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SAB increases its localisation efforts

By: Marleny Arnoldi 15th June 2020 South African Breweries (SAB) has secured a local foothold in glass manufacturing, as a result of its 35%-owned Isanti Glass subsidiary finalising the acquisition of Nampak Glass. Isanti Glass in September last year announced that it would acquire Nampak Glass for R1.5-billion. Nampak Glass has... →

Mondi donates 100 000 medical grade masks to frontline healthcare workers

By: Simone Liedtke 15th June 2020 Global packaging and paper group Mondi has donated 100 000 FFP3/N95 medical grade masks to protect frontline healthcare workers in KwaZulu-Natal from Covid-19. The much sought after medical grade masks have been donated with the assistance of The Solidarity Fund to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of... →

Mavuso laments all-time low in business confidence

By: Donna Slater 15th June 2020 Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso says business confidence in South Africa is destroyed. In a weekly newsletter, she points out that the latest Rand Merchant Bank/Bureau of Economic Research business confidence index shows that 95% of businesses are dissatisfied with... →

CSIR gives assurance that its Aeroswift 3D Printer project is still alive

By: Rebecca Campbell 12th June 2020 The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has confirmed to Engineering News that the Aeroswift additive manufacturing project remains “a key focus” for it. The project was originally established in 2011 in cooperation with the then Aerosud group. The Aeroswift machine, based on the... →

UCT engineers create face shield easily made with household items

By: Simone Liedtke 12th June 2020 In response to the Covid-19 crisis, University of Cape Town (UCT) associate Professor Sudesh Sivarasu and his team of biomedical engineers have been working on a variety of biomedical devices, including a face shield that can be easily made with household items. Called the ViZAR, the face shield... →

Invicta helps manufacture health equipment in global philanthropist initiative

By: Marleny Arnoldi 12th June 2020 JSE-listed hardware company Invicta Holdings has been appointed to help produce bridge ventilators and oxygen helmets, which will be distributed to other African countries in the battle against Covid-19. African and global philanthropists have teamed up to help African nations secure urgently... →

Virgin Orbit ventilator

Covid-19 compounds challenges in Africa

By: Tracy Hancock 12th June 2020 The legislation put in place amid the Covid-19 pandemic is compounding the “exceptionally challenging” business environment already faced by companies when operating in Africa, where each country presents its own challenges, says Macsteel Exports senior branch manager Adrian Isemonger. He... →

AFRICAN REACH Macsteel Exports supplies sub-Saharan Africa with the broadest range of carbon steel, stainless steel, specialty steels, aluminum products and value-added processes to all industry sectors

Great demand for infection control across Africa

By: Tracy Hancock 12th June 2020 The demand for infection control solutions manufacturer SteriTech’s products has increased significantly across Africa since the Covid-19 outbreak, but so have the company’s lead times. “Demand in the rest of Africa existed prior to the outbreak and was steadily growing at a rate just slightly... →

SOUGHT-AFTER SteriTech has increased its production capacity twenty-fold to meet demand across Africa

Pandemic dashes hopes for a domestic steel sector turnaround

By: Simone Liedtke 12th June 2020 The international Covid-19 outbreak, which has disrupted the South African and the global economy, has thrown another “a spanner in the works” for the already embattled domestic steel sector and could seriously hamper, or even prevent, a recovery. The pandemic has already ruined any hopes of a... →

International trade declines significantly

By: Donna Slater 11th June 2020 While global trade was already slowing down prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) states that economic and social disruptions brought about by Covid-19 are resulting in a dramatic decline in trade. As laid out in Unctad’s global trade... →

South African manufacturing decreases 5.4% in March

By: Simone Liedtke 11th June 2020 Manufacturing production in South Africa decreased by 5.4% year-on-year in March, likely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The largest negative contribution was made by basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery, which was down by... →

Future trends report points to rapidly changing business environment

By: Donna Slater 11th June 2020 Progressing from Covid-19 will require a realignment of business fundamentals, with increased demand for products and services consumers find meaningful and socially and environmentally responsible, says professional services firm Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation practice Fjord.... →

Covid-19 delays Sephaku financial results

By: Donna Slater 11th June 2020 Holding company of construction materials company Sephaku, SepHold, is finalising its financial results for the year ended March 31; however, the restrictions implemented by the South African government to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have impacted the finalisation of the company's... →

