A South African B-BBEE Company ACTOM Ltd (Pty)

What’s Watt commitment to commitment to environmental environmental Featuring: Featuring: December 2015 ACTOM’s solutions ACTOM’s solutions www.actom.co.za Corporate Focus

Group plans accelerated expansion into new markets as traditional business slows down The business environment continues seen significant increases in activity to be challenging for the group. Our through the Department of Energy’s traditional mining, industrial and Renewable Energy Independent Power steel markets remain very subdued. Producer Programme (REIPPP), which This, combined with Eskom’s cut- has gone a long way to sustain the back in spending, has significantly company and the industry over the past curtailed activity in the real South few years. The expansion of renewable African economy. and power solutions into Africa is an While government’s macro-eco- exciting opportunity and we will con- nomic policy remains sound in broad centrate our energy on further growing terms, there is on-going misinterpre- our presence in this sector. tation and a lack of implementation Traditional growth prospects and capacity. This leads to slow execution opportunities on the continent also re- and project delays which negatively main positive in the medium term and impact business confidence. This un- it is the company’s intention to further predictable environment makes invest- expand its geographical presence in ment, strategic planning and tendering order to ensure that we participate in extremely difficult and, combined with the infrastructural development of the the current global macro-economic continent. conditions, creates volatile, depressed In conclusion, I would like to thank and uncertain business conditions. all management and staff for their hard Over the past few years the group has been forced to reduce manufactur- work over the past year and encourage has implemented a strategy of cus- ing volumes, cut expenses and limit employees to remain positive about tomer diversification and export growth investment for the foreseeable future the country and the continent as we and has been able to shield itself from until economic conditions stabilise and deal with the current challenges. the slowdown in the local economy. sound sustainable opportunities return. I wish you a happy festive season Unfortunately, during the course of To mitigate the effects of the local and we look forward to taking on the the last year, in spite of our best ef- economic challenges, the group is challenges and opportunities in the forts, virtually every division has been concentrating on further developing its foreseeable future. negatively affected and prospects of position in the ever-growing renewable recovery remain uncertain. The group and alternative energy sector. We have Mark Wilson

What’s Inside

Commitment to environmental solutions Pg 3 R&M launches special safety campaign Pg 18

Supersonic car excites interest among learners Pg 6 Metalplus modernises production capability Pg 19

ACTOM assists in launch of scholar patrol Pg 7 M&C rehabilitates mill motor for New Zealand mine Pg 21

John Thompson unit’s community skills training Pg 8 Wilec’s conductor lines upgraded Pg 22

SAB Breweries convert to coal-fired boilers Pg 9 Mining companies switch to ester dielectric oil Pg 23

Electrical Machines launches new motor range Pg 10 Bloem branch wins “Branch of the Year” award Pg 24

Hoist contract at Royal Bafokeng completed Pg 11 Electrical Products’ sales team training pays off Pg 24

Special wind farm PTK’s for Kouga wind farm Pg 12 Increased demand for technical training Pg 25

Pilot electronic signalling project completed Pg 13 ACTOM sponsor skills training for science teachers Pg 26

Compact voltage transformer developed Pg 14 Sponsor of lighting upgrade at Quadpara lodge Pg 27

LV distribution board for new ceramics plant Pg 15 Employees contribute to charity Pg 28

Large autotransformers for Durban completed Pg 17 Good attendance at EP’s annual Golf & Bowls Day Pg 29

Cover John Thompson, a division of ACTOM (Pty) Ltd, is currently converting the last three ElectroStatic Precipitators to Pulse Jet Fabric Filters at Eskom’s Grootvlei power station, which will result in lower particulate emissions in the gases released into the atmosphere. See story on Pg 3.

What’s Watt December 2015 2 Corporate

Group demonstrates commitment to meet environmental requirements ACTOM has gone a long way in re- provisions go well beyond what is cur- the amount of energy an industry – as cent years towards meeting the re- rently required of our industry in terms well as individual business units within quirements set by government, cus- of present environmental legislation,” a given industry – consumes on a day- tomers and other interested parties says Alre van Wyk, ACTOM’s Group to-day basis and the scope available for to reduce the environmental impact Risk Manager. reduction of such consumption. of its manufacturing processes and The present umbrella Act govern- Another aspect requiring atten- products, as well as its energy use. ing environmental matters is the tion relates both to environmental A number of divisions and busi- National Environmental Management degradation and to the direct impacts ness units in the group adhere to Act (NEMA) of 1998, under which of industrial activity on the health of international environmental standards there are separate Acts that set out the workers, local communities and others. through ISO14001 certification, while specific requirements applicable to air A third aspect is the environmental- all business units throughout the quality, water, biodiversity and waste. friendliness or otherwise of the prod- group without exception are run in ucts manufactured or processed by New laws accordance with the environmental industry. control provisions of a risk manage- There is no room for complacency. “To place ACTOM into perspective ment programme specially developed New and more stringent laws aimed in this context, the electricity supply for ACTOM by Marsh Africa, a global at ultimately aligning South Africa’s industry of which we are part is a rela- provider of risk management services. environmental legislation to the laws tively low-impact industry in terms of The Marsh Africa environmental and practices in the world’s more ad- directly contributing towards environ- audit programme, which was intro- vanced industrialised nations are due mental degradation,” Alre comments. duced in September 2012, is aimed at to be promulgated in the near future. “In our case, while we of course assuring ACTOM’s international stake- Particular attention is being given to have to abide by all the environmental holders that the group complies with tightening up of legislation governing requirements applicable to our indus- current legislation and the expectations air quality, as this is seen as the single try, the greater focus of our attention of its investors, customers and technol- most important factor relating to im- now is on assisting our customers in ogy partners regarding all risk factors pacts on health and to the broader field meeting the challenges they are faced that include, besides environmental of generation of greenhouse gases and with in this respect by developing requirements, also health, safety, fire their impact on climate change. and providing products that are better defence and business continuity provi- Atmospheric pollution itself is multi- suited to the environmental require- sions. The group also introduced a sys- facetted. In terms of the wider threat ments of the future.” tem for measuring and monitoring the of deteriorating atmospheric conditions Core expertise carbon footprint of each business unit. around the planet the main focus as “Both ISO14001 and the Marsh applicable to industry is: What is its Several business units in the group Africa programme’s environmental carbon footprint? This is determined by are engaged in such activities and initiatives. Two units are already involved “from the word go”, as pollution control is a core expertise and integral part of their businesses. They are: • John Thompson’s Air Pollution Control unit, which provides pollution control solutions to a wide range of in- dustries that include smelters, mines, cement producers and the chemical and petrochemical industries. • John Thompson’s Utility Boilers & Environmental Solutions unit caters mainly to the power generation indus- try. In addition to providing ongoing maintenance services for boilers at a number of South Africa’s power sta- tions, it is also a leading contractor supplying emission control equipment for power station boiler plant. At least three other business units within the group have recently contrib- uted to the development or distribution of products that play a role in providing for environmental enhancement in vari- ous industries. A welder at TLT ACTOM puts the finishing touches to a large centrifugal fan impeller that will form Wilec has linked up with Cargill, part of the ventilation system the business unit is to provide for an extension of Palabora Mining’s the international US-based producer underground copper mine in Limpopo Province. To page 4 3 What’s Watt December 2015 Corporate

From page 3 and supplier of food, agricultural and industrial products, to handle the supply locally of ester dielectric oil for transformers as an environmentally- friendly substitute for the mineral oil traditionally used for this purpose. A number of major mining groups in the country have switched over to the new oil since Wilec introduced it into the local market early last year. (See story on Wilec’s first ester oil sales on Pg 23) Joint project Another exciting development is a joint project launched recently by John Thompson and a technology partner, involving the rolling out of large-scale production of torrefied material, a form of charcoal. This product has a calorific A bag filter designed, produced and installed by John Thompson Air Pollution ontrolC for a copper value and volatile content comparable producer in Southern Africa. The system shown is a secondary off-gas pulse jet bag filter. to coal. The technology partner has sale-of-steam business by supplying points out. achieved an important breakthrough a renewable fuel to sites where we In addition to a carbon tax, the by developing a continuous process manage and operate the boiler plant,” existing environmental legislation is for production of torrefied material, in he states. expected to be enforced on a more place of the “stop-start” batch-process stringent basis in 2020. It will include Ventilation contract applied until now. “This significant ad- lower targets for emissions from vance enables large-scale production of An example of a different sort is a manufacturing processes, as well as torrefied material, greatly enhancing its subcontract undertaken by Electrical stricter limits for noxious substances viability as an alternative fuel to coal in Machines’ Large Motors business released into the atmosphere, such as both the fire-tube package and larger unit to design and manufacture mo- the sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen industrial water-tube boilers,” says tors to drive large centrifugal fans. oxides (NOx) contained in emissions Etienne de Villiers, John Thompson’s TLT ACTOM has been contracted to from combustion processes such as Technical Manager. provide for ventilation of leading cop- boilers, dryers, kilns and incinerators. The aim of the joint project is to per producer Palabora Mining’s un- Generation constraints ramp up and accelerate production of derground mine in Limpopo Province, torrefied material for extensive use which is being extended. One of the difficulties that have to in industry for generation of process The motors are required to operate be overcome towards solving the cur- steam. John Thompson’s role in the under the control of electronically-con- rent national power supply shortfall is partnership is to design and manu- trolled variable speed drives (VSD’s) to that some of the older power stations facture larger scale production plants, optimise power usage while ensuring that have been brought back into ser- following on the earlier establishment that the fans’ air output is maintained vice in recent years are not permitted to by its technology partner of a pilot at the required levels to ventilate the operate to their full generation capacity plant in which the effectiveness of its mine effectively at all times. due to the constraints placed on their continuous production process was Large Motors specially customised emission levels by current legislation. demonstrated. John Thompson will the fan drive motors to suit the VSD- “Were they to operate at full ca- do the engineering and detailing of controlled application. It did so by pacity their emissions would be well the commercialised version of the pilot incorporating thicker insulation than above the permitted levels, so they plant and will also do the manufactur- normal as extra protection against are obliged to operate at lower capac- ing of these units at its Bellville works. drive failure and by providing additional ity so that the resulting emissions “Industries generally use steam as active material in the motor to guaran- are at acceptable levels,” explains a heating medium and the most cost- tee that the specified temperature rise Tobie Jansen, General Manager of effective fuel currently locally available requirement is met under all possible John Thompson’s Utility Boilers & for firing their boilers is coal, which in circumstances. Environmental Solutions business unit. turn requires expenditure on expensive The government has given notice The unit is playing a key role in pollution control systems to reduce of plans to introduce a carbon tax in the helping to address this problem, being particulate emissions and in some near future. This is due to be applied one of the first specialist providers of cases to manage the release of SOx to both direct and indirect emissions air pollution control plant for the power into the atmosphere,” Etienne explains. from industrial processes. “Direct generation industry to provide and in- “The production of torrefied mate- emissions are emissions emanating stall fabric filter plants at one of the de- rial as a viable and competitive alterna- from the industrial process itself, while mothballed power stations, Grootvlei, tive to coal promises to remove these indirect emissions refers to consump- situated near Balfour in Mpumalanga, difficulties and could provide opportu- tion of energy – typically electricity to replace the original emission control nities to do vertical integration in our consumption – in your business,” Alre system, comprising electrostatic pre-

