Steel Construction Vol 40 No 3 - Mining, Industrial, Import/ Export | Page 6

SAISC profile dealing with supply challenges faced by fabricators Every fabricator in South Africa is facing challenges in current market conditions. There is a lot of uncertainty around which sections will be available, which will be imported and which will be manufactured locally. It would be really useful to have a reliable supply of steel at a stable price, but I’m not sure that that’s possible. by Kevin Harris, Director, Steel Services “Necessity is the mother of invention and when times are tough it forces us to be dynamic and innovative. The beam welding line is a key part of how we see our business developing.” Contact Details: Cell: [phone] Email: [email protected] Web: www.steelservices.co.za www.facebook.com/SteelServices Instagram: @steel.services LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/steel-services-and-allied-in 4 Steel Construction Vol. 40 No. 3 2016 2016 has so far proven to be a very challenging year, with inflationary prices on steel because of issues with supply. This puts tremendous pressure on fabricators like us. The structures that we produce contain a lot of heavy sections, the sections that Evraz Highveld would typically supply. We’ve had several occasions where material we were looking for wasn’t available. Many of the merchants have begun importing these sections – but the lead times are long, and the prices are not really confirmed until the material has landed. The upside of the challenges is that they force us to be a little more dynamic about the way we run our business. We’ve found a way to produce standard mill sections or equivalents/ replacements by welding them up on our new beam welding line. Necessity is the mother of invention and when times are tough it forces us to be dynamic and to do something differently. The beam welding line is a key part of how we see our business developing. We’ve used it internally already to produce 30 tonnes of universal