RS Components, BARTH Elektronik unveil people-counter for retail market

By: Irma Venter 11th June 2020 RS Components, the trading brand of Electrocomponents, has joined forces with miniature programmable logic controller (PLC) manufacturer BARTH Elektronik to develop a product assembly project that aids social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. The project, called the ‘People Counter’, can... →

The People Counter, once assembled

RMB/BER Business Confidence Index falls to lowest-ever level

By: Marleny Arnoldi 10th June 2020 The Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)/Bureau for Economic Research (BER) Business Confidence Index (BCI) fell from 18 points in the first quarter to a mere five points in the second quarter of the year. The BER says this was the lowest level ever recorded since the BER first began conducting the survey... →

Adoption of automation, robotics expected to accelerate

By: Schalk Burger 9th June 2020 Increasingly automated processes and the use of robotics are expected to support greater production and the provision of services safely in a contactless society, says robotics multinational Yaskawa Southern Africa chairperson Terry Rosenberg. He notes that many businesses are rapidly adopting... →

Unique Group develops Covid-19 pressure ventilator system for Africa

By: Irma Venter 9th June 2020 Cape Town-based subsea engineering expert, MMO, a Unique Group company, has completed beta-testing of its inhouse-designed Uni-Life 100, a non-invasive positive pressure ventilation system. Developed using the technical expertise and production support of Unique Group, the system has been... →

The Uni-Life 100

Coega SEZ faces juggling act amid Covid-19-impacted business environment

By: Donna Slater 9th June 2020 Special economic zone (SEZ) operator, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), like many other SEZs, is facing an unprecedented operating environment with some of its zone’s investors being operational , while others are only partially operational and others not operating at all. Operator of the... →

Concrete batchers training in the works

By: Mamaili Mamaila 5th June 2020 The Concrete Institute’s (TCI’s) School of Concrete Technology is planning to offer a special one-day course for concrete batchers and batch plant staff in the second half of 2020. →

THE WHOLE BATCH Batching ensures high and uniform quality of readymix concrete for each batch produced by a batching plant

Concrete solutions for rural roads

5th June 2020 With poor rural gravel roads causing horrific accidents, technical service provider The Concrete Institute (TCI) MD Bryan Perrie says there is substantial scope for more low-volume concrete roads to increase road safety in South Africa. →

A LONG ROAD AHEAD Concrete roads have a relatively maintenance-free life of up to, and beyond, 30 years

Protection tech used at office building

By: Mamaili Mamaila 5th June 2020 Construction company Storm Waterproofing Systems’ specialists made use of the Spraylock concrete protection technology to successfully cure, increase the concrete durability of and waterproof the ground and first floors, as well as the roof of the new Deloitte head office in Waterfall City, in... →

ALL CONCRETE The Spraylock concrete protection technology was used to successfully cure, increase the concrete durability and waterproof the ground and first floor, as well as roof of the new Deloitte building

Worldsteel says demand will contract by 6.4% this year owing to Covid-19

By: Simone Liedtke 4th June 2020 The World Steel Association (worldsteel) expects global steel demand to contract by 6.4% this year, as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. In its Short Range Outlook (SRO) for 2020 and 2021, released on June 4, the industry body states that steel demand is, however, expected to increase by 3.8%... →

Rockwell releases industrial cybersecurity assessment app

By: Schalk Burger 2nd June 2020 Industrial technology multinational Rockwell Automation has released a new app to help operations managers, plant floor managers and information technology/operational technology (IT/OT) professionals gauge levels of operational risk within their connected infrastructures. The Assessment Hub app... →

Production capacity rises in May but to remain subdued until demand grows

By: Donna Slater 1st June 2020 Having plunged to an all-time low of 5.1 index points in April, financial services provider Absa’s Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) survey rose sharply to 43.2 index points in May, propelled by many factories returning to production in May when South Africa went into Alert Level 4, the bank... →

Nissan plant rolls out INTUboxes to hospitals

By: Irma Venter 1st June 2020 Local arm of Japanese vehicle maker Nissan and the University of Pretoria (UP) have partnered to create and manufacture INTUboxes. The INTUbox is a transparent vessel-box which protects health professionals who have to intubate and treat acutely ill Covid-19 patients. →

From field hospitals to ventilator prototypes, South Africa's state of readiness for Level 3 outlined

By: Terence Creamer 29th May 2020 Cabinet’s economic cluster sought to offer assurances on Friday that significant preparations had been made to facilitate a safe transition to a Level 3 lockdown from June 1, which opens the way for the return to work of eight-million more people. The easing of the lockdown is expected to... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi

