Solidifying the company’s credentials as a multi-brand welding provider of premium welding solutions for South African Industry at all levels, Renttech Welding has opened a new Application Technology Centre (ATC) at its Wadeville premises. AF talks to welding product manager, Johan Bester.
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Renttech Welding’s new ATC is a hands-on solutions development, demonstration and customer focused facility to highlight the benefits of its premium brands.
“In the past year alone, we have taken on the voestAlpine Böhler Welding brand of welding consumables, adopted the premium Kemppi brand of welding power sources and again expanded our range of Uniarc welding and cutting solutions. In addition, we have launched a state-of-the-art Applications Technology Centre (ATC) here at our Head Office in Wadeville, which aims to bring comprehensive welding and cutting solutions together under one roof for our customers to experience and test for their various applications,” begins Renttech Welding’s product manager for the welding industry, Johan Bester.
“These world-renowned brands and products are now launched and integrated into our range, and they were all on view and available to test at Electra Mining Africa as well as through customer days throughout the year. And they are not just products: when properly combined and used, they improve or change the way customers fabricate, resulting in an optimised welding regime that not only improