African Fusion November 2015

Welding and cutting

Efficient Engineering’s diversified strategy

A t an openday heldon 29 September, Efficient Engineering’s managing director, Graham Hartley, says that, withstanding plunging commodity prices and resulting slowing demand, the company continues to be part of the solution within the South African steel industry, which plays a critical role in mineral beneficiation and is a key enabler of every part of the economy. The top five steel consuming industries include the automotive, mining; con- struction, energy, and infrastructure sectors, which jointly contribute 15% of total South African GDP and employ more than 8-million people. Through developing its own intel- lectual property in the areas of custom engineering mining solutions, pressure vessels andmodular solutions, Efficient Engineering continues to diversify its business. The company has gone from purelymechanical design andmanufac- ture, to including electrical design, and full integration, installation and testing ofmodular power control, electro-hous- es andgenerator sets. Efficient Power, an Efficient Group that was launched only 18 months ago, has since turned over more than R100-million. “We offer first tomarket, tailormade solutions to our clients through the ex- pertise of ourmanagement team, which has more than 200 years’ cumulative experience in harnessing contemporary machinery and industry leading manu- facturing processes. “This has led to our robust growth and has seen us evolve froma respected family business to becoming the pre- ferred supplier for numerous blue chip original equipment manufacturers in the local and international mining and material handling; oil and gas; satellite communication and radio astronomy; petrochemical; as well as engineering industries. Further, we continue to add to our diverse portfolio through acquisi- tions such as that of Trotech, a division recentlypurchased through thebusiness rescue process.” Trotech, nowknown as Efficient Tro- tech, offers specialist services in the field of engineering, design,manufacture and installation of bulk storage tanks, pres- sure vessels, heat exchangers, reactors, air receivers and fired heaters to the petrochemical, mining and minerals industry, as well as to the pulp and paper sectors. It is an exciting addition

to Efficient Engineering, which currently boasts total manufacturing space of 21 600 m 2 , making if fully equipped to undertake any engineering job, regard- less of its size or complexity. At Efficient Engineering, equipment is fabricated toworld-class standards by a hand-picked teamof production staff, many of whomarehighly skilledartisans and metalworkers. This is essential to maintaining the requirements that allow the company to retain its ISO 9001:2008 certification, year after year. The com- pany is also ISO 3834 certified as well as OHSAS 1801:2007 compliant. Abenchmarkaudit conductedby the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s (UNIDO) Subcontracting Partnership Exchange (SPX) programme resulted in an outstanding outcome. Under the category of Overall Perfor- mance and Practices Matrix, Efficient Engineering was placed in the ‘world class’ quadrant, along with only a few other international group companies operating in the same league. Also, the prestigious SAISC Steel Awards recognised Efficient Engineer- ing, its partners and client as overall winners this year for their work on the SKA Africa Radio Antenna Positioner project. The judges said that this project ‘radiates excellence not only in the use of structural steel but in every aspect of its structure and purpose.’ “This is testament to our commit- ment to being a partner of choice to our clients aswell as good corporate citizens – by contributing towards the growth of the economy through world class solu-

Graham Hartley, MD of Efficient Engineering (centre) with Warwick Jackson of Efficient Power (left) and Vees Moodley of Efficient Trotech (right) photographed at the open day event.

Efficient Engineering’s current flagship project is for the Meerkat antennas for the Square Kilometre Array project (SKA). The company is completing the fabrication and full electrical and mechanical integration of the yokes and pedestals for the first 64 Meerkat antennas. tions that benchmark South Africa against global industry standards,” concludes Hartley.

A fabrication of a dragline bucket on display at Efficient Engineering’s open day.

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November 2015

AFRICAN FUSION