Bell's full-year earnings fall

By: Simone Liedtke 29th May 2020 Local original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) Bell Equipment achieved headline earnings a share of 80c a share for the year ended December 31, while earnings a share were 79c. This compares with headline earnings a share of 278c and earnings a share of 283c reported for the prior financial year. →

Covid-19 pall hangs over Nampak’s recovery prospects

By: Terence Creamer 29th May 2020 Packaging group Nampak announced on Friday that impairments of R3-billion, which related to its Nigerian and Angolan operations, had contributed materially to a slump in its interim results for the period to March 31. The outlook for the business was also uncertain, with the Covid-19 pandemic... →

Nampak CEO Erik Smuts in conversation with Engineering News editor Terence Creamer on the group's interim results and its future strategy and prospects. Editing: Nicholas Boyd

This year's Electra Mining cancelled

By: Donna Slater 29th May 2020 Organisers of Southern Africa’s mining, manufacturing, automation, electrical and power trade exhibition Electra Mining Africa, Specialised Exhibitions, reports that the 2020 edition of the trade fair has been cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s show had been scheduled to... →

Sector’s GDP contribution not what it should be

By: Darren Parker 29th May 2020 For South Africa’s stage of economic development, manufacturing should be contributing at least double what it currently does to gross domestic product (GDP), states industry body Manufacturing Circle executive director Philippa Rodseth. Manufacturing has declined from 26% of South Africa’s GDP... →

MANUFACTURING SLOWDOWN Employment figures in the manufacturing sector are unlikely to turn around without a sustained improvement in demand to bolster industry activity

Global brushless dc motors market exhibits healthy growth

29th May 2020 Consumer demand for enhanced features in automotive products, such as motorised seats, is spurring demand for brushless direct current (DC) motors, says market researcher Fact.MR. Rising emphasis on fuel efficiency, adoption of new-energy alternatives, amid strict carbon emission regulations is... →

Company maintains drive tech support throughout lockdown

29th May 2020 Bearings supplier BMG’s commitment to ensuring industry continues to operate efficiently and safely, even during difficult lockdown conditions, encompasses the ongoing supply and support of a range of engineering components, including drive systems and frequency inverters. A critical part of... →

THE FULL RANGE BMG’s NORD drive systems and NORDAC frequency inverters are combined to offer a complete spectrum of fully flexible, modern frequency inverters

Drives designed to improve productivity

29th May 2020 Bearings supplier BMG’s VACON 100 alternating current (AC) drives have been designed to save energy, optimise process control and improve productivity in many sectors. Through VACON 100’s economical solutions, BMG is able to ensure a quick return on project investments for its customers, says BMG... →

COMPATIBLE AND EFFECTIVE VACON 100 AC drives allow its customers to use the most efficient motor for each application, with the ability to run new motor technologies

Company provides energy efficient solutions for customers

29th May 2020 Electric motors company Vert Energy – exclusive distributors in Southern Africa of electric motor manufacturer Leroy Somer – is committed to providing energy-saving solutions for its diverse customer base. Critical challenges facing industry include finding the most efficient ways to minimise... →

HIGH EFFICIENCY The Dyneo motor-drive unit ensures high efficiency levels over the whole operating speed range, especially at speeds below the synchronous speed

R&D on hold to keep doors open

By: Tracy Hancock 29th May 2020 Stainless steel cylinder manufacturer Jooste Cylinder & Pump Company has implemented various measures, such as delaying research and development (R&D) projects, to assist staff as much as possible and “keep the doors open” amid the Covid-19 crisis. “Jooste re-invests much of its income in new... →

Local tanks on track for delivery to Zim mine

29th May 2020 Ten large steel tanks for diversified miner RioZim’s Cam and Motor gold mine, in Zimbabwe, are on schedule to be installed by South African stainless steel fabrication and erection specialist Betterect, as part of the mine’s gold processing plant expansion. This is notwithstanding inherent... →

SIGNIFICANT SUPPLY Columbus Stainless supplied 250 t of grade 2304 duplex steel for the RioZim steel tank fabrication project being undertaken by Betterect

Lockdown further strains stainless steel recycling

By: Tracy Hancock 29th May 2020 Prior to the national lockdown, South Africa’s stainless steel recycling industry was under strain, facing a dramatic drop in available recycling material and increasing input costs, says Johannesburg-based stainless steel recycler Cronimet director Bernard Maguire. The stainless steel recycling... →

SIGNIFICANCE OF SCRAP The cost of recycled stainless steel is much less than that of virgin primary alloys

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