MechChem Africa May-June 2023

⎪ Local manufacturing and food processing ⎪

“We want to rejuvenate our industry by identifying the casting technologies and services that South African foundries need to enable them to raise quality, productivity and capacity levels,” says Raphulu.

DTIC with justification at two levels. “The DTIC has a unit that deals with trade and investment and that unit’s role is to create an opportunity platform for South African industry to be exposed to international mar kets. The second reason is that the foundry industry in South Africa is currently in a dire state and we all recognise that rejuvenation is essential. “Ten years ago, there were maybe 150 foundries in the country that were competitive. By that we mean internation ally competitive because they were export ing under contract from global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These foundries had enough work to sustain themselves in the medium- to long-term and to train local people. We estimate that we are now down to having only 60 that we at the NFTN know about and, perhaps, a further 20 competitive foundries left in South Africa,” Ndivhuho Raphulu informs MechChem Africa . NFTN is currently doing a benchmark study of the foundry industry and asking all local foundries to participate. “We know there are many foundries that are either job hopping or surviving based on short term contracts. We want to create long term op portunities for the whole industry, where foundries have sustainable projects and contracts. So we need to find money and resources, not only to support foundries on the technical side, but also to expose them to best global practices, new markets and export opportunities,” he explains. On the plus side, he notes that South Africa still has five or so foundry companies that are world-class. They export castings such as of engine blocks for the automo tive sector directly to overseas OEMs, for example, or specialised casting for energy and mining sector OEMS. These exports

are going outside of the African continent to committed markets that require very high quality end-products. “We would like to see this number doubled in the next 12 to 24 months, so that these sustainable and globally competitive foundries can be used to help build a stron ger value chain for the benefit of other local foundries: to act as a support structure and to promote capacity building,” he explains adding that GIFA offers a starting point for expanding and rescuing South Africa’s foundry sector. South Africa also has a wealth of natural resources and by-products from the mining industry that are useful to global metals industries. Notably, we have chromite, which is used to manufacture foundry grade chromite sand, which is exported to foundry suppliers across the world. “In the last five years, a lot of work has been done, both by the SAIF, ourselves, the CSIR and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), to raise the quality of foundry sand, reduce its toxicity and to enable the indus try to better comply with the Environmental Management and Waste Management Acts. This is becoming increasingly important in the export market, which is demanding bet ter environmental compliance. “We are seeking to help foundries to reuse their sand or sell it on after use for alternative purposes. This also contributes towards being globally competitive, helps with business development and also in troduces a waste management/industrial symbiosis aspect to the industry. “We are speaking to the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment (DFFE) to determine criteria and opportu nities for diverting this sand from landfill and using it to create alternative business opportunities. We are now faced with

commercialisation and we are testing used foundry sand quality for several alternative commercial applications. “Most important, though, we are doing whatever is needed to make sure that we meet all the relevant environmental re quirements, so as to retain and advance the export opportunities for our foundry grade sands,” says Raphulu. Turning attention back to GIFA 2023, he says that the idea underpinning the stand design is to create a platform where South African stakeholders can all present their capabilities to the market. “We are now in a virtual and electronic world and our stand design will reflect that using videos and virtual displays. “We are inviting all stakeholders from across our network to use our virtual platform to present, promote and market themselves at GIFA. Any interested com pany wishing to introduce themselves to the overseas market simply needs to contact us and submit a short video presentation, which will then be incorporated into the content of our GIFA Stand. “Please contact us if you are interested, either via the NFTN website if you are already registered with us, or by contact ing Constance Mapulane Mokhoantle on MMokhoantle@csir.co.za,” Raphulu concludes. www.nftn.co.za The NFTN has secured funding to participate in the GMTN 2023 trade fair and congresses in Düsseldorf this June on behalf of the South African Foundry industry.

March-April 2023 • MechChem Africa ¦ 35