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Scaw expands chain-making capacity with R110m investment in automated plant

6th April 2017

By: Terence Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

     

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Specialist steel products manufacturer Scaw Metals has invested R110-million to expand and modernise the production of large-diameter chain and masterlink components at its McKinnon Chain factory in Vereeniging, in southern Gauteng.

Large-diameter chains are used in various industries for lifting applications, while the masterlink and subassemblies are sold mostly into the international offshore oil and gas sector. The investment raises McKinnon Chain’s nameplate capacity to 10 000 t/y of chain and 2 000 t/y of masterlinks.

CEO Markus Hannemann says the revamp of the plant – the only one of its kind in Africa – is in line with Scaw’s strategy of focusing on value-added products. Despite the difficult economic climate and Scaw’s recent restructuring, the company has invested R1.4-billion in projects aimed at improving the competitiveness and capacity of its four business units.

McKinnon Chain, which was founded in 1934 and moved to its current location 70 km south of Johannesburg in 1984, forms part of the group’s wire rod products division, while Scaw also produces grinding media, as well as cast- and rolled-steel products for use in the mining, rail, power, offshore oil and gas, construction, commercial and industrial sectors.

Housed in a new factory building adjoining the original plant, the investment comprises fit-for-purpose robotic machines, additional heat-treatment capacity and a new long-bed tester.

The fully automated facility, dubbed ‘Relay’, is capable of producing up to four times faster than has hitherto been possible using the manual flash butt weld methodology. However, this manual process has been retained, together with the plant’s 262 employees.

The new equipment will be used to complement the existing capacity, providing both economies of scale and agility to manufacture masterlink products respectively.  

Wire Rod Products executive head George Katergarakis says the new facility consists of four ABB robot arms, each with a reach of 2.1 m, and several process points, including a resistance furnace, former, welder, trimmer and press.

During a production sequence three links can be produced simultaneously, making it possible to manufacture 80 links an hour – a production rate that is considerably faster than the manual flash butt weld methodology hitherto employed.

The process begins, Katergarakis explains, with the first robot picking up precut bar lengths from the magazine and loading them into a 500 kVA resistance heater. Once the bar is heated to 760 oC it is transferred to the bending machine, capable of forming links from 20 mm to 50 mm in diameter. The links are then moved to a 500 kVA resistance welder before entering a trimmer to shave off the weld flash. A robot then transfers the link to a 16 t press for levelling ahead of heat treatment. Proof testing of the links is conducted in a new 500 t long-bed tester.

Hannemann describes the chain-manufacturing investment as a milestone for Scaw and a sign of the company’s commitment to local beneficiation; a stated industrial-policy goal of the South African government. Scaw is 74% owned by the Industrial Development Corporation, a State-owned development finance institution.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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