METALWORKINGNEWS 2 Editor’s Comment 4 Viewpoint 6 Industry News Sandvik's CoroMill® Plura; VWSA; Denel Land Systems; Aveng; RSD secures large VMMD order; Marking Engineering; Efficient Engineering; Chev Utility; KZN Industrial Technology Exhibition; SANCO; Hulamin; Copper theft; New motor programme; Hulamin extends BHP Billiton supply deal; Mercedes-Benz SA; DTI; Pegasus Steel; Nissan; Samsung Machine Tools; Denel; Sarcea; AfriMold; Component makers; Afrox; BMW; Lear Corporation 52 Shopfront Focus Counting the numbers; Surviving competition; Curving and bending metal; Getting into gear 80 Better Production Carbon fibre stretches from comet to machine tools 82 International News EMO Hannover 2011; Trade Fair Travel and Metalworking News tour; LASER World; Haas Automation; AgieCharmilles; Mori Seiki; CECIMO; Industrial lasers; wire 2012 and Tube 2012; Prima Power; Tool manufacturers; Indian car sales 92 Product Review Siemens; Prima Power; Compact series machine; Renishaw; DMG; NVX5000 Series; Mitsubishi; Wenzel; TaeguTec; AMADA; Domino HS 2D/3D Printed on: METALWORKING NEWS V10.2 May 2011 1 EDITOR’S COMMENT What's behind the Castings Industries Directory n the last few months I have been updating Volume 10 Number 2 the Castings Industries Directory which was May 2011 last published in 2007. The project is a I Editor mammoth task as you have to telephone every Bruce Crawford single foundry owner to get the approximate Editorial Board figures of metals cast by each individual foundry Professor Dimitri Dimitrov, over the last 12 months, as well as a host of Global Competitiveness Centre other information so as to present the Directory in Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Stellenbosch a useful tool. Dr Willie Du Preez, Competence Area The Directory belongs on the desk of every Manager: Metals & Metals Processes person who has any influence on purchasing CSIR Materials Science & Manufacturing decisions of castings or services, wanting to Production Manager know about the supplier base or supplying Wendy Crawford product to the foundries themselves. Reproduction Then there is a host of other organisations Jericho Graphic Design and departments that extract information from the Directory for various Advertising reasons. In fact the Directory has become like a 'bible' of the foundry industry Bruce Crawford / Wendy Crawford in South Africa. Tel: + 27 11 463 0489 Cell: + 27 83 628 7654 Gathering and organising the large amount of data for the Directory E-mail: [email protected] requires quite a bit of time. This is especially so as most of the data is not readily or officially available and knowing how South African companies are Printed By Masterpack very cagey about giving out figures, you have to win their trust to get the information. You also have to hope that the information given is correct. METALWORKING NEWS is published by: Knowing the task at hand I first tried the email route by sending a Word BA Crawford Specialised document and giving the recipient the opportunity to make any necessary Publications (Pty) Ltd changes to their listing (either contact information or category listings) by PO Box 69 299, Bryanston, South Africa, 2021 completing the form and then returning it via email. I also sent their previous listing for comparison purposes. 41 Arklow Road, Bryanston, South Africa, 2021 The Directory provides quick access, at a glance, to basic information about Tel: + 27 11 463 0489 the companies involved in the foundry industry. The listings are free and can E-mail: [email protected] become a source of revenue for each company listed, in terms of prospective Subscriptions buyers contacting the foundry. Should this happen more in-depth information Annual – Local: R120.00 (incl VAT) could be given and negotiations to do business taken further. International: on application More importantly the figures supplied, such as tons cast per metal and the ISSN 1682-8909 number of employees, gives an indication as to where the industry stands Copyright collectively in the world production ratings, which could influence a decision on All rights reserved. No editorial matter a major project being awarded locally or not. published in Metalworking News may be reproduced in any form or language True to South African form less than 10 % of the recipients returned their without written permission of the forms completed and less the five percent of these had been filled in correctly. publishers. While every effort Frustrating yes but an opportunity was created for me to personally speak to is made to ensure accurate reproduction the editor, authors, publishers and the owners and get a clearer and current picture of the industry. their employees or agents shall not be What is encouraging from the data collected so far is the increase in the responsible or in any way liable for any figures on tons cast by the ferrous foundries and, in most cases the increase in errors, omissions or inaccuracies in the publication staff. However the non ferrous figures are not so encouraging mainly because whether arising from negligence two big producers - Kolbenco and ATS Wheels - are no longer in business. or otherwise or for any consequences arising Once all the data required for publication in the 2011 Castings Industries therefrom. The inclusion or exclusion of any product does not mean Directory is finally captured it will provide a clearer picture, and hopefully a that the publisher or editorial positive reflection of the recovery in this vital industry. board advocates or rejects its use either generally or in any particular field or fields. 