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LOCAL MANUFACTURING
Steely resolve
Metal Spinnings, trading as Herbish Drainage Systems, has
been involved in the design and manufacture of stainless
steel floor drains, grease traps, strip channels, shower
channels, and linear floor channels for over 20 years.
By Tristan Wiggill
Herbish uses two welding
robots to assist with the
welding requirements.
Plumbing Africa met with the technical director,
Roberto Berti, at the company’s production facility in
Roodepoort, Johannesburg, to find out how this local
manufacturer has kept going, even though South
African manufacturing has declined massively in
recent years. “After the purchase, we realised that we needed to go
to the next level. So, we imported two new 200-tonne
presses and tooling from China and acquired a new
Bystronic BySprint 4kW CO2 laser cutter, before
progressing to a more sophisticated fibre laser,”
Berti says.
Specified by architects, engineers, and plumbers, the
comprehensive Herbish range provides high-quality
drainage solutions that require minimum maintenance
and which offer maximum corrosion resistance.
Everything that Herbish manufactures, apart from its
manhole covers, are made from stainless steel. “We’ve grown tremendously. We now make around 70
items, which have all been requested from our clients.
All our channels are custom-made in terms of their
dimensions, grating, and outlets.” Berti estimates that
20% of the work that the company currently does is
entirely bespoke. “Few European companies will take this
type of work on, as they prefer to supply fixed sizes,” he
says. This flexibility gives Herbish a competitive edge.
“Another advantage of manufacturing locally is our faster
turnaround times.”
THROWBACK
The company was bought in 2005 from Herman Bischoff,
for whom Metal Spinnings had been manufacturing
drainage components since the late 1990s.
He says the company’s prices have remained stable for
many years, with only 2016 and 2017 realising slight
increases, primarily due to the increase in material and
labour costs. The same cannot be said of importers, who
have to factor into their costs the volatility of the rand.
The company supplies the domestic, industrial, and
commercial markets. “Architects and wet services
consultants specify us all the time,” he says. This
demand then filters down to plumbing suppliers and
builders. “We get good business from shopping centres
and fast-food franchises. Every restaurant needs to
have grease traps nowadays.” While there are other
local manufacturers competing for share of the market,
progressively more competition is being felt by the
entry of European manufacturers who have extensive
knowledge of drainage and who supply top products.
“We are able to successfully compete with our quality,
prices, and delivery against imported products, but
somehow, local businesses still specify the more
expensive floor drains. I believe we should keep the
May 2018 Volume 24 I Number 3
www.plumbingafrica.co.za