Mwali Kawawa and Michael Ashley from Air Liquide, along with SAIW’s Shelton Zichawo, discuss a recent collaboration between Air Liquide and the SAIW to qualify and certify Air Liquide’s welding gas and filler material combinations, which are designed to make welding consumable choices easier and more certain for South Africa’s welding industry.

voestalpine Böhler Welding’s Selco research centre has developed an innovative inverter design called greenWave® that combines all the benefits and reliability of inverter technology with a power factor equal to, or approaching, unity.

Harmful ultra-fine particulate matter generated during welding operations is a major health risk to welders. Extraction and filtration systems such as those available from KEMPER can provide effective protection from this hazard.

Afrox has recently completed a new made-to-order speciality gases plant in response to rising market demand for complex gas mixtures.

African Fusion talks to Robert Drumm, Fronius export sales manager for sub-Saharan Africa, about the new Fronius Agency in Midrand, South Africa, set up as an entry point for expansion across Africa, and the new financial and access models being considered to ease market penetration for the premium brand.

ESAB South Africa has introduced its new compact and robust Rogue stick/lift-TIG welder into the South African market. ESAB’s Jannie Bronkhorst takes us through the exciting new features of this very affordable premium MMA welding solution.

In this technical article, African Fusion summarises work done by the eNtsa team at Nelson Mandela University, with Sasol Synfuels Operations and Eskom, around the development and implementation of small sample testing for critical components subject to high temperatures and pressures.

Mark Newby of Eskom Research, Testing and Development, and Corney van Rooyen of the CSIR’s National Laser Centre talk about the longstanding bilateral collaboration between ESKOM and the CSIR on high impact refurbishment projects, including the repair of PTR-tanks in the nuclear industry, a laser metal deposition tenon re-build on turbine blades, and other turbine rotor, blade and understrap repairs.

For 27 years the Cosmo Group has been on a quest to transform South Africa’s welding market. African Fusion catches up with Group director, Pierre van Nieuwenhuizen; general manager, Petrus Pretorius; newly appointed sales manager, Jaques Botha; and training manager, Emma Britz, about adding eCommerce with online support services and training to its offering, while reinforcing its total solutions offering for welders and fabrication companies of any size.

African Fusion talks to SAIW executive director, John Tarboton, about the need for a change in the way training courses are delivered to make qualifications more easily accessible to students and more convenient and affordable for employers.

With the reduction of lockdown restrictions to Alert Level 1 in recent weeks, I have been more able to visit SAIW members, which I believe is vital if we are to continue to be a successful association that offers directly useful services to our members and to the welding industry at large.

The SAIW would like to collaborate with engineers and share its knowledge of welding to allow companies to leverage this skill more effectively in company operations.

Colin Brings, Total Customer Support Director at Yaskawa Southern Africa, talks about the uptime advantages of adopting modern robot technology.

Petrus Pretorius, general manager at Cosmo Industrial, introduces the LINC-CUT® S 1530w plasma cutting system from Lincoln Electric that uses the FLEXCUTTM 125 CE plasma cutting power source.

SYSPRO has been specialising in the fabrication environment for nearly 40 years, with the result that its ERP solution can be fully integrated into fabricators’ processes. This article outlines ten ways to help fabricators optimise their production cycles and cut costs.

Eugene van Dyk, ESAB South Africa’s regional product manager for cutting and gas equipment, talks about two recently released innovations: the lightweight and portable ESAB Crossbow HD system, and the new Eagle CS, a compact and economical CNC cutting machine.

Anton Grobbelaar, Air Products’ dissolved acetylene (DA) plant manager in Midvaal, talks about the success of the plant’s energy efficiency and environmental protection initiatives, which prove that the company has established “a state-of-the-art, sustainably sound acetylene plant.”

Following nearly 12 months of onsite use for general overhauls (GOs) on boilers by Hydra-Arc, Afrox’s Multi-User Pressure Panel (MUPP) is now ready for wider industrial deployment. African Fusion talks to Matthew Alfonso, Hydra-Arc’s onsite manager, about the history and value of this safe, efficient and convenient shielding gas delivery solution.

Founded back in 2003, New Age Engineering Solutions is one of South Africa’s great success stories with respect to the transformation of the mechanical, welding engineering and fabrication sectors. African Fusion talks to Joseph Zinyana about the company’s rise to prominence and its current trajectory.

Air Liquide’s Connected Store is currently being used at the Sappi Saiccor Mill in Umkomaas to service onsite contractors involved with the Vulindlela Project. Mwali Kawawa shares his excitement about the first commercial deployment of this modern and proudly South African delivery and stock management solution for welding contractors.