What’s Watt December 2015 4 Corporate

cipitators, installed when the station downturn, aggravates the difficulties occupancy sensors that automatically was built several decades ago. we as a provider of environmental so- switch the lights on and off according The business unit was contracted lutions currently face,” Woitek states. to whether work areas are occupied or to upgrade the systems on three of “The work we have recently suc- not. Late this year it began installing Grootvlei’s generation units a number ceeded in securing has been mostly the same in the rest of the building of years ago and last year it was award- from industries – like cement manu- to further cut down on electricity use. ed a further contract to do likewise on facturers, for instance – whose dust A smart meter has also been in- the other three units. The fabric filter control systems perform the additional stalled on the main electricity incomer plants are designed to reduce emission function of recovering product and for the site, which provides for online levels to well within the prescribed limit returning it to the process.” monitoring in real time of all electric- at under 50mg/Nm3. ACTOM divisions and business ity consumption. “It has enabled us Similar upgrades on other existing units that have extended their plants to interrogate further opportunities power stations in the national fleet are and warehouses in recent years have to save on power usage and reduce expected to be embarked upon in the taken the opportunity to install trans- the punitive maximum demand cost,” near future. parent polycarbonate sheeting in the comments Rod Penaluna, Electrical roofs and parts of the walls of the new Equipment’s Divisional CEO. Recessionary conditions buildings to allow natural light into the It led to three significant power Woitek Liberda, General Manager interior and so eliminate the need for consumption areas being targeted: of John Thompson Air Pollution Control, use of electric lighting during the day- • Electric Elements shut down the points out that most companies operat- time, thereby reducing their electricity large site compressor and installed a ing in industries that cause atmospher- consumption. smaller unit that delivers sufficient air, ic pollution in some way – be it in the halving the power consumption. Contribution to solutions form of dust, noxious gases or particu- • All the geysers generating hot water late matter – understandably tend to Electrical Equipment carried out for use by employees have been fitted resist upgrading their pollution control improvements at its Germiston site with Satchwell Geyserwise control- systems unless they are compelled to in 2011, during its routine mainte- lers which are set to heat the water do so by law or on the insistence of nance programme of the warehouse only during off-peak demand periods. investors and other interested parties. of Electrical Products’ Johannesburg This has helped reduce the maximum “This applies especially in the cur- branch and the assembly plants of both demand penalty. rent recessionary conditions, when TLT ACTOM and Electric Elements. • Removing inefficient and wrongly- they can ill afford the expenditure Two years ago the division ex- sized heaters as well as urns and cook- involved,” he comments. tended Electrical Products’ and TLT ing appliances used by employees and This kind of expenditure is a “grudge ACTOM’s offices at the same site by replacing them with appliances that are purchase” for customers as in most adding another floor to the building. best suited for the purpose. cases it does not contribute towards Here again it introduced environmental (Also see story on energy-effi- increasing production and profits. improvements by installing energy-sav- cient lighting project on Pg 27) “This, combined with the economic ing LED and T5 lighting combined with

Consular officials from Singapore, Mauritius and Zimbabwe visit ACTOM’s Knights facilities ACTOM hosted a corporate pres- entation about the group and tour of some of its Knights plants for consular officials from Singapore, Mauritius and Zimbabwe early in July to familiarise them with its businesses as part of an ongoing programme to establish closer ties with potential customers and trade partners in countries in Africa and abroad. After the corporate presentation, presented by Group Executive Director Andries Tshabalala, the visitors were taken through the MV Switchgear and Distribution Transformers production facilities. Seen in the above picture during the tour of Distribution Transformers’ plant, Divisional CEO Alan Buchholtz (in foreground), explains the components Sherry Sibanda, Minister Counsellor, of Singapore, while Thembela Caza of a transformer to Parasram Gopaul Tourism, of the Zimbabwe Tourism (left), ACTOM’s CEO, Transmission & (second from left), First Secretary Office, and Jaspal Dhillon (right), First Distribution, looks on. of the Mauritius High Commission, Secretary of the High Commission 5 What’s Watt December 2015 Corporate

Bloodhound SSC project excites interest in technology-based careers among school learners Matric learners studying science and maths at three Gauteng schools were treated to a preview of the exciting Bloodhound Supersonic Car (Bloodhound SSC) project cur- rently under way to illustrate what potentially is in store for anyone embarking on a career in science, technology and engineering. The Bloodhound SSC project is aimed at setting a new world land speed record with a rocket-powered car that has been developed by a British team of scientists, technolo- gists and engineers with the assis- tance of the British Defence Force and other state bodies along with a host of reputable companies, including leading British car manufacturers Rolls-Royce and Jaguar. The project leaders have selected Hakskeen Pan near Upington in the Northern Cape as “the flattest place on earth”, where they plan to set the new Alec Duff (right), MV Switchgear’s Senior Tender Executive, explains aspects of the switchgear land speed record with the specially- production process to some of the East Rand matric learners. Peter Woodman, the Education designed car late 2016 or in early-2017. Ambassador who earlier gave a presentation to the learners on the Bloodhound Supersonic Car, is Their aim is to set a record of 1000 seen on the left, accompanied by Andries Tshabalala, ACTOM’s Group Executive Director, who gave a miles per hour – 1610 kph – which if it is presentation about the group’s range of activities and products. successfully attained will be a marked as a means of exciting interest among social responsibility project provided advance on the existing record of 1228 learners about the career prospects by Reid & Mitchell, which sponsors kph set in 1997 at Black Rock Desert available through the study of STEM additional instruction in Science and in Nevada in the US. subjects. They then roll out a pro- Maths to eligible Grade 11 & 12 learn- As part of the project the organisers gramme comprising mainly technical ers. The schools are Buhlebuzile, also provide an imaginative education competitions in which youngsters are Erasmus Monareng and Thuto Lesedi programme for schools and other in- required to devise solutions while at high schools. stitutions to inform youngsters about the same time being given the op- After the presentation and discus- many of the career opportunities that portunity to learn more about science sions that followed in which Woodman could become a reality for them if they and technology. answered learners’ questions about study science, technology, engineer- The education programme was various aspects of the Bloodhound ing and maths (STEM) with the aim of launched in South Africa in 2012, project, the group was taken on a tour establishing careers based on these with 40 ambassadors and about 300 of the Knights factories by ACTOM per- disciplines. schools participating in it. sonnel to give them further insight into The education programme, by us- The presentation at ACTOM’s some of career opportunities available ing the Bloodhound SSC project as Knights site by one of the local am- to them should they decide a way of exciting greater interest in bassadors, Peter Woodman, a for- to study and qualify in one these subjects among school-going mer aeronautical engineer who was of other of the STEM children, hopes thereby to attract more involved at one stage in the develop- fields. entrants into these professions, which ment of the Concorde aircraft in the are in short supply worldwide. UK, was given at the end of July. The education programme in South It was attended by about 50 Africa is modelled on the British one, matric learners from three which was launched in 2008 when the East Rand schools which Bloodhound SSC project itself was benefit from a started. The British programme is op- erated with the support of about 400 volunteers known as “education am- bassadors”, comprising mainly retired teachers, engineers and technologists, who give presentations about the pro- A scale model of the Bloodhound SSC which is ject at being prepared for the planned attempt in South schools Africa to set a new world land speed record. What’s Watt December 2015 6 Corporate

ACTOM assists Balmoral College with launch of much needed scholar patrol

Balmoral College’s newly-trained scholar patrol squads are seen above being put through their paces during a “road show” held at the school before the patrols went on duty. With the Grade 6 patrollers is their teacher Ngqabutho Mlilo (right). ACTOM, which regularly provides rangements to ensure that this worthy teams on how to perform their duties sponsorship funding to Balmoral objective was achieved without further effectively and safely. College to enable it to enhance and delay. Active Education is an organisa- After a few trial runs, the scholar expand facilities at the school to tion that specialises in development patrol was launched on a permanent the benefit of its more than 1000 initiatives, especially sports activities, basis in mid-August, with a patrol on learners, has again come to its aid for schools and communities. duty every school morning and after- by helping it set up a scholar patrol. Active Education duly obtained the noon to guide learners across the zebra The school, situated next door to necessary authorisation, for a zebra crossing on the busy road, thereby the group’s Knights site, finally turned crossing to be painted on Main Reef greatly enhancing their safety. to ACTOM for help after its own numer- Road in front of the school’s main en- “We expect the scholar patrol to ous attempts to persuade the local trance and organised a “road show” make a big difference in keeping our traffic authorities to authorise a scholar to inform the school’s learners about learners safe in future while they make patrol on one of the two busy roads the system and encourage them to their way to and from school every day,” that pass in front and on one side of make use of it and trained the patrol Wium commented. the school were unsuccessful. Accidents have occurred over a number of years in which learners at the school have been involved. In ad- dition to many who sustained injuries in these accidents, three learners have been killed over the past six years. “The latest fatality occurred early last year. After that we realised that un- less we approached ACTOM for help we were unlikely to ever succeed in getting a scholar patrol launched,” said Memory Wium, Head of Balmoral’s primary school. ACTOM management readily agreed to assist, whereupon Basjan Basson, Operations Manager for the Knights site, was assigned to invite Active Education on board to conduct the necessary negotiations and ar- A scholar patrol on duty at the zebra crossing on Main Reef Road in front of the school. 7 What’s Watt December 2015 Corporate Power

Ingenious ‘gutter turbine’ named winner of ACTOM-sponsored innovation competition ACTOM again participated this year as a sponsor in the national annual HJ van der Bijl Innovation Awards Competition. The group has been a sponsor in the competition since its inception in 2008. The competition, which is aimed at encouraging innovation in science and technology among school-going youngsters, forms part of the annual Eskom Expo for Young Scientists. Angelo Calvino, High Voltage Equipment’s Technical Commercial Sales Engineer, officiated as one of the judges and presented the award on behalf of ACTOM in the “Innovation & Technology” category. The winners, presented by Angelo with a cash prize and a trophy at the Angelo Calvino congratulates Danielle Pretorius (left) and Jeanne Peens at the HJ van der Bijl awards ceremony staged in Boksburg, Competition awards ceremony on winning the “Innovation & Technology” prize. Gauteng, in early-October, were two devised a “gutter turbine” – a miniature because this device was by far the Grade 8 learners at Afrikaanse Hoër hydro-electric generator powered by best and most innovative among all Meisieskool in Pretoria, Danielle drain water. the entries for this competition, in my Pretorius and Jeanne Peens, who “I believe the prize is well deserved, opinion,” Angelo commented. Utility Boilers unit completes first courses in skills training programme for rural communities John Thompson’s Utility Boilers & for training are recruited from local tenance contracts,” explained Alley Environmental Solutions unit based areas in which the business unit has Verhufen, HR & Training Manager of in Isando, Kempton Park, recently ongoing service and maintenance the Utility Boilers & Environmental completed the first set of commis- contracts in Mpumalanga, Limpopo Solutions unit. sioned skills training programmes in Province and North-West Province. “The skills training we provide in a two-year community development “Those selected are given the train- this programme is aligned with project training programme it launched in ing required to qualify them in the vari- requirements and previously identified early-2014. ous job categories, incorporating both skills shortages,” she added. The business unit established the theoretical and practical training. Most To date training of 12 boilermakers programme in support of government of the practical training involves having and 11 welders has been completed initiatives to provide skills training to trainees spend time assisting our tech- towards a skills programme for re- members of previously disadvantaged nical and professional teams who are spective chosen trades. “We don’t communities in rural areas. Candidates engaged on current service and main- undertake to find employment for trainees on the programme, but where opportunities arise and we are able to assist them in getting jobs we do so. For example, four of the recently- qualified students were hired by John Thompson’s Package Boiler unit to work on a boiler supply and installation contract that the unit is currently en- gaged on in Bloemfontein,” Alley said. Other skills training due to be provided in the current programme over the next six months includes training of engineers, mechanical and electrical technicians, safety officers, quality control inspectors, riggers and semi-skilled workers. The programme also incorporates the awarding of bursaries to deserving candidates to Trainees display their certificates of competence on completion of one of the courses for boilermakers study at a university towards a degree and welders provided by the Utility Boilers & Environmental Solutions unit. In the centre are Ally in metallurgy or a national diploma in Verhufen (right), the unit’s HR & Training Manager; and Celio Graca, Regional Maintenance Manager. mechanical engineering. What’s Watt December 2015 8 Power

John Thompson supplies low emission boiler plant to SAB Newlands John Thompson’s Package Boilers John Thompson pro- business unit recently completed vided the emission con- a contract for the conversion from trol equipment as part of high voltage electrode boiler plant the conversion contract, to coal-fired boilers at SA Breweries’ with each coal-fired boiler Newlands brewery in Cape Town. being served by its own The process steam for the brewery reverse-pulse bag filter. has been provided for many years by The bag filters were de- a single large electrode boiler, but this signed and supplied by has become uneconomical due to the John Thompson based steeply rising cost of electricity. on in-house technology Before making the conversion the well-proven at local power brewery was required to commission stations. an environmental management plan to During acceptance ascertain the impact of the proposed tests conducted by an in- coal-fired boilers on the environment. dependent company the The brewery overlooks the Newlands maximum particulates cricket ground and is situated close emissions on both boilers to residences in the suburb and is were well below the re- required in terms of the environmental quired limit. regulations to maintain emission of A 25 t/h twin furnace oil- particulates at under 120 mg/Nm3. The fired boiler was retained for conversion project included bag filters standby purposes. Other to limit emissions from the coal-fired equipment supplied and in- plant. stalled by John Thompson SAB however set the limit more under the contract included strictly at under 50 mg/Nm3 in line with an accumulator, a coal- and its own environmental policy. ash-handling plant, a feed- John Thompson was awarded the water storage tank, a 31m contract in April last year and com- high chimney stack and pleted it at the end of September this interconnecting ducting. year. The electrode boiler has been replaced by two of John Thompson’s A view of the bag filter latest high efficiency 10,5 t/h Europac installation with ID fans, coal-fired package boilers. The ongo- attentuators, flue-gas ducting ing output of these primary boilers is and chimney at SAB’s Newlands supplemented by a 3,2 t/h Enviropac brewery, as supplied and installed biogas-fired boiler that the division by John Thompson as part of the supplied and installed under an earlier recently completed coal-fired contract. boilers contract.

