ABB’s Alrode motor, generator factory meets local sourcing requirements

9th September 2019 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

Following a recent investment and transfer of knowledge and skills, ABB South Africa’s motor and generator factory, in Alrode, near Johannesburg, is now fully compliant with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s (DTIC’s) “greater than 70% local sourcing” regulations.

In a statement on Monday, the company indicated that this development demonstrated its full commitment to skills development and localisation.

Further, its commitment to the region includes the modernisation of local manufacturing facilities, which has been demonstrated in the factory’s upgrade.

“Combining the best available materials with superior technology, the electric motors and generators produced in the Alrode factory will operate reliably in every industry and application, despite challenging process or application environments, with the lowest lifecycle cost,” the company said.

CUSTOMER BENEFITS

ABB highlighted that its ability to manufacture more products locally, offers many benefits to customers, including reduced costs, improved efficiencies and shorter turnaround times. which result in better aftersales service and access to spare parts.

The motors and generators section of ABB’s 6 000 m2 Alrode factory is equipped with a 15 t, high-speed balancing machine; cranes with lifting capacities of 80 t; and a 6 MW, 13.8 kV load test bed facility.

The factory also houses ABB’s new dedicated coil shop, which produces the coils used within electric motors and generators.

This upgrade means that ABB’s Alrode factory can manufacture – and test in-house – large induction and synchronous motors, and generators capable of producing between 550 kW and 20 MW of electricity, for power utilities, heavy industries and mines in South Africa and further afield.

The factory can also support specific customer requirements by designing and manufacturing, to order, unique motors and generators tailored to local conditions, including the highly customisable Q range of engineered modular motors, to directly replace older, obsolete equipment, or to meet the demand for increased performance.

PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT AND REPAIR SERVICES

ABB’s product lifecycle management model is designed to provide proactive service offerings for increased availability and performance. The company offers a dedicated field service programme which supports installation, supervision, commissioning and a range of field-bound maintenance services, designed to increase the reliability of the motors and generators already in use.

The company’s after-sales and repair services ensure that ABB, or non-ABB, motors and generators deliver maximum availability throughout their lifetime. Through the application of the latest design techniques and insulation methods, motors and generators repaired by ABB stand to have a longer life within the parameters of their original design criteria.

The Alrode factory produces a range of genuine original-equipment-manufacturer spare parts, including commissioning parts, operational parts, preventive maintenance kits and capital parts.

ABB can also recommend upgrades or replacements which offer the customer enhanced motor and generator performance over the equipment’s operational lifetime.

Being fully compliant with the DTIC’s requirements bodes well for the company since it can now offer its products and services to a greater number of customers and can bid for more tenders, the company noted.