MechChem Africa July-August 2025

M&C: Africa’s world-class service provider for rotating equipment MCA visits the Cleveland facility of Marthinusen and Coutts, a division of ACTOM (Pty) Ltd, and talks to Marketing Executive, Mike Chamberlain, about the business's comprehensive on- and off-site service, repair, remanufacturing and testing offering.

Form-wound copper stator coils are being installed for a motor at Marthinusen and Coutts’ Cleveland facility.

F ounded in 1954 by a group of recognised leaders in the repair and servicing of electric motors, Marthinusen and Coutts (M&C) has grown into a trusted service provider for the remanufacturing, repair and maintenance of rotating equipment, most notably for the rewinding of medium and low voltage AC and DC motors, generators, transformers and coils, along with advanced testing. “We offer a full range of electrical and mechanical services across all industries. We have extensive capabilities in power generation and mechanical engineering from seven well-equipped repair workshops in Southern Africa that now employ almost 450 people,” says Mike Chamberlain, the business’s marketing executive. As well as the 9 500 m² Cleveland workshop in Johannesburg, M&C has a 14 000 m² workshop in Benoni and a facility in Rustenburg. “We also operate through other ACTOM outlets across Africa, in cluding Kitwe in Zambia, GEC in Harare, Namibian Armature Rewinders in Walvis Bay, amongst others,” he says. “As well as being a leading repair busi ness for all sizes of motors and genera tors, we also have a sister division on the mechanical side, ACTOM Turbo Machines, for repairing and re-engineering turbines and all types of large rotating machines,” he adds.

What makes M&C different First and foremost, M&C has an Africa-wide network of passionate people with the skills and experience to manage complex projects on sites all over the continent, says Chamberlain. “We can quickly respond to customers’ needs, be they onsite repairs and refurbishments of large motors or motor/ generator rewinding and refurbishments at one of our facilities.” For very large machines, the Benoni facil ity includes a 140 t Wagner lathe that can accommodate a 40 t, 11 m workpiece with a swing of 3.2 m. “We have also invested in specialised equipment and tooling for coil retaining ring removal, and we have a 90 t crane capacity and 1 000 t hydraulic presses for very large salient pole coils used for hydro and synchronous generators. At our Cleveland operation, we have the best equipped rotating electrical machines load test facility in Africa and a 32 t balancing machine. For windings, four insulation systems can be accommodated, along with three different vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) systems for void-free insulation, which enhances the dielectric and mechanical strength of the windings and delivers im proved thermal conductivity. M&C’s electro-mechanical testing facili ties are the most comprehensive in Africa. “We offer full load testing of HV, LV and

DC equipment, and onsite diagnostics, in cluding electromagnetic core imperfection detection (ELCID) testing; turbine vibra tion analysis (TVA); partial discharge (PD) monitoring, and rotor flux analysis, amongst others. “We also have a very skilled and well-equipped field service team that offers 24-hour field service support for break downs and continuous improvement pro grammes for our customers,” Chamberlain informs MCA . Notable projects M&C installs, services and repairs gearless mill drives across the continent and as far as Panama and Indonesia. Chamberlain de scribes a recent installation of new GMDs at copper mines. A Perth-based mining client has mines all over the world, including in Kansanshi and Kalumbila, which are both in northern Zambia, and Minera Panama. M&C was contracted to interconnect the electrical sub-assemblies for nine new ABB gearless mill drives for a copper project in Panama. This mine’s life is estimated at more than 30 years, and it produces copper, gold and molybdenum, says Chamberlain, adding that M&C has become the preferred pro vider of GMD services to this mining house. On the power generation side, he cites a success at the N’Zilo hy droelectric power station on a 26 MW, 18-pole stator rewind for a vertical

6 ¦ MechChem Africa • July-August 2025