Quarry Southern Africa September 2018 | Page 6

SA NEWS

Eighty years of disseminating concrete info

The enormous collection of printed matter in The Concrete Institute( TCI)’ s information centre is as relevant today as when the well-known‘ concrete library’ put its first few books on the shelf 80 years ago, says Susan Battison, information specialist at the TCI.
The centre at the TCI offices in Midrand holds the largest collection of cement- and concrete-related reference works on the African continent, arguably also in the southern hemisphere. It was started in 1938 when the TCI forerunner, the Portland Cement Institute, was established and has been the one constant factor amid name changes and shifts in focus that the current TCI has since undergone.
TCI
Bryan Perrie( seated on left), MD of TCI, was pictured with the staff of the TCI’ s information centre. Susan Battison is seated next to Perrie, with Bongani Methula( standing on left) and Kizzy Shipalana at the back.
Battison comments:“ Many people think that libraries with books and papers are irrelevant because so much research information is now available on the Internet. However, Internet research can be dangerous and commercially influenced. Some of the information on the web is marketing in disguise, emanating from amateurs
or pseudo concrete experts posting YouTube videos and blogs. Very little information free of charge on Google is peer reviewed or verified for accuracy and updating.”
She says peer reviews and scholarly information can be expensive to obtain, but the TCI information centre has a vast collection of such verified information available— free of charge.“ The centre has built up a reputation of trust within the concrete industry and is recognised as a champion of free concrete information.”
Its impressive catalogue has essential information under one roof for students and concrete industry specialists and if necessary, the centre’ s staff can also search global information resources, to save clients
valuable time and money. Tertiary students who have progressed to become heads of university departments or global authorities spend hours of research at the Midrand‘ library’, which has generated immeasurable goodwill for TCI over the years.
“ Our reference works now total over 130 000 items and includes journals, conference proceedings, books, DVDs, standards, and historic data from an era long before the Internet existed. TCI Information Centre caters for the needs of professional builders, civil engineers, concrete technologists, students, lecturers, professionals, journalists, and home improvers. It has even helped school children with homework,” Battison adds.

Construction and mining equipment sales rise

Sales of construction and mining equipment continued to improve during the first quarter of 2018, with sales of new equipment reaching levels last seen in the first quarter of 2015. According to figures released by the Construction and Mining Equipment Suppliers’ Association( CONMESA), a total of 1 542 units were sold during the period; an improvement of nearly 100 machines during the same period last year. It also extends the upward trend that has seen equipment sales inch upwards since the beginning of last year.
CONMESA chairman, Lawrence Peters, says the move is in line with the association’ s expectations and predictions at the beginning of the year. He adds that the second quarter should continue a similarly positive trend, but with the uncertainty of volatile exchange rates and rising fuel costs possibly weighing against a sharper increase in sales.
The recovery has been steady but slow due to the underlying challenges faced on both the mining and construction sides of the industry. While low commodity prices have weighed heavily on the mining sector, the sluggish sales are also because of political uncertainty, as well as unease of the Mining Charter and its impact on mining investment in South Africa.
Along with other executive members of the association, who are elected from member companies within the association, Lawrence represents the large multiagency equipment distributor ELB Equipment, which has exposure in nearly all sectors of the mining and construction industries. His company experience also
Conmesa bears out the findings, where sales are improving across the board, rather than pointing to any one sector.
This is reflected by fellow board member and representative from Bell Equipment, Dale Oldridge, who says the company’ s figures are better than expected in all areas, with mining equipment performing particularly well. He says that internally the company is also optimistic that construction equipment sales will improve during the latter part of the year as infrastructure projects are launched close to next year’ s elections.
Barloworld Equipment’ s Dr Samantha Swanepoel concurs, reporting that sales are improving across all industries, but reminds us that the industry’ s improvement is off a relatively low base. She adds that factors such as the implementation of the Mining Charter, as well as negative mining news headlines, are still depressing aftersales business and margins.
Mining and construction equipment sales continued to increase in the first quarter of 2018.
4 _ QUARRY SA | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018