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Local manufacturing
Inox Systems
bends the rules
By Tristan Wiggill
Inox Systems is changing the shape of the plumbing industry with
its South African-made corrugated stainless steel pipes (CSSPs).
Based in Germiston, Johannesburg, Inox Systems
manufactures and supplies CSSPs for hot and cold
water supply applications in four sizes.
While it officially commenced trading in 2012, brothers
Eric and Ofir Levi had already begun their CSSP journey
back in 2010, importing small quantities of the product
from Asia.
The manufacturing facility in Germiston opened in 2015
and currently carries a substantial amount of stock.
1.
2.
Inox products are suitable
for most water distribution
applications in residential,
commercial, and industrial
structures.
304L-grade stainless steel
provides good corrosion
resistance for most
applications.
“The formation of the business was more about solving
the issues we were having on site than a commercial
business decision,” says general manager Eric Levi. “We
looked around for alternatives, but we weren’t satisfied.”
According to director Ofir Levi, the biggest issues were
pipe theft and leaky soldering. “The South African solar
water industry employs lots of semi-skilled labourers,
especially in projects financed by the government.
Usually, the first thing to fail with solid pipes is the
Solid pipes, in certain applications, are more difficult to
work with and require more space to store and transport,
whereas their flexible product can be rolled up neatly.
The growing solar industry in South Africa provided the
duo with early momentum, as low-pressure geysers were
being fitted to thousands of RDP houses.
“When we started in the solar industry, flexible plastic
pip