement developments and three new product developments which will be completed and introduced before the end of this year,” Kibble concludes.