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: +27 (0) 82 776 2313
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
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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