Another John Thompson customer switches to coal-fired package boilers John Thompson recently sup- treatment plant to purify plied and installed four coal-fired the water used in the pro- Europac package boilers at the Port cess,” commented Neville Elizabeth plant of tyre manufactur- Sharwood, Technical ers, Continental Tyre South Africa as Manager, Package Boilers. a more cost-effective solution to the plant’s process steam requirements. The new boilers, each with a steam output capacity of 10,5 t/h at 20,5 bar pressure, are owned and operated by the customer. They have replaced an Neil Berry (left), John Thompson’s electric boiler and a package boiler that Regional Sales Manager, shakes supplied process steam to the plant hands with Riaan Barnard, previously on an outsourced contract. Continental Tyres’ Utilities “An additional feature of the contract Manager, while Pieter van Rhyn, was that it included procurement and the company’s Boiler House installation of a reverse osmosis water Manager, looks on. 9 What’s Watt December 2015 Power Conversion

New NV3 range of standard motors well received by customers Electrical Machines’ newly intro- duced standard range of small cast- iron motors has been well-received in the market place. The NV3 range was launched at the beginning of this year as the successor to the NV1 range. The motors are SA Bureau of Standards approved, bearing the SABS mark SANS 1804. They are available in frame sizes 71 to 315 and in power ratings of 0,37kW to 200kW on 4-pole speed. “We have also upgraded our modi- fication facility for these motors. The facility now has an extended range of modification capabilities and also provides for a bigger throughput than previously,” said Antonio Teixeira, Electrical Machines’ General Manager. The modifications offered include flanging arrangements, thermal pro- tection and painting to customers’ specifications. A pair of motors in the recently launched NV3 range of small cast-iron motors.

Electrical Machines allocated bulk of replacement motors for Eskom power plants The most recent Motor Upgrade June and effective until the end of the mills, pumps and conveyors. Programme (MUP) contract awarded year, accounts for over 60% of the total “An important factor forming part by Eskom to Electrical Machines for value of MUP contracts for this period. of the technical qualifications that production and supply of electric As in previous MUP contracts, counted in our favour was the great motors to replace aging motors in the motors in the latest contract are care taken by our engineering team in various power stations accounts for a combination of MS4 and UNIBOX ensuring complete mechanical inter- the bulk of the total MUP contracts units ranging from 350kW to 3MW. changeability between the new and awarded in the latest round. They are earmarked to replace motors the old motors,” commented General The frame contract to Electrical at Arnot, Camden and Hendrina power Manager Antonio Teixeira. Machines, awarded at the beginning of stations in applications that include

Some of the medium voltage motors manufactured recently by Electrical Machines to replace aging motors at Eskom power stations. What’s Watt December 2015 10 Power Conversion Engineering Projects & Contracts

Sales increase follows Electrical Machines’ establishment of stand-alone branch in White River In 2006 Electrical Machines ap- we’ve experienced a great increase in pointed a dedicated Salesman, Craig sales of our low voltage motors. We’ve Scheepers, at Electrical Products also succeeded in establishing much Nelspruit branch to look after the closer links with customers than previ- motors business for the area it ously, resulting in all-round growth in serves, which includes Swaziland our business in this market, including and Mozambique. performing minor modifications at the There was an increase in sales of branch, such as flanging of motors and motors as a result and in early-2013 assembly of gearboxes. the business unit decided to set up a “In addition we have recently se- branch of its own, which it established cured several orders for customised and opened in nearby White River, with medium voltage motors, which further the staff increasing to four, consisting demonstrates how motor-users have of a second salesman, a driver/store- come to depend on us more for meet- man and an administrator/internal sales ing their various requirements. This is person. all due to our improved presence and The branch, which included a work- the better service we are now able to shop, had a total floor area of 300m2. provide through the branch.” It was also equipped with a delivery At the beginning of September vehicle to facilitate attending promptly this year Electrical Machines hosted to customers’ requirements, including a special “Open Day” for customers collections and deliveries. and potential customers served by the These improvements attracted branch to promote greater awareness even more business and by the begin- about its offerings. ning of this year Electrical Machines The staff of Electrical Machines’ White River The event, which included a spit- decided to further expand the branch to branch at its new premises (from left) Gavin braai, was attended by about 80 peo- cater to the increased demand. In May Kirby, Ricky Duimlaar, Craig Scheepers and ple. Among senior staff from Electrical it took occupation of larger premises Candice Obermeyer. Machines’ Benoni head office who located next door to the first, with a Drift, White River, on Tel (087) 351-2996. attended were Paul Cuthbert, CEO 66% larger total floor area of 500m2. Rishi Gangaram, Electrical of the Power Conversion division, and The branch is situated in Axis Machines’ Sales Manager, said: “Since Antonio Teixeira, Electrical Machines’ Industries Business Park in Rocky’s setting up our own stand-alone branch General Manager.

ACTOM Industry completes contract for new hoists at Royal Bafokeng Platinum’s Styldrift mine ACTOM Industry recently completed the installation and commission- ing of two large hoists for the new Royal Bafokeng Platinum Styldrift Mine near Sun City in North-West Province. The rock winder utilises a 4,6MW motor and drive to hoist 22 000kg from a depth of 750m at a full speed of 15m/sec. The associated personnel winder is equipped with an identical motor and drive inverter plus duplica- tion of all the control systems. The electrical portions of the wind- ers were supplied by ACTOM Industry together with its drive and motor tech- Site assembly of cage induction motor. nology partner GE Power Conversion General Manager. gies to suit the application and which (GE-PC) of Rugby, England, using a The electrical drive, motor and hoist is easier to control using different op- standardised motor frame size. “This control systems incorporate a number tions of software pulse firing patterns. is ideal for the direct coupled arrange- of unique features. The Inverters are arranged with active ment to drive the 5,5m diameter GE-PC’s range of MV pulse width input front ends to recover regenerated double drum mechanicals at 50,7rpm modulated variable voltage and fre- energy back into the electrical supply for the rock duty and 40,6rpm for the quency drives is based on power grid or other connected loads. personnel/material hoist,” commented transistor technology, which can be GE-PC perfected the design and Neville Lock, ACTOM Industry’s arranged in various physical topolo- To page 12 11 What’s Watt December 2015 Engineering Projects & Contracts

From page 11 complex control algorithms for the con- and conveyance decking,” said Neville. nance and data logging SCADA and trol of high performance slow speed ACTOM Industry’s high perfor- HMI systems can be monitored and direct coupled cage induction motors, mance winder control and safety interrogated remotely. equipped with robust insulation-free systems are complemented by its ACTOM Industry and GE-PC rotors for high starting torques. “This electronic speed distance protection, have pioneered many of the leading feature, which allows a hoist to continu- escort brake controls and distributed edge hoisting technologies, particu- ously remain at zero speed on full load, remote I/O nodes to provide an inte- larly for high powered Blair multi-rope is ideal for slow speed manoeuvring grated control and protection system. hoists for many different and arduous with heavy loads, such as shaft sinking The PC-based supervisory, mainte- applications. ACTOM business units meet stiff challenges posed by Kouga Wind Farm project MV Switchgear has frequently the wind farm to the Eskom power of equipment in their respective fields demonstrated its adaptability and grid, providing and installing the 660 than they had previously been called technical capability of developing V/33 kV PTK’s at the bases of each of upon to devise for new applications. and producing cutting-edge equip- the WTG’s and installing the collec- Furthermore, they had to achieve their ment to best suit new applications tor network linking them to the main respective goals within tight time as they arise. substation. constraints. Its development of a medium volt- MV Switchgear was subcontracted Greg Whyte, MV Switchgear’s age compact substation for use in wind to develop and produce the PTK’s, Design & Development Manager, ex- farm power generation is no exception. while Power Transformers was as- plained: “With renewable energy, par- Within a short period it successfully signed the task of designing and ticularly wind farms, the transformer developed and produced 36kV com- manufacturing the transformers for power and voltage ratings exceed the pact substations – also known as pad- the PTK’s. scope of traditional miniature substa- mounted transformer kiosks (PTK’s) “The project was a new challenge tions, where the maximum power rat- – for use at the Kouga Wind Farm at for all three business units,” comment- ing is 1000kVA and the rated voltage is Oyster Bay in the Eastern Cape. ed John McClure, Power Systems’ up to 24kV. So for the Kouga project we The 80MW Kouga Wind Farm, General Manager. were clearly venturing into unchartered comprising 32 wind turbine generators “Being our first balance of plant territory, where the required rated (WTG’s), was completed late last year contract for a wind farm for our busi- power for the PTK’s was 2800kVA and and is now operational. It was one of ness unit, it chiefly involved getting to the rated voltage 36kV.” the major renewable energy projects grips with the complex grid compliance The main focus was on the MV in the “Window 1” first phase of South requirements, in addition to designing compartment of the PTK, where the Africa’s national renewable energy the cabling clusters in the collector ring main unit had to meet the appli- programme launched four years ago. network.” cable internal arc classification (IAC) Power Systems was awarded the The project posed unusual techni- requirements and also had to have the R150-million electrical balance of plant cal challenges for both MV Switchgear flexibility to perform up to four different contract for Kouga, comprising build- and Power Transformers, which had to functions simultaneously. “In addition, ing a 33kV/132kV substation to link develop substantially different forms with the transformer having higher rated power than what we were used to, we had to design the low voltage assembly to ensure that the dynamic forces associated with the higher pro- spective fault level on the 660V side of the transformer were taken into account,” Greg said. Among other requirements that

A 3D drawing of the pad-mounted transformer kiosk (PTK) developed by MV Switchgear for the Kouga Wind Farm’s wind turbine generators.

