Multinational technology conglome- rate Siemens plans to significantly increase its footprint in the African market with its variable speed drive (VSD) products, but says it needs to improve its marketing strategies to differentiate its products more effectively from those of competitors.

Siemens large drives business unit direc- tor Peter Rabie says the biggest growth potential for drive products is in Africa, where demand has increased drastically, owing to the growing mining sector.

“We plan to significantly increase our footprint on the continent, both organically and through the development of a drive partner programme. We are focusing on our integrated drive train ability, which puts us in a unique position in the industry to offer the gearbox, motor and VSD from a single source,” he says.

Rabie believes that Siemens will hold a significant share of the low- and medium- voltage VSD market in Africa by 2014, but says the company needs to be aggressive in marketing its products on the continent.

With a presence in South Africa and several other African countries for more than 152 years, Siemens aims to tackle the industrial and infrastructure opportunities the continent offers through its regional engagement offices, partners and distributors.

He says the company will need to invest in setting up partners equipped with suit- able facilities to offer end-users a sales service and training on its products.

He points out that there is a need for end-user training to improve the skill levels in the market and for investment in universities’ laboratories to provide equipment for research.

Further, Rabie notes that Siemens will increase its focus on assisting its customers in finding alternative energy sources and increasing their energy efficiency. The company is already conducting energy efficiency audits for many of its customers.

The company’s products are designed to be energy efficient and it generates a large portion of its revenue from energy efficient products, including VSDs.

Meanwhile, Rabie points out that all Siemens’ drive products are imported, as is the case with most drive manufacturers, owing to the complexity of manufacturing drives, the high cost involved in setting up manufacturing facilities, low local production volumes and skills shortages.

Further, he notes that, while the need to improve energy savings, modernise certain industrial plants, increase produc- tion throughput in some industries and gain wider acceptance of drive technology are leading to higher demand for VSDs, challenges remain for VSD manufacturers and distributors.

These challenges include the volatility of the rand, a small market with a wide choice of products and skills shortages at end- user level.

New Gear Unit
Meanwhile, Siemens will replace its Flender Standard Gear (FSG) range of industrial gear units with the new Flender Standard Industrial Gear (SIG) range, which was introduced onto the local market at Electra Mining Africa 2012.

The Flender SIG gear unit is suitable for most applications, but Siemens’ main focus for the product is on materials handling conveyor drives, bucket elevator drives, hoists, pumps, blowers, mixers and travel drives.

The FSG range has been on the market for more than 20 years and more than 250 000 units have been installed worldwide.

The SIG range was developed by the company’s Mechanical Drives business unit and was launched in April 2011, in Germany, with continued development taking place since.

The range offers standardised right angle and parallel shaft drive solutions to all markets.

Siemens Mechanical Drives business unit director Michael Cardoso says the range was developed to ensure improved availability and competitive pricing, which is achieved by stock-related manufacturing in optimised quantities.

“We believe it is now the right time to launch the product onto the South African market, as there are certain add-ons, specific to our market, which are now part of the portfolio.

“The standard catalogue product range is available in helical and bevel helical configurations, with up to four gear stages, and gear units up to size 514, which relates to a torque range of 125 000 Nm,” he says.

Siemens’ current development plan will allow it to supply gears up to size 522, which relates to a torque of 500 000 Nm.

The new SIG range offers an improved torque rating of up to 15% compared with similar size units, improved bearing life, higher efficiency, improved thermal capacities, lower noise levels and better configuration options.

The gear units are available as a modular system, with different output shaft variants and mounting options. These include various shaft seals, integral back-stops, output shafts variations, fan cooling, cooling coil, external cooler units and motor lanterns to ensure the product meets the installation and opera- tional needs of the customer.

“When it was decided to develop the new range, the first drivers were to increase torque and bearing life, while trying to maintain the existing FSG’s unit dimensions.

“We achieved part of the goal by increasing the torque and the bearing life, but could not maintain all dimensions; however, certain dimensions, such as centre heights, hollow shaft diameters and some solid shaft diameters have been maintained,” Cardoso reveals.

While the product is in the early stages of supply in South Africa, he notes that it has had global success, as units are being supplied in 15 countries, including Germany, the US and Canada.