2 METALWORKING NEWS V10.2 May 2011 VIEW POINT MTMA looking forward ith the buoyant situation in the engineering and MTMA should manufacturing industries the Machine Tool always come W Merchants Association (MTMA) of South Africa has across as decided to increase the exposure and profile of the honest, association which has been in existence since 1956. reliable, The association has recently been asked by its respectable members to look into a number of issues, including duties, and trustworthy BEE and incentives. The first of these is to contact the companies with Department of Trade and Industry to persuade the which to deal. department to consider the dropping of current import The duties on sheetmetal working machines such as guillotines, South African pressbrakes and certain eccentric and hydraulic presses. engineering These are now the only machine tools, supplied to the community is engineering industry, on which duties are still payable. now in the ideal Then there is new government legislation in the situation to "Consumer Protection Act" which does not really change the take advantage suppliers general warranty obligations that have always of the been in place but does now define certain aspects more reindustrialization specifically. These include such clauses as selling a of Southern machine that is reasonably suitable for the intended Africa where purpose, that it is of good quality and free of defects, that China and other it would be usable and durable for a reasonable period of Far East counties are using South Africa as a springboard time and that it would comply with any reasonable to developing manufacturing enterprises to the north of us. standards. However, the act does mean that the supplier Among others these include huge investments in the will have to be aware of any smaller infringements that may plastic, mining and oil industries. affect their liability, particularly when dealing with With regards to the current machine tool industry in companies or entities of less that R3,000,000 turnover or South Africa I am extremely pleased to report that after a asset value. very uninspiring 2009 when the world economy took a real Another important aspect that will be of interest to the beating, 2010 turned out to be a reasonable year with far members is the government's recent allocation of funds in greater order intake than the previous year. This trend has association with TASA (Tool Makers Association of South continued into 2011 where the first 3 months have Africa) to provide incentives for manufacturers to develop produced excellent sales with most suppliers now running skills and train more apprentices in the tool making short on stock. This situation is now being compounded by industry. By being a member of this association we can long deliveries on machine orders from Taiwan and other work together as a unified body with similar interests to Far East suppliers. represent the industry on matters that affect all members. These long deliveries have been caused by huge It will also be brought to the attention of the purchasers demand world wide, but mainly from China, Taiwan, of engineering equipment how important it is to buy from Malaysia, Thailand, Korea and other eastern countries. suppliers who are members of a recognized association. Over the first three months of this year machine tool This membership will ensure that they are buying from an manufacturers are reporting double and even treble the accredited supplier who can be relied upon to supply the number of orders that they would normally have, and are necessary support for the equipment. This support does not capable of producing. only include backup in terms of spare parts and qualified On a recent visit to TIMTOS, the major Taiwanese service engineers, but also the knowledge that this supplier machine tool exhibition, many manufacturers are reporting is a recognized dealer in the industry. Although the that deliveries could be delayed even further due to the association does not have any legal standing, customers fact that this increase in volumes is also creating a world also have the backup of the association when it comes to a wide shortage of bearings and ballscrews, with these items dispute between supplier and purchaser, and both parties having longer and longer delivery times.