What’s Watt December 2015 12 Engineering Projects & Contracts

had to be catered for in the design “The LV windings were manufac- applicable to wind farm generator of the PTK was ensuring that it did tured from continuously transposed transformers.” not exceed the maximum allowable conductors supplied by one of the “The business units engaged on temperatures of the transformer and world’s most advanced manufactur- the Kouga Wind Farm project gained LV assembly, including provision of ers of this equipment,” commented a great deal of valuable knowhow and adequate ventilation. Ronnie Russell, Power Transformers’ experience in the process. It has been a The specially developed 2,8MVA Divisional CEO. steep learning curve for all of us, but it step-up transformers provided by “This type of winding is normally has equipped us well to tackle any such Power Transformers for the PTK’s are used in transformers of 10MVA and projects in the future with confidence.” of stacked-core design, with mitre-cut above but were incorporated here due commented John McClure. joints and step lap construction. to the onerous loading requirements

Signalling completes pilot electronic signalling contract for Transnet Freight Rail tions for individual stations according to their specific layout and signalling requirements,” Peter explained. This custom-designed engineer- ing configuration tool, developed in- house by Signalling, is an extra layer of software that utilises the program- ming tools developed by Alstom. It is programmed to apply TFR’s HR97 interlocking rules to the required sta- tion layout. “For the overall validation system we designed a dummy station model, including a track layout simulation, that incorporates all the features as provided for Crescent station, plus all other possible permutations covered in TFR’s Required Operational Capability (ROC),” he added. The technology makes provision for both centralised and distributed inter- locking systems. A distributed system was chosen for Crescent station for control of a total of six point sets and 26 signals, with the new system installed Signalling’s Frans Badenhorst (left), Application Engineer, and Leon Pienaar, Senior Development in the station’s relay room and commu- Engineer, with the newly-installed electronic interlocking system in Crescent station’s relay room. nicating with the trackside equipment Signalling recently completed a pi- awarded in mid-2014 and the system via optical fibre cable in place of the lot electronic interlocking contract at Crescent was completed and com- copper cable used formerly. The previ- for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) that missioned in September 2015. “The ous DC points machines have been encompassed provision of a system Crescent system will be monitored by replaced with AC points machines. for a single existing station. The vali- TFR prior to granting full and final ap- The system also makes provision dation process also required a simu- proval of the interlocking system,” said for communicating with the legacy lated “validation station” containing Peter Colborne, Signalling’s General system still in operation at the adja- the full scope of permutations for Manager. cent stations Potchefstroom and New electronic signalling systems. The core of the electronic interlock- Machavie. Signalling has developed and in- ing system is Alstom’s integrated Vital The Crescent installation contains stalled an electronic system designed Processor Interlocking (iVPI), a product most of the features required in an specifically for Crescent station, situ- that was initially developed for the electronic interlocking system serving ated near Potchefstroom station in North American market but has been an average small station. “These fea- North-West Province on the line to applied in more than 16 countries. tures can be expected to be included Klerksdorp, while the validation station Signalling developed the hardware and in practically all future systems, while simulation it has developed as part of software interfaces to all the trackside the validation model also makes provi- the pilot contract serves as a master equipment and the CS90 remote con- sion for any additional features likely model for all other stations TFR may as- trol system. to be required at stations where the sign to the business unit to design and “Our engineering configuration pro- signalling functions are more complex provide electronic interlocking systems gram, called Engineering Configuration and varied, such as passenger stations for in future. Tool (ECT), has the capability to auto- like Johannesburg and New Canada,” The multi-million rand contract was matically generate interlocking equa- Peter commented. 13 What’s Watt December 2015 Engineering Projects & Contracts High Voltage Equipment

Signalling awarded second project for semi- automated yard control systems Signalling has been awarded a fur- ther contract to provide and install yard control systems for various Transnet Freight Rail stations around the country, following its earlier successful execution of contracts for semi-automated yard control systems. The latest yard control contract is for a total of 13 yards. “We view the award of this sec- ond project to us as affirmation of our success with the earlier project in developing a yard control system that is effective and efficient, along with our installation of the system at the various yards in a satisfactory manner and substantially on time,” commented Peter Colborne, Signalling’s General The basic elements of the yard control system: an axle-counter detection point (front), an indicator and Manager. a points machine. The new project, awarded in mid- system against tight time constraints. trackside push-button or a local control August 2015 and scheduled for comple- Having overcome those hurdles in the panel (LCP) that, although a remote tion in December 2017, is for yard control first phase, we expect things to run control system, is located in a line-of- systems for Kazerne, Natalspruit and much more smoothly this time round,” sight position so that the operator can Springs yards in Gauteng, Newcastle Peter stated. see the points or series of points he and Vryheid in Kwazulu-Natal, Witbank, The yard control system is a semi- is controlling. Belfast, Nelspruit, Komatipoort and automated system that replaces exist- The earlier project, executed be- Oosbank in Mpumalanga, Phalaborwa ing mechanical systems in which the tween mid-2012 and the end of last and Thabazimbi in Limpopo and points sets have to be thrown by a yard year, comprised five yard control Rustenburg in North-West Province. operator on the tracks. contracts for a total of 10 stations “The initial project was very chal- With the new system yard opera- in Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal, Western lenging as it involved converting the tors are provided with two alternatives Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern conceptual design into a commercial for operating points sets, using either a Cape.

High Voltage Equipment develops compact 132kV voltage transformer High Voltage Equipment has de- veloped another lower-cost item among its array of locally manu- factured equipment, following on its development within the last two years of lower cost and more efficient composite insulators for 132kV disconnectors and instrument transformers. The latest is a more compact form of 132kV voltage transformer. “The new product is 35 to 40% smaller than the conventional unit and is accordingly lower-priced,” said Nick de Beer, High Voltage Equipment’s Product Manager, Instrument Transformers. A series of tests were successfully conducted recently on a prototype at Power Transformers’ test facility, due to the SA Bureau of Standards’ laboratory not being available. “We have begun to Nick de Beer (right) and Etienne Venter, High Voltage Equipment’s Design Engineer for voltage notify the market about its availability transformers, stand next to one of the new compact 132kV voltage transformers, which is substantially and are optimistic about picking up our smaller than the conventional units around it, as the picture shows. first orders soon,” Nick remarked. What’s Watt December 2015 14 Medium Voltage & Protection

MV Switchgear After-Sales opens Carletonville branch for mining customers MV Switchgear’s After-Sales de- partment has established a branch in Carletonville, Gauteng, to bet- ter serve its mining customers in Gauteng, North West Province and Free State. The After-Sales department, which provides backup services, including installation, maintenance and repairs, opened the branch at the beginning of April this year. The branch is staffed by a total of 10 people, headed by Branch Manager Jacques Smith and also comprising a planner, an administrator, three protec- tion technicians, two breaker techni- cians, two apprentice electricians and Jacques Smith (front row, second from right), Branch Manager of the newly-established Carletonville four service vehicles. branch, with his staff (front row, from left): Eddie Zandberg, Field Service Technician Assistant; The workshop at the branch is Henry McMullin, Planner; Wianda Du Plessis, Administrator and Jan-Louis van Eeden, Field Service equipped for doing repairs on breakers Technician Assistant. and making modifications to switch- vide a higher quality service, including sales office for MV Switchgear,” she gear panels. It also keeps stock of quicker response times. added. frequently used spares. “We can now provide service on- The Carletonville branch is situ- Said After-Sales Manager Avrille tap with our strong team of service ated at 67 Railway Street, Oberholzer, Cape: “The new arrangement is a vast technicians on call, backed by essential Carletonville, and is contacta- improvement as it enables us to see service equipment and spares. The ble on Tel (018) 788-2229 or E-mail customers more frequently and pro- branch also operates as an additional [email protected]

P&C’s LV Engineered Products department supplies distribution board against tight deadline established adjacent to the company’s Pegasus plant, for which P&C provided the LV distribution board in 1999. The Pegasus plant, which manufactures red body floor tiles, has a 50 000m2 per day production capacity. The new LV distribution board also provides for a planned expansion of the Gryphon plant that will double its capacity by early-2017. Ceramic Industries’ Project Manager Kevin Gibb said several fac- tors besides competitive pricing were taken into consideration in awarding P&C the contract. “We were happy with the overall package they offered. Part of this was that they’d had prior Examining the newly-installed LV distribution board for Ceramic Industries’ new Gryphon factory are experience on the Pegasus project and (from left) Paul van Zyl of Parima Consulting, the customer’s electrical consultants; Sipho Kodisang, were able to show that they had a good P&C’s Manager, LV Engineered Products; and Thys Emmenis, Factory Manager of the Gryphon plant. understanding of our requirements,” The LV Engineered Products depart- will provide power to the new Gryphon he commented. ment of Protection & Control (P&C) porcelain floor tiles plant currently The LV Engineered Products de- recently completed a fast-track turn- under construction. It was ordered in partment offers a diverse range of key contract involving production, May this year and was supplied and customised equipment, catering to supply and installation of a four- installed in early-August – within the the mining industry, municipalities, panel 400V 50kA distribution board tight eight weeks’ contract period set manufacturers and many others. for a new plant being established by the client. They include distribution boards, gully in Vereeniging, Gauteng, by lead- The Gryphon plant, which will have boxes, motor control centre (MCC) ing ceramic tile producers Ceramic a production capacity of 12 000m2 of panels, metering kiosks, transformer Industries. tiles per day when it goes into produc- cubicles, motor starters, overhead The customised distribution board tion at the end of this year, is being trunking busbars and plug-in boxes. 15 What’s Watt December 2015 Power Transformers

Power Transformers helps launch black woman owned company Power Transformers recently as- MV Switchgear, Power Transformers, sisted in the establishment of a Distribution Transformers, High Voltage black woman owned company that Equipment, Protection & Control and performs erection and site work for Current Electric. the division. Trecento, established in mid-2014, The new company, Trecento is headed by Carmen Williams, 39, (Pty) Ltd, which is based at Power who has a majority shareholding in the Transformers’ Wadeville premises, is company. She was formerly a financial the first company to be established manager in the electrical industry. under an incubator enterprise develop- The new company, which has a ment programme launched recently by total workforce of eight people, is ACTOM Transmission & Distribution doing well. “They’ve been involved (T&D) in terms of the amended Black in a number of site installations of Economic Empowerment (BEE) regu- power transformers and customers lations applicable to the electrical have been pleased with their work,” industrial sector. commented Ronnie Russell, Power The incubator programme, which Transformers’ Divisional CEO. is also in line with the objectives “The support we provide is man- of Eskom’s Skills Development & agement advice, technical training and Localisation (SD&L) requirements, is financial assistance,” he added. aimed mainly at providing more oppor- “Trecento is a viable and sustain- tunities for advancement of businesses able business as it provides a set of owned by members of previously dis- services that are directly comple- Carmen Williams, CEO and majority shareholder advantaged communities. mentary and relevant to our division’s in the recently-established black woman owned T&D comprises the six divisions business.” company Trecento.

Power Transformers’ design engineers attend advanced design course Power Transformers ran a special the end of September and beginning Johannesburg’s new Sebenza main engineering design training course of October, focussed on aspects of de- intake substation. for its design team at its Wadeville, sign applicable mainly, though not ex- The course was given by Walter Germiston, premises recently. clusively, to large power transformers. Seitlinger, CEO of of Seitlinger Power The division has been providing This follows Power Transformers’ Engineering of Austria, in collaboration special courses for its design engineers success in designing and manufactur- with Felber Engineering, with Willi with the assistance of world leading ing four 315MVA autotransformers at Felber, Felber Engineering’s CEO, also transformer design consultants Felber 275kV for the upgrade currently under in attendance. Power Transformers’ Engineering of Austria for the past way at Durban’s Klaarwater main in- design team who participated in the eight years to keep them abreast of take substation. The division was also course comprises Technical Manager the latest technological advances and awarded a contract recently by City Louis Liasides; Engineering Manager global best practice in this field. Power to manufacture and supply three Vincent Thorpe; Chief Designer Peke The latest two-week course, held at 315MVA 275kV autotransformers for Chokoe; and Junior Designer Luyanda Mkatali. Vincent said the course structure was provided by four specialised soft- ware programs provided by Seitlinger Power Engineering that simulated various aspects of transformer design. “The design aspects they covered included impulse transient calculation, current distribution in transformers, forced oil calculation and magnetic field analysis,” he said. “These programs are usually only available from major transformer re- search centres owned by leading global manufacturers. We consider ourselves very privileged to have been given ac- cess to them, thanks to our close links Walter Seitlinger (centre) with (from left) Vincent Thorpe, Luyanda Mkatali, Peke Chokoe and Louis with the specialist experts who provide Liasides. the courses for us,” he commented. What’s Watt December 2015 16 Power Transformers Reid & Mitchell

