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Customer behaviour now central to supply chain management

By: Marleny Arnoldi 23rd June 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated change and moved desired changes in the supply chain space forward by at least ten years, Australia-based supply chain advisory firm Gattorna Alignment executive chairperson Dr John Gattorna said on June 23. “Changes we were grappling with before, but... →

FMCSA supplies 50 000 face shields for frontline health workers

By: Donna Slater 22nd June 2020 Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) has assembled and supplied 50 000 face shields for the US Department of Defence to shore up its response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Southern African region. The face shields are being produced in a specially prepared and sanitised facility at... →

Food industry specialist expands to ventilator production

By: Irma Venter 22nd June 2020 Dale Automation has developed a prototype emergency ventilator, as a joint effort between its engineering department and medical professionals, to assist with the treatment of Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases. Dale Automation, based in Johannesburg and established in 1999, is active in... →

The Respirare ventilator

Huletts Sugar joins Proudly South African

By: Simone Liedtke 22nd June 2020 Sugar manufacturer Tongaat Hulett Sugar is the latest large corporation to join Proudly South African (SA) and become part of the “buy local” movement. For over 128 years, Huletts has been a local company and is a key player in the sugar industry that has created 65 000 direct jobs and about 350... →

Small business invited to apply for funding to make face masks

By: Marleny Arnoldi 19th June 2020 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has invited eligible small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa to apply for funding to manufacture fabric face masks. This initiative by the UNDP, in partnership with the South African Local Government Association, aims to... →

Local heroes celebrated as Africa Medical Supplies Platform is launched

By: Simone Liedtke 19th June 2020 The Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), to which local company Invicta Holdings is a key supplier, is now officially live as part of a continent-wide effort to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. In a virtual briefing on June 18, South African President and African Union (AU) chairperson Cyril... →

The Virgin Orbit Ventilators, which will be produced by Invicta Holdings.

Welding institute championing training initiative

By: Mamaili Mamaila 19th June 2020 The Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) is championing work-based apprenticeship learning for the welding industry through the SAIW Foundation, and the Quality Council for Trade and Occupation (QCTO). →

OPEN UP THE INDUSTRY The noticeable lack of apprenticeship opportunities is regarded as one of the main obstacles facing artisan learners in South Africa

Welding range offers value for power tools wholesaler

By: Mamaili Mamaila 19th June 2020 Power tools and hardware wholesaler Matus South Africa’s MatWeld range continues to be a big part of the company’s business, says Matus welding category manager Warren Pedlar. →

DIY PERSONIFIED Matus South Africa’s high-quality welding and plasma-cutting industrial and do-it-yourself machines all carry a two-year warranty

Company provides safety equipment for welders

By: Mamaili Mamaila 19th June 2020 Engineering components provider BMG’s tools and equipment division has introduced a range of specialist products, systems and services to assist the welding industry in creating a healthy and safe work environment. →

WELDING PROTECTION BMG’s Plymovent personal protective equipment PersonalPro range includes helmets to protect the eyes, face and head during manual welding, cutting and grinding

Supplier offers tailor-made welding materials

By: Mamaili Mamaila 19th June 2020 Industrial equipment supplier INDUSTRI Tools & Equipment’s manufacturing division offers a range of custom-made industrial materials, including welding screens, strip curtains, fire blankets, spill mats, tarpaulins and dam liners. →

OVER-PROTECTIVE INDUSTRI Tools & Equipment’s locally manufactured welding safety curtain and screen products are used in conjunction with other protective measures

AMSA considering large-scale restructuring, jobs to be lost

By: Simone Liedtke 18th June 2020 While the full extent of the Covid-19 pandemic still remains uncertain as the economy slowly reopens within government’s risk-adjusted approach to easing lockdown restrictions, JSE-listed steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) has advised that it is considering a large-scale... →

Absa arranges major bond issuance for Dangote in Nigeria

By: Marleny Arnoldi 18th June 2020 Absa Capital Markets Nigeria has successfully completed a debut bond offering for Nigerian multinational cement manufacturer Dangote Cement, as its joint lead issuing house. Absa has allocated 100-billion naira in five-year fixed rate senior unsecured bonds under its 300-billion naira issuance... →

Rockwell Automation appoints new sub-Saharan Africa MD

By: Schalk Burger 17th June 2020 Rockwell Automation has appointed Canninah Mapena as its new sub-Saharan Africa MD, effective June 1. Mapena has significant industry expertise in mining, minerals, metals, power, energy, oil and gas and will be operating from the company's Randburg offices. →

Regulatory authority fast-tracking ventilator licensing

By: Irma Venter 17th June 2020 In response to the shortage of ventilators in the health-care system as a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) says it has drafted minimum regulatory requirements and technical specifications for the manufacture,... →

After fall in FDI flows to South Africa in 2019, report warns of big pandemic-induced slump

By: Terence Creamer 16th June 2020 Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to South Africa decreased by 15% to $4.6-billion in 2019, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (Unctad’s) latest World Investment Report shows. The fall follows on from a strong 2018 recovery, when inflows to South Africa more than... →

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%... →

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