African Fusion March 2017

Ongoing ESAB regional support

ESAB expands regional support

African Fusion talks to ESAB’s regional product support team: Keith Saunders, who is responsible for standard equipment, automation and engineering; Brett Cameron, process special- ist responsible for welding consumables and manual plasma systems; and Eugene van Dyk for mechanised CNC Cutting Systems, manual gas equipment, PPE and accessories.

Rod 12.50 is a flagship consumable. This is a copper-freeMn-Si-alloyed solidwire for general construction, automotive components, pressure vessel fabrication and shipbuilding,” Cameron says. This wire incorporates ESAB’s Ad- vanced Surface Characteristics (ASC) technology, which enhances feeding performance, reduces spatter levels and increases efficiency, making it ideal for robotic and mechanised welding. “OK AristoRod12.50wire is routinely usedon robot systems such as those at Transnet in Bloemfontein, which uses the 250 kg ESABMarathonPac™ to reduce handling costs,” he adds. “We now also offer a Tier 2 consum- able range for those needing to squeeze costs,” he continues. “These products, although less expensive, are all manu- factured in ESAB factories to comply with all applicablewelding consumable standards,” he assures. Most notably,

L ast year, ESAB began channelling the distribution of its welding range in South Africa through Colfax sister company, Howden Donkin. “To further simplify the regional support functions for the SADC region, ESAB has done away with country managers and decided to support its welding product range directly using its three product managers, with additional assistance from Dubai,” begins Saunders. “Between Brett, Eugene and I, who are all directly employedby ESABMiddle East and Africa, we will continue to support the regional market, which is predominantly in South Africa. For all ESAB distributors and direct customers, we will be responsible for product mar- keting and service support,” he explains. “We report to and are supported by ESAB Middle East, with Howden Donkin continuing to house us and to facilitate the warehousing and distribution side,” he says adding, “sonothing has changed with respect to ESAB products being available for distribution and support across South Africa and into neigh- bouring southern African countries,” Saunders assures. The consumables specialist Processspecialist,BrettCameron,contin- ues: “Regionally, we remain very strong in submerged-arc welding, with the likes of our ESAB OK Autrod 12.22 wire with our OK10.72 flux being widely adopted.

“Our strength in submerged-arc welding has led to us dominate thewind tower manufacturing market in South Africa and, although tower manufac- turing has been stalled recently due to delays in signing off the new REIPPPP projects, we are seeing a significant pick up in the Western Cape.” One of ESAB’s bestselling weld- ing consumable is the ESAB OK 55.00 manual stick-welding electrode. This is a premium, high-quality, low hydrogen and lowmoisture absorption (LMA) elec- trode, particularly suitable for welding high strength, low-alloy steels. It offers good low-temperature impact strength and is very resistant to hot cracking. “On the GMAWprocess our OK Aristo

Regionally, ESAB is strong in submerged-arc welding, with the likes of its ESAB OK Autrod 12.22 wire and OK 10.62, OK 10.72 and OK 10.92 fluxes being widely adopted.

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March 2017

AFRICAN FUSION