Power Transformers supplies large autotransfor- mers for Durban main intake substation upgrade Power Transformers recently com- pleted a multi-million rand contract involving the design, production and supply of four 315MVA 275kV/132kV autotransformers as part of an extensive upgrade by eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality of its Klaarwater main intake substation. Klaarwater, on the western side of Durban, is being upgraded to meet in- creased electricity demand throughout the city. It is the largest of a total of five main intake substations feeding power from Eskom into the city, accounting for about 40% of the total input. The autotransformers will be in- stalled to replace the 250MVA units currently in operation at Klaarwater. The first of the new units is expected to be operational by November this year and the second by April next year, with the other two due to go into service during the remainder of 2016. Seen above shortly after being installed at Durban’s Klaarwater substation is the first of the four 315 The 315MVA 275kV autotransform- MVA autotransformers Power Transformers has manufactured and supplied for it. ers for Klaarwater are among the first a substantial upgrade of its design, est power transformers it was capable transformers of these ratings to be pro- production and test capabilities at its of producing prior to the upgrade were duced by the division since it instituted Wadeville, Germiston, plant. The larg- units of up to 160MVA at 161kV. R&M’s Danie Meyer named ‘International Risk Manager of the Year’ for 2014 Danie Meyer, Reid & Mitchell’s Risk Manager, has been honoured by the National Occupational Safety Association (NOSA) in being award- ed its International Risk Manager of the Year award. This is the first time a Risk Manager employed by a business unit in NOSA’s D4 industrial sector, which encom- passes a range of manufacturers of industrial products, has won the award. “This is a wonderful achievement by Danie. It is a tribute to his utter dedica- tion to safety and health and his disci- plined approach to his job, in which he consistently applies himself to trying to ensure that all safety procedures are adhered to in our business,” com- Danie Meyer, flanked by Justin Hobday (left), NOSA’s Managing Director, and Duncan Carlisle, mented Mike Shaw, Divisional CEO Executive Director of NOSA’s mother company Micromega, displays his “International Risk Manager of of the R&M division. the Year” certificate at NOSA’s awards presentation function in September. He received the award at the same and Australia. achievements on the safety front and time that R&M was presented with Justin Hobday, NOSA’s Managing the person responsible for inculcat- its fourth NOSCAR Award – also an Director, said that R&M’s exceptional ing the right safety values among the unprecedented achievement in the safety achievements, including main- company’s employees, so it is entirely D4 Sector – at NOSA’s 54th annual taining a 5-Star rating over the past appropriate for him to be recognised in awards ceremony at the Champagne eight years and winning four NOSCAR this way,” he stated. Sports Resort in the Drakensberg in awards every year since 2011 were Earlier this year, at NOSA’s regional September. Countries that participate the main reasons behind its decision awards presentation ceremony in in NOSA’s safety, health & environment to name Danie “Risk Manager of the Pretoria in June, Danie was awarded (SHE) programmes include several oth- Year” for 2014. “He is the main driv- the regional Risk Manager of the Year er African countries, the UK, Canada ing force behind Reid & Mitchell’s award for 2014. 17 What’s Watt December 2015 Reid & Mitchell

Reid & Mitchell initiates special campaign to raise safety awareness among factory staff Complacency is the enemy! This a serious injury, and served to tighten ness about hazards and what to do – is the message that came through the need for this campaign. As much and not do,” Mike emphasised. loud and clear to Reid & Mitchell’s as we didn’t like the potential of near- “We want to make sure that every- (R&M) management when two of its misses, they served us well in raising one who enters our workplace, either workmen sustained injuries in the awareness,” Mike said. an employee, a contractor or a visitor, factory in the last 12 months. “We introduced new safety pro- is safe and leaves in the same healthy Fortunately the injuries were not cedures to apply under this heading, condition he or she arrived in.” serious. The incidents however re- the main one being to always lock out An additional measure R&M took, sulted in the division’s disabling injury overhead cranes during maintenance coinciding with the launch of the new frequency rate (DIFR) 0.62 rating with by using lock-out bags to enclose the campaign, was installing video cameras the National Occupational Safety crane pendants.” throughout the plant to record all safety Association (NOSA) being adjusted “Housekeeping”, the second most hazards as they occur. “This is a very upwards to over 1, which is above the serious hazard identified – referring to useful tool which we are using to re- level required to maintain its current poor storage and stacking of compo- inforce awareness among employees. NOSA 5-Star rating, which it has held nents – was the main focus of attention The recordings, by showing the exact for the past seven years. during September. sequence of events and circumstances “We have a proud safety record. In “In discussing and applying our relating to an incident, enable us to addition to our 5-Star rating, we have focus to these topics we expect to take appropriate steps to prevent any been awarded five NOSCAR awards provide more safeguards against injury. recurrence,” Mike concluded. by NOSA to date for the excellent But above all our aim is to lift aware- safety levels we have achieved and maintained,” commented Mike Shaw, R&M’s Divisional CEO. “We believe the recent incidents are due to complacency creeping in, resulting in employees getting lax about following the proper safety procedures.” To set matters right management decided to devise and introduce an extra safety campaign to re-awaken the factory staff’s awareness about the importance of taking all necessary steps to prevent accidents. The new initiative, dubbed the “What can hurt me?” campaign, kicked off with a discussion in which factory staff were asked to identify what they considered to be the main safety hazards in the plant. Each of these hazards is being addressed in turn month-by-month, starting in August 2015 with “lifting and handling”, which was identified as the biggest hazard. “During the lifting and handling focus point we had three near-misses, R&M’s Maintenance Supervisor Hein Venter (right) and Gauteng Cranes’ George Twayi display a crane any one of which could have resulted in pendant lock and bag that has been introduced as an additional standard safety measure in the factory.

R&M achieves success with manufacture of locomotive motor suspension units Reid & Mitchell (R&M) recently plant which proved its effectiveness. the prototype we designed and pro- successfully developed a specially Its client, rail engineering company duced has proven to meet the cli- customised prototype of a motor Grindrod Locomotives, then commis- ent’s specifications in all respects, as suspension unit (MSU) for diesel sioned it to produce 18 MSU’s to the test results show,” commented locomotives. be retrofitted to the traction motors Willie Liebenberg, R&M’s Technical R&M developed the prototype unit of three existing narrow-gauge GS7 Manager. in-house within a short period of about shunting locomotives destined for the The MSU’s are being produced to six weeks in September and October Ivory Coast Sitarail Project. replace the axle cap system originally this year and then put it through an “Although we have never designed installed on the wheel sets of the lo- intensive running test at its Benoni or manufactured MSU’s previously, comotives. “The MSU’s are a more What’s Watt December 2015 18 Reid & Mitchell

modern and efficient system than the axle cap system for linking the locomo- tive’s traction motor to its axles. They have to be designed to fit between the wheel sets,” Willie explained, adding that each loco has six wheel sets with an MSU mounted on each. The advantages of MSU’s over the traditional axle cap system include lower cost of production and greater efficiency of operation, reliability and durability. “They also require much less maintenance and can be replaced more easily and inexpensively when they wear out,” Willie concluded.

During testing of the prototype MSU at R&M’s plant recently, Foreman Frans Henning (right) is seen monitoring the temperature of the unit, while Test Technician Sunil Mungal monitors the traction motor used in the test.

New machines at Metalplus improve output and production efficiency Metalplus, the group’s mechani- mill acquired by Metalplus, replacing ity of grinding an estimated five large cal repair business unit, has up- an improvised method of performing crankshafts per month, against two per graded its production facility in this task. month on the old machine,” said Jose Robertsham, Johannesburg, with The crank grinding machine, which Gomes, Metalplus’ General Manager. the acquisition of a new crankshaft was delivered and installed in October, The new grinding machine does the grinding machine and a second- was custom-made for Metalplus by an job with great efficiency, due mainly to hand Elga mill. Italian machine tool company. It can a state-of-the-art drive mechanism for The new crank grinding machine accommodate crankshafts of up to 5m turning the crankshaft during operation. has replaced an old “very tired” ma- in length and weighing as much as 5t, “The old machine had a single motor chine dating from the 1940’s, while compared with its predecessor’s upper to drive the headstock that holds the the Elga mill, used for cutting keyways limits of 4m and 2t respectively. crankshaft in place and turns it on on rotating shafts, is the first Elga “The new machine has the capabil- the grinding bed. The new machine is equipped with a drive consisting of two synchronised motors located on either side of the headstock, which provides greater stability, as well as higher ac- curacy and speed of operation,” Jose explained. The Elga mill is expected to arrive in early-January 2016. The present process applied for cut- ting of keyways on rotating shafts is an improvised operation that is unwieldy and time-consuming. “The cutting machine we use is too small to ac- commodate most shafts, necessitating having to use a crane to hold a shaft in place during the cutting process,” Jose commented. “With the Elga mill it will be a much simpler and faster process, so we’ll be able to cut many more shafts than previously. It will accommodate shafts A large crankshaft being ground in the new high capacity crank grinding machine acquired by weighing up to 15t, more than twice Metalplus. what we can handle now,” he said.

19 What’s Watt December 2015 Marthinusen & Coutts

Quick turnaround achieved on rotor rewind for Tongaat Hulett’s Xinavane mill alternator

Craig Megannon (right), M&C’s General Manager, and Rudi Els, Coil Shop Manager (left), assist Specialist Winder William Martin during the rewind of the Xinavane mill’s alternator rotor at M&C’s Cleveland facility. Marthinusen & Coutts (M&C) recent- tor, which has a cruciform-type winding differential expansion between the ly performed an emergency rewind configuration. copper windings and the steel of the for sugar producers Tongaat Hulett “It was complicated by the fact rotor body. We solved this problem in repairing the rotor of the 20MW that we found it necessary to redesign by introducing thicker insulation and salient pole synchronous alternator the winding and insulation,” explained marginally thinner copper windings, at its Xinavane mill near Maputo, Rob Melaia, M&C’s Engineering & which were neither VPI’d nor glued to Mozambique. Technical Executive. the pole body. The division carried out the complex “The original coil had developed a “This achieved the desired result, task at its Cleveland, Johannesburg, fault due to the fact that it had been as proven by the tests we carried out facility in just over three months. It vacuum pressure impregnated, which on the rotor windings on completion involved a complete rewind of the ro- by forming it into a solid block caused of the job,” said Rob. Turbine rehabilitation restores NamPower’s Van Eck power station to original capacity After a comprehensive feasibility 120MW. The scope of work comprised lubrication systems and steam chests. study NamPower decided to embark the complete refurbishment of three “The refurbishment of the turbines on a project to rehabilitate the aging of the 30MW turbines and overhaul of will see these units brought back to 120MW coal-fired Van Eck power the fourth. OEM specifications by overhauling station in Windhoek. The first step involved a thorough all major components,” said Mike The project will see the restora- on-site assessment of the turbines Chamberlain, M&C’s Operations tion of three turbines, four generators by the division’s engineers to deter- Executive. and four boilers, culminating in much mine the existing condition of the Two units have been returned to needed increased local power genera- equipment. service and are performing accord- tion capacity. The governor valves were refur- ing to specifications, while the reha- Marthinusen & Coutts (M&C) to- bished and the turbine blades replaced. bilitation of the remaining two units is gether with ACTOM Turbo Machines The contract also included refurbish- scheduled for completion by January commenced work on the project in ment of the HP and LP turbines, cyl- next year. 2012 with the aim of restoring the inders, diaphragms, shafts, bearings, power station’s output to its original oil pumps, HP and LP shaft glands, What’s Watt December 2015 20 Marthinusen & Coutts

Extensive rehabilitation of abandoned mill motor for New Zealand gold mine Marthinusen & Coutts (M&C) recent- Manager. Laminations & Tooling business unit. ly performed an extensive rehabilita- “Not surprisingly we found it to Parts that were replaced with re-man- tion of an old 2985kW salient pole be in a poor state. Apart from the fact ufactured parts included the journals, synchronous mill motor that hadn’t that it had been left abandoned for so slip-rings, brushgear and coupling. been in use for over 10 years. many years, it is a very old motor. It “We also modified the stator The project was commissioned was manufactured in Japan in 1970 design to increase the stator copper by international mining company and had since been deployed at mining thickness and reduce the overall tem- Newmont for the Waihi opencast gold operations in Australia, Argentina and perature rise, which we found to be mine in New Zealand. South Africa. the main limiting factor in the stator M&C took on the project after “Repairing it has involved an ex- in its original form. We did the design initially agreeing to retrieve the motor tensive amount of work and included using advanced software we recently from where it had been left lying in complete remanufacture of parts that acquired for this type of specialised the veld at the site of the old Crocodile we found to be beyond repair.” work,” said Craig. River gold mine at Hartbeespoort Dam The rehabilitation contract was Machine Monitor, an Australia- near Skeerpoort, Gauteng. awarded in October last year and com- based third party engineering compa- “We were first awarded a contract pleted at the end of October this year. ny, observed and monitored the entire to assess the condition of the motor The repairs that were done included rehabilitation process and testing at to establish what sort of state it was rewinding of the rotor, replacement M&C’s Cleveland plant on Newmont’s in and to then quote for repairing it,” of the stator core with laminations behalf throughout the duration of the said Craig Megannon, M&C’s General manufactured by Electrical Machines’ contract.

M&C Test Technician Suresh Gunpat with the 40-pole synchronous mill motor during the series of tests conducted on it on completion of the rehabilitation process. 21 What’s Watt December 2015 Wilec

Wilec upgrades and expands conductor lines at Olifantsfontein plant Wilec has upgraded and expanded tion lines to add to three existing lines. Imide Film covered conductor for trac- the Poly-Imide Film covered and “Production capacity has increased tion motors currently in production for paper-covered conductor produc- from 15t to 25t per month. The new new electric and diesel locomotives on tion plants at its Olifantsfontein machines produce a better and neater order by Transnet Freight Rail to replace manufacturing facility near Midrand, product and incorporate automatic in- and extend its aging fleet. Gauteng. line testing,” said Howard Eldridge, Four new paper covering machines The expansion and upgrade of the Wilec’s Operations Executive. are due to be installed and commis- Poly-Imide Film covered copper con- The upgrade also included installa- sioned at the end of the year. This prod- ductor plant, commenced late last year tion of pressurised cells to provide a uct is used mainly in the production and completed in February this year, dust-free environment. The two new and repair of distribution transformers. comprised the purchase and installa- machines are being used exclusively tion of two new state-of-the-art produc- at present for the production of Poly-

One of the two new Poly-Imide Film covered conductor production lines installed recently at Wilec’s Olifantsfontein manufacturing facility. Wilec’s City Deep ‘repair market’ production facility relocates to Olifantsfontein Wilec’s conductor-covering facility ductor across the board resulting expertise, test systems and quality at City Deep, which was established from the recession also means that control procedures to the greater ben- several years ago exclusively for the the Olifantsfontein plant is currently efit of the repair operation are seen preparation and supply of covered operating below capacity, so it has as important additional advantages conductor to the repair market, adequate space available to accommo- brought about by the consolidation was recently relocated to the divi- date the repair facility under the same exercise. sion’s main manufacturing facility at roof,” commented Howard Eldridge, “The move however has not re- Olifantsfontein near Midrand. Wilec’s Operations Executive. sulted in any loss of jobs. Most of the The move, prompted mainly by the Besides better use of space and staff from the City Deep facility have continuing economic downturn and the elimination of the extra costs involved moved across to Olifantsfontein, while need to reduce overheads and related in maintaining a separate production new positions have been found for the costs, took place in September. facility, more effective utilisation of the rest at City Deep,” Howard stated. “The reduced demand for con- Olifantsfontein plant’s manufacturing What’s Watt December 2015 22 Wilec

Wilec adopts ‘project-based’ strategy to better meet key customers’ requirements Wilec recently adopted a new Accounts Specialists manage the sales created position Executive, Business business strategy to better meet team in terms of internal sales support, Development, in which capacity he the needs of its more than 2500 customer visits and order expediting. is responsible for business projects, customers. The Key Account Specialist are: acquisitions etc. The Product Managers The new strategy, put into effect • Andries van Wyk, Key Account report to Paul. The responsible staff in at the beginning of July, was adopted Manager, Transformer Market the Business Development portfolio in response to changing trends in the • Chris Lombard, Key Account include: market. “It is aimed at giving greater Manager, Transformer Market • Gerard Donachie, Business attention to the individual require- • David Mgaga, Key Account Projects ments of our customers, with special Manager, Repair & Railways Markets • Floyd Mdhluli, Rail Projects emphasis being paid to key customers • Cindy Franckeiss, Key Account • Mzwakhe Khanyile, Project and core products, comprising various Manager, OEM Market Estimations & Planning categories of manufacturers and repair- • Selwyn Naidoo, Key Account Wilec’s two “non-electrical” depart- ers of electric rotating machines and Manager, ACTOM Market ments, Bearings and Tapes are unaf- transformers,” said Sales & Marketing Paul Senior, former Business fected by the restructure and continue Executive Louis Blom. Development Manager, Electrical, to operate as before, each headed by a “In essence we are setting out to has been promoted to the newly- Business Development Manager. work in closer partnership with our customers to better meet their require- ments and in turn those of their own customers. It involves becoming more closely involved in their businesses, including gaining a better insight into end-user projects for which our cus- tomers offer solutions incorporating our products.” This “project-based” approach is seen as providing more scope for the sale and use of Wilec’s products than the narrower product-based approach applied previously. The focus has been shifted from being product-specific to customer-specific. The key advantage of this change is focussing all efforts Louis Blom (right, in blue shirt) with some of the staff of the departments affected by Wilec’s sales on meeting customer expectations in operations restructure. Seated in front are (from left): Hilton Homes, Electrical Sales Specialist; Julius terms of product, technical assistance Kurucz, Internal Sales, Bearings; Pearl Kqomoqadiyo, Internal Sales, Industrial; David Maruma, Cash and project management. The Key Sales Specialist; and Jonathan Adams, Industrial Sales Specialist. Rising trend in mining to replace mineral oil with Wilec’s Envirotemp ester oil for transformers The ester dielectric transformer attendant cost savings. rate over the next couple of years as oil Wilec introduced into the local “In introducing ester oil into the more mining groups switch over to market last year is rapidly winning local market we have got into step Envirotemp,” commented John Farren- acceptance in the mining industry. with a worldwide trend in which many Handford, a Director of Steelcor. The oil, branded EnvirotempTM, was industries, including power utilities and Mining companies that have pur- launched early last year after Wilec mining and industrial companies have chased the product, both for use in negotiated exclusive local distribution adopted it in place of mineral oil,” said newly-ordered installations and for rights for the product with manufactur- Louis Blom, Wilec’s Sales & Marketing retrofitted existing ones, include major ers Cargill, the US-based international Executive. groups Anglo Platinum and Palabora producers of food and agricultural and Boksburg-based Steelcor, the larg- Mining. industrial products. est manufacturer and supplier of me- “The principle advantage of ester In addition to being environmentally dium voltage miniature substations oil from the point of view of mining friendly, ester oil has other significant (minisubs) and distribution transform- companies is its low flash-point, which advantages over conventional mineral ers up to 2MVA, last year supplied a greatly reduces the fire risk,” said oil. These include a high level of fire- total of 48 500 litres of Envirotemp Farren-Handford. resistance, with a flash point of more ester oil to mining customers deploying “A further major factor in its favour than twice that of mineral oil, greater its minisubs and transformers. is the extended life it offers for the efficiency that includes a higher load In 2015 this figure is expected to equipment in which it is used and the capacity, plus higher temperature toler- top 60 000 litres – an increase of 32%. consequent reduction in the equip- ance and better insulation characteris- “The trend is on the up-and-up, so ment’s lifetime cost,” he added. tics that extend transformer life, with we expect sales to increase at a similar 23 What’s Watt December 2015 Electrical Equipment

Electrical Products lands another contract for new generation AMV12 switchgear Another municipality has selected bution throughout Stilbaai from a new- MV Switchgear’s new generation ly-built main intake substation, Stilbaai AMV12 switchgear. West substation, which the contractor It is Hessequa Municipality on the constructed in a recently-completed southern Cape coast, which chose contract for Hessequa Municipality. the switchgear for installation in a The order for the AMV12 switch- new 66kV/11kV switching substation board was placed in September and is in Stilbaai. due for delivery in February next year. The contract for the seven-panel AMV12 switchgear, developed by AMV12 switchboard was won by MV Switchgear, is rapidly gaining ac- Electrical Products’ Port Elizabeth ceptance in the Southern African mar- branch. It was awarded by Mossel ket since its launch last year. Purchasers Bay based substation project manage- so far include Johannesburg’s City Prevan Moodley ment and construction contractor VE Power and the City of Windhoek. from contractors and municipalities in Reticulation. “With more municipalities rec- the near future,” commented Prevan VE Reticulation is engaged in estab- ognising the many advantages of Moodley, Sales Manager of the lishing the switching substation as part adopting AMV12 switchgear we are Electrical Products’ Port Elizabeth of a contract to extend electrical distri- optimistic about winning more orders branch. Bloem and Pretoria branches repeat previous successes in ‘Branch of the Year’ competition For the second year in succession for an outstanding performance on ly-contested competition. Bloemfontein branch won Electrical all fronts. And as before Pretoria Electrical Products’ latest set of Products’ Branch of the Year award branch was Runner-Up in this keen- awards for excellence, applicable to the financial year to end-March 2015, also included competitions for Best Sales Team, won by Johannesburg, with Durban taking the Runner-Up prize, Most Improved Branch, won by Steelpoort, with Nelspruit as Runner- Up, Best Credit Control, won by East London, followed by Runner-Up Bloemfontein, and Best Stores, won by Steelpoort, with Durban next as Runner-Up. The awards presentation formed part of the business unit’s annual conference, which was held in Cape Town in May. Bloemfontein and Pretoria were especially warmly congratulated by The line-up of winners (from left): Craig Watt, Branch Manager, Johannesburg, which won “Best Divisional CEO Rod Penaluna on ac- Sales Team”; Braam Preston, Branch Manager, East London, which won “Best Credit Control”; Charles complishing repeat performances in Ross-Innes, Regional Manager, Bloemfontein, which won “Branch of the Year”; Fritz Hattingh, Branch the main Branch of the Year contest. Manager, Pretoria, which was runner-up for “Branch of the Year”; Mandie de Klerk, Branch Manager, Rod also made special mention of Nelspruit, which was runner-up for “Most Improved Branch”; Irene Swanepoel, Branch Manager, Steelpoort branch’s impressive feat Steelpoort, which won both “Most Improved Branch”; and “Best Stores”, and Herman Steyn, Branch in winning both the Most Improved Manager, Durban, which was runner-up for “Best Sales Team” and “Best Stores”. Branch and Best Stores competitions. Electrical Products launches sales training for ‘supply chain management’ based business Electrical Products has succeeded in agement of the business opportunities management (EPCM) contractors in maintaining good growth in the face offered by a growing trend that has preference to doing them in-house. of the widespread and persistent ad- been taking place in the marketplace “In this trend we saw an opportu- verse business conditions prevailing in recent years. This has been a shift nity to perform a procurement manage- locally and globally. by end-users towards outsourcing ment role in our capacity as a leading Its success is attributable mainly management of their projects to engi- supplier of electrical equipment by to timeous recognition by its top man- neering, procurement and construction offering complete product packages to

What’s Watt December 2015 24 Electrical Equipment General

suit the requirements for each project,” provision of the new service, first the Elite Hunters Academy, it was commented Mike Ullyett, Electrical launched in 2010 and intensified in launched in 2013 with over 30 of Products’ Sales & Marketing Executive. 2013, has resulted in a burgeoning of its Electrical Products’ top sales people at- “We found many EPCM contrac- business. It has substantially extended tending intensive workshop-orientated tors happy to actively include us in the its customer base and has increased courses on a quarterly basis to hone procurement portion of projects, leav- annual turnover considerably in the skills in line with the new business ing them free to concentrate on the past three years, with the procure- requirements. main task of handling the execution of ment management component now An additional programme named the projects. accounting for a significant portion of the Elite Hunters Sales Leadership “This new role however demanded annual sales. Academy has been specially devised a complete change from the way we’ve The business unit developed a for the sales management staff. traditionally conducted our business. special training programme for its Launched in August and attended by We had to adopt a much more proactive sales force in consultation with the about 20 sales managers, it consists approach, instead of playing a largely local office of a reputable international of monthly training sessions over a reactive role of offering and supplying skills development company. Dubbed period of six months equipment and products in response to customers’ needs. It meant having to seek out planned projects before they happened and investigate what equipment was required in each case, including determining all the specifica- tions and designs involved, as well as being price competitive. “It has been a steep learning curve requiring a comprehensive transforma- tion in the way we market ourselves as well as the way we procure, assemble and supply our products,” Mike stated. A key part of the change in orien- tation of the business was having to re-train the business unit’s sales force to adapt and extend their selling and customer service skills accordingly. Electrical Products’ Sales & Marketing Executive Mike Ullyett is assisted by Sales Representative Electrical Products’ promotion and Nontu Mkhize in preparing a presentation for the Elite Hunters Sales Leadership Academy. Technical Training Centre expands due to increased demand The Group’s Technical Training units for training to be provided for aimed at employees with years of Centre has expanded as a result of employees to obtain Section 28 cer- practical technical experience who increased demand for technical skills tificates has increased steadily in the however don’t have any recognised training on all fronts. past three years,” said Technical Training formal qualification. “The Section 28 “While our intake of apprentices at Manager Danie de Kock. trainees are given part-time training the beginning of each year is stable, The demand is for both mechani- for at least six months – sometimes running at an average of 30 per year, cal and electrical skills training. Danie more, depending on the requirement demand by various ACTOM business explained that Section 28 training is in each case.” This year the Centre has trained 12 group employees under the Section 28 programme, up from eight last year and four in 2013. The Centre also has regular demand for skills training from companies outside the group under its Outside Training programme, which it launched in 2009. The original training premises ad- joining MV Switchgear’s main factory and offices at Knights has become too small to provide all the training required, so the Mechanical side now occupies all the space at the original site, while Electrical training has been relocated to one of the houses on the lawn at the front of the Knights site. The move, which took place in March Apprentice electricians Veronica Thubakgale (front) and Livhuwani Maliga perform practical exercises last year, included installing some new under the supervision of Electrical Training Instructor Ash Ncongwane. equipment for training purposes. 25 What’s Watt December 2015 General

ACTOM sponsors electronics workshops for Ekurhuleni high school teachers ACTOM recently sponsored a series plained Miranda Myburgh, Sunstep’s “Many learners have no idea what of practical workshops on electron- Programme Director. they want to do after school and ics for 150 high school Science & She said that all the teachers who tend to choose easier subjects to get Technology teachers from schools participated in the workshops were good results, not realising that most in Ekurhuleni. excited about taking part and enjoyed university degrees require Maths and The workshops were run over four the learning experience. Science. Our workshops, by giving consecutive days in August at four ven- “It is very important that these teachers a better understanding of ues situated nearest the schools con- teachers learn to transfer their newly- these subjects, have proven highly cerned. The teachers, from Germiston, acquired knowledge well. This enables effective in helping to make them excit- Boksburg and Alberton, were shown them to more persuasively influence ing to learners. The teachers are better how to solder and assemble simple learners to study Mathematics and placed to inspire learners to make the electronic devices that included resis- Science and thereby improve their most of their school years and see a tors, diodes, transistors, capacitors, opportunities to enter valued and technical or engineering future before buzzers, thermistors and switches. worthwhile careers later,” Myburgh them,” she concluded. The workshops were run by pointed out. Sunstep Training , a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that specialises in the provision of hands-on electronics workshops for teachers mainly from rural and township schools, which are often not adequately provided with the equipment and skills to enable them and learners to put into practice the Science & Technology subjects covered by the national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum. Stellenbosch University supports Sunstep Training by supplying them with office space, a laboratory and storerooms. “Our methodology is activity-based and integrates thinking and action with- in the context of technological problem- solving. The general state of readiness of teachers in under-resourced schools to teach the CAPS curriculum is a con- cern. It is this problem that we seek School teachers attending one of Sunstep Training’s workshops in Ekurhuleni are shown here trying to address with our workshops,” ex- their hands at soldering. Key appointments

Casbah Zwane has been appointed 1, 2015. He has previously been em- 2015. He was formerly Technical Works General Manager of High Voltage ployed within the group in various Manager of R&M. Equipment with effect from effect from positions, including Sales Manager, Carol Kaaba, has been ap- August 1, 2015. Metering, for P&C from 2005 to 2009. pointed SHEQ Manager of Wilec’s Faisal Hoosen has been appointed Willie Liebenberg, has been ap- Olifantsfontein plant with effect from General Manager of Protection & pointed Technical Manager of Reid & May 4, 2015. Control (P&C) with effect from August Mitchell (R&M) with effect from July 1,

Casbah Zwane Faisal Hoosen Willie Liebenberg Carol Kaaba

What’s Watt December 2015 26 General

Three business units provide energy-efficient lighting at Quadpara Association lodge When Paul Cuthbert, Divisional CEO lamps and high-efficiency of the Power Conversion division, electronic control gear. was approached by the Quadpara Paul praised Neil Association of South Africa (QASA) van Blerk, Business early this year to assist it in making Development Executive its lodge in Edenvale, Gauteng, more for Electrical Products and energy efficient he had no hesitation Genlux, for the assistance in agreeing to help. he provided and his commit- The project entailed replacing the ment to ensuring that the lodge’s lighting with more modern project went ahead. lighting to reduce electricity consump- The David Lewis Lodge tion and minimise environmental is run by the association for impact. the benefit of its members Paul naturally turned to the group’s to provide them with ac- specialist lighting systems business commodation that is both unit Genlux Lighting to assess the affordable and accessible to requirements and provide and install wheel-chair users. the new system. Electrical Machines “We are very pleased and Motiv Electrical, the black woman to now have energy-saving owned procurement company in which lighting in line with our asso- ACTOM has a 50% stake, shared the ciation’s ethical aims,” com- cost of the new equipment, while mented Ari Seirlis, QASA’s Genlux provided its consultative ex- CEO. pertise and the labour to install it free “The new system pro- of charge. vides improved lighting while QASA’s CEO Ari Seirlis (in wheelchair) admires the new lights The switchover to the new system at the same time consuming in the David Lewis Lodge, accompanied by (from left) Genlux was carried out in July. The old T12 less energy than previously. Lighting’s Christopher Kgoete; Electrician Robert Cameron; Lodge fluorescent lights and magnetic control We are very grateful for what Housekeeper Charles Magagan; and Electrical Products’ Neil van gear were replaced with T5 fluorescent ACTOM has done for us.” Blerk. LHM employees help home for abandoned babies on Mandela Day Mandela Day – Nelson Mandela’s birthday, July 18 – is celebrated every year by employees at LH Marthinusen Denver, who mark the occasion by arranging and handing over donations to a charity to bright- en up the lives of those in its care. This year the El-Shammah Home for Abandoned Babies in Primrose, Germiston, was selected as the ben- eficiary of this initiative. Currently it provides a home for 15 abandoned babies ranging from new-borns to two- year-olds, who are cared for by a group of well-trained caregivers. LHM employees pitched in with generous donations that enabled them Standing behind the pile of goodies provided by LHM staff for El-Shammah are (front row, from left): to purchase a substantial quantity of Senior Buyer Penny Mohapi; Commercial Estimator Kasia Wrzesniak and Receptionist Ellestine Lekay groceries, baby food, toiletries, clean- Middle row: Financial Manager Moreka Reddy; HR Manager Charmaine Hall; Credit Controller Joyce ing products, clothes and blankets Majola; Financial Manager Cheryl Havenga; Admin Clerk Elaine Norridge; and El-Shammah Founder to provide for the babies’ needs for Bertha Spies. Back: Supervisor Alfie Hamman and Divisional Financial Executive Kevin Knipe. several months. new vacuum cleaner for it. for the generous donations and the In addition, one of the organisers, A group of LHM employees visited employees’ visit. “A word of apprecia- Kevin Knipe, who is LHM’s Divisional the home on Friday July 17 to deliver tion to your staff and management for Financial Executive, negotiated with a all the Mandela Day gifts and spend 67 an awesome Mandela Day. We will local retailer of household appliances minutes with the tiny inmates. never forget how we were treated and to donate a new washing machine for After the visit, the home’s founder, spoiled. May God bless you for making the home, while LHM itself also made Bertha Spies, sent a message to our day so special,” she said. a worthy contribution by purchasing a Kevin expressing warm appreciation 27 What’s Watt December 2015 General

Philip and Peter take top honours at Signalling long-service awards Signalling’s General Manager, Peter Peter has 31 years’ service in The long-service awards presenta- Colborne, and Technology Manager, ACTOM to his credit, while Phillip, with tion function also included, as usual, Philip Meyer, were the longest- 35 years, was not only the longest- presentations to employees selected serving employees presented with serving of all employees to be pre- as “Signalling Employee of the Year” awards at the business unit’s annual sented with a certificate in this round, and “Manufacturing Performer of the long-service presentation function but he has spent all that time working Year”. in October this year. for Signalling. Usually one person is selected for each of these, but this year two were chosen to share “Signalling Employee of the Year”. They are Financial Administrator Tamzyn Price and Contracts Engineer Frans Badenhorst, while Production Technician Peter Nel was named “Manufacturing Performer of the Year”. Other recipients of long-service awards were: • 30 years: Cheryl Barrie (Financial Accountant) • 25 years: Jeremiah Dahile (Fitter) and Barry Joffe (Divisional Financial Manager) • 20 years: Kenny Twala (Technical Assistant) • 15 years: Botha Nthunya (Driver), Leon Pienaar (Contracts Engineer), Leonard de Villiers (Design Manager), Pat Lutchmiah (Logistics Manager) and Conrad Lunderstedt (Senior Engineer) Displaying their trophies and certificates at the awards function in October are(from left) Tamzyn Price, • 10 years: Johan Joubert Botha Nthunya, Leonard de Villiers, Frans Badenhorst, Jeremiah Dahile, John Mafokeng, Leon Pienaar, (Supervisor), John Mofokeng (Fitter) Cheryl Barrie, Barry Joffe, Pat Lutchmiah, Peter Colborne and Peter Nel. and Ismatefda Hector (Wirewoman)

Long-service award for Gerty Deetlefs, Manager of group’s in-house medical aid brokerage Gerty Deetlefs, Manager of Magnet job to head up the new company and in-house medical aid brokerages in the Employee Benefits (MEB), ACTOM’s MEB was born. It is one of only a few country. medical aid brokerage company, was the recipient of a long-service award at a special function held at the group’s Knights head office in early-September. The award for 15 years of service was presented by Group Human Resources Executive Johann Ellis, who with Gerty initiated the establish- ment of MEB in 1999. Prior to the creation of MEB, Gerty had been in contact with the group as a corporate health consultant for a large medical aid company which many group employees belonged to. Johann soon recognised the advantages of cre- ating an independent brokerage within the group that would deal with not just one but with all the medical aids to which group employees subscribed. His plan was accepted by group management, Gerty was offered the Johann Ellis and Gerty Deetlefs display the 15 years long-service certificate presented to Gerty. What’s Watt December 2015 28 General

MV Switchgear employees contribute generously to charity for poor school children Early this year the staff of MV HR Officer Nambita Mlondleni ship near Germiston. Switchgear agreed to contribute identified a suitable charity organisa- Over the next few months both fac- out of their own pockets towards tion, “Dress a Needy School Kid”, which tory and office staff-members went out helping people less fortunate than provides assistance and support to and bought various kinds of goods they themselves. poor schoolchildren in Katlehong town- thought best suited to the needs of the young recipients and handed them over to Nambita to store away safely in the HR department’s office. When the time came to hand them over to “Dress a Needy School Kid” in July, the group of employees who took them there had two large boxes filled to the brim with goodies, which included numerous pairs of school shoes, clothing and a great variety of tinned food. “All the donations together must have been worth at least R10 000, if not more. The project was very well supported and everyone taking part Some of MV Switchgear’s staff-members who delivered presents to the “Dress a Needy School Kid” were very generous with their contri- charity in July. Divisional CEO Martin Kelly (centre) is standing opposite Nambita Mlondleni (in light butions. We are already planning the blue top), who organised the project. The others in the picture are (from left) Elvis Mashologu, Mncedi next project,” commented HR Manager Zakhe, Lusapho Gceba, Bernard Shalang, Sanele Chonco, Petrus Mphuthi and Sabelo Mhlungu. Thuthuka Zondo afterwards. Electrical Products’ annual Sports Day in Durban well attended and successful The popular annual Sports Day hosted in September by Electrical Products’ Durban branch again at- tracted participants from ACTOM business units and customers from many parts of South Africa this year. The event, staged at the Umhlali Country Club on 11 September, saw 106 golf enthusiasts taking part in the four-ball alliance competition, while the bowls tournament attracted a total of 24 players. Despite adverse weather condi- tions, including near gale force winds and the odd shower, all participants in both competitions valiantly persisted in playing through to the end. The members of the winning golf team were Russell Warren (John Thompson), Carl Fryer (NCP Alcohols), Stuart Watson (Gledow Sugar) and Luke Brouckaert (TSB Malelane International). The winners in the bowls contest were Derick Motto-Ros (John Thompson), Rishi Gangaram (Electrical Machines), Joseph Mthembu (Electrical Products) and Gideon Malotane (CBI-Electric Top picture : Winners of the bowls match (from left): Joseph Mthembu, Derick Motto-Ros, Rishi ATC). Gangaram and Gideon Malotane. Above: Winning golf team (from left): Carl Freyer, Stuart Watson, As in previous years, Durban Branch Russell Warren and Luke Brouckaert. Manager Herman Steyn and Roddy event for organising and running it with staff-members, especially former McGibbon, a former incumbent in this great efficiency. Internal Sales Lynne Scholtz, who left position, received well-merited praise Herman also paid tribute to the the branch at the end of July after more from many people attending this year’s strong support provided by branch than 25 years’ service. 29 What’s Watt December 2015 ACTOM divisions and business units

POWER ENGINEERING PROJECTS & CONTRACTS John Thompson, Bellville: (021) 959-8400 Industry: (011) 430-8700 John Thompson, Isando: (011) 392-0900 Industry is a systems engineering contractor and integrator serv- John Thompson, Durban: (031) 408-9700 ing the public sector and the electrical, mining, processing and www.johnthompson.co.za automotive industries. John Thompson designs, manufactures, installs and maintains indus- trial boilers and environmental equipment for local and international Contracting: (011) 430-8700 process steam and power generation applications. Also retrofits, Contracting is an electrical and instrumentation contractor which services and maintains utility boilers and environmental equipment project manages, installs and integrates cabling, racking, lighting in the power generation market. and other equipment on large mining, infrastructural and industrial projects. John Thompson Air Pollution Control: (011) 478-0456 Air Pollution Control designs, supplies and installs dust control, Power Systems: (011) 430-8700 product recovery and gas-cleaning equipment for the mining, mineral Power Systems is a substation project management and construc- processing, power generation, cement, chemical, petrochemical tion contractor serving utilities, local authorities and the mining and food industries. and manufacturing industries. In addition to outdoor substations, it offers innovative solutions that include gas-insulated switchgear POWER CONVERSION (GIS) substations, hybrid compact switchgear, disconnector circuit Electrical Machines: (011) 899-1111 breakers and series and shunt capacitor banks. Electrical Machines supplies medium and low voltage motors, starters, gearboxes and speed reducers to the mining, industrial, Transport: (011) 871-6600 processing and utilities markets. Transport comprises the Signalling and Transport Equipment & Projects (TEP) business units. Signalling designs, manufactures and Large Motors: (011) 899-1111 installs railway signalling equipment and systems Large Motors designs and manufactures medium voltage motors and TEP is a contractor and supplier of railway rolling stock equip- that include its reputable customised large UNIBOX series and its ment, parts, maintenance services and specialised depot assembly high specification MS4 totally enclosed fan-cooled (TEFC) cast-iron machinery and test equipment. motors. HIGH VOLTAGE EQUIPMENT Laminations & Tooling: (011) 899-1111 High Voltage Equipment: (011) 820-5111 Laminations & Tooling manufactures laminated components and High Voltage Equipment is a designer, manufacturer and supplier tooling for the electric motor manufacturing and repair industries. of high voltage equipment to power utilities, local authorities and industry. It manufactures and supplies isolators, instrument trans- Elmacast Foundry: (011) 818-3511 formers, circuit breakers and dog-box circuit breakers. Elmacast Foundry manufactures castings in all grades of SG iron, grey iron and high chrome irons for the mining, railways, earthmov- MEDIUM VOLTAGE & PROTECTION ing and pump industries. MV Switchgear: (011) 820-5111 MV Switchgear designs, manufactures, supplies and installs me- HVAC Systems: Durban (031) 700-3286 dium voltage air- and gas-insulated switchgear that includes indoor HVAC Systems: Cape Town (021) 981-0111 switchgear, miniature substations, ring main units and containerised www.actom-hvac.co.za substations, serving power utilities, local authorities, contractors, HVAC Systems designs, supplies and installs industrial ventilation, industry and the mining sector. heating and air-conditioning systems for the petrochemical, paper, pharmaceutical, mining, food, textile and various other industries. Protection & Control: (011) 820-5111 Protection & Control designs and supplies power system protec- Static Power: (011) 397-5316 tion, control and automation systems, prepayment, AMI and other Static Power designs, manufactures and installs standby battery metering systems, components and LV equipment to power utilities, chargers, distribution boards, power supplies, rectifiers, converters, local authorities and industry, which includes support services such inverters, capacitor trip units, solar regulators and other equipment. as training, commissioning and network analysis.

Alkaline Batteries: (011) 397-5326 Current Electric: (011) 822-2300 Alkaline Batteries supplies nickel cadmium, lithium ion and nickel Current Electric designs, manufactures and supplies medium voltage metal hydrate batteries to the power generation, railways, telecom- current and voltage transformers to switchgear manufacturers and munications, military and renewable energy markets. repairers, electrical distributors and a diverse range of end-users locally and internationally. Multi Power Systems: (011) 397-4861 Multi Power Systems supplies, tests, installs, repairs and maintains POWER TRANSFORMERS DC standby equipment, including switchmode rectifiers, uninter- Power Transformers: (011) 824-2810 rupted power supply systems and lead acid and NiCd batteries. Power Transformers designs, manufactures and supplies a wide range of power transformers to power utilities, electrical contrac- COM 10: (011) 552-8368 tors, the mining sector, local authorities and industry locally and COM 10 supplies DC power solutions for communications ap- internationally. plications in the wireless, telephony and broadband industries. Its products include rectifiers, converters, distribution centres, power DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMERS enclosures, supervisory modules and lead acid batteries. Distribution Transformers: (011) 820-5111 Distribution Transformers designs, manufactures and supplies distribution transformers to power utilities, the mining sector, local authorities and industry locally and internationally.

What’s Watt December 2015 30 LH MARTHINUSEN ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT LH Marthinusen: (011) 615-6722 Electrical Products: (011) 878-3050 www.lhm.co.za Electrical Products is ACTOM’s trading and representation arm, LH Marthinusen repairs and refurbishes transformers and rotating with a national network of strategically located branches. The busi- machines, including repairs to hydro and thermal power alternators. ness unit supplies products produced by ACTOM divisions and Manufacture of electric motor components, insulation components other manufacturers, including cable, cable accessories, lighting and specialised transformers and motors. It also provides engineer- equipment, heating and ventilation equipment, circuit breakers, ing services for its products to the mining, industrial and petrochemi- distribution transformers, minisubs, protection and control equip- cal sectors and local authorities, as well as for the export market. ment, electric motors, meters and fusegear.

REID & MITCHELL TLT ACTOM: (011) 878-3050 Reid & Mitchell: (011) 914-9600 TLT ACTOM designs, manufactures, supplies and installs industrial, www.reidmitchell.co.za process, ventilation fan systems, heating, ventilation and air-con- Reid & Mitchell repairs and manufactures electric motors, generators ditioning (HVAC) systems to the mining, processing, air pollution and alternators for draglines, shovels, off-highway vehicles and drills control, power generation and construction industries. used in opencast mining, as well as electrical equipment for the rail and oil & gas industries, locally and internationally. Appliance Components: (021) 863-2035 www.satchwell.co.za Contact Engineering: (011) 892-3013 Appliance Components manufactures and supplies domestic and Contact Engineering manufactures and refurbishes commutators industrial heating elements, temperature controls, solar water heat- for locomotive traction motors and the DC motor repair market and ing components and appliance spares to the domestic appliance manufactures a diverse range of electro-mechanical components manufacturing industry and the chemical, mining and construction that include slip-ring assemblies, electrical contacts and flexible industries, among others. connectors. Genlux Lighting: (011) 825-3144 Metalplus: (011) 433-1880 www.genluxlighting.co.za www.metalplus.co.za Genlux Lighting is a leading designer and manufacturer of luminaires Metalplus repairs, refurbishes and manufactures a wide range of for roadway lighting, floodlighting, outdoor commercial lighting mechanical components, including turbines, impellers, rolls, shafts and industrial applications. It produces a wide range of high qual- and traction motor and gearbox casings used in the power genera- ity products and employs a team of expert designers, with further tion, petrochemical, mining, processing, steel, transportation and technological support available from a leading international designer marine industries. and manufacturer of luminaires.

MARTHINUSEN & COUTTS ACTOM ENERGY Marthinusen & Coutts: (011) 607-1700 ACTOM Energy: (021) 511-9146 www.mandc.co.za www.actomenergy.co.za Marthinusen & Coutts offers the most extensive after-market ser- ACTOM Energy provides electro-mechanical maintenance solutions vices throughout Africa. The range of 24/7 motor repairs covers for renewables and the offshore oil & gas sector large and small AC and DC motors, flameproof motors, traction motors and power generators up to 980 MW. M&C’s services hydron hydraulics: (021) 511-9146 include customised manufacture and design, on-site engineering www.hydron.co.za services and unique motor management solutions that complement hydron hydraulics designs and supplies hydraulic engineering sys- the repair business. tems and services to the offshore oil & gas sector internationally. Equipment it designs, supplies, assembles, refurbishes, repairs and ACTOM Turbo Machines: (016) 971-1550 installs includes high pressure power packs, ring main units, winch- Capabilities include minor and major repairs on any design or type es, cranes, ballast systems and drilling and under-sea equipment. of turbine, generator, stator or rotor. Electrowave Cape: (021) 510-2550 WILEC www.electrowavecape.co.za Wilec: (011) 629-9300 Electrowave Cape designs, supplies and services electrical and elec- www.wilec.co.za tronic engineering systems for the marine and offshore industries Transwire: (011) 316-2480 locally and internationally. These include design and installation of www.transwire.co.za power automation and drive systems, automation and instrumen- Wilec, incorporating Transwire, specialises in the manufacture tation systems and generator control systems and refurbishment, and supply of electrical products to a diverse range of industries, repair, installation and maintenance services. including manufacturers and repairers of transformers, AC electric motors, DC traction motors, magnets, electrical panels and power Namibia Armature Rewinders Tel (00264) 64-462-886 generators. The range includes enamelled wire, Kraft and thermally Namibia Armature Rewinders repairs electric motors, generators and upgraded paper/Nomex/Mylar and Mica covered conductors, as well other rotating equipment for a wide range of industries in Namibia. as a comprehensive range of insulation materials, cables, bearings and ancillary products.

What’s Watt is published by ACTOM (Pty) Ltd to inform staff, ACTOM contact: customers and other stakeholders of developments within Andries Tshabalala, Tel: (011) 820-5111 the group. [email protected]

Editorial contact: Disclaimer: Julian Kraft, J Kraft Public Relations This publication is designed, compiled and produced on behalf of Tel: (011) 472-6686, [email protected] ACTOM (Pty) Ltd by J Kraft Public Relations and In Africa. Whilst the compilation and production of What’s Watt is done with care and with Produced by: every effort being made to avoid errors, ACTOM, its shareholders and Jeroen Luyk, In Africa staff do not accept responsibility for any errors or the consequences (011) 768-7050, [email protected] thereof.

31 What’s Watt December 2015 What’s Watt December 2015 3232 What’s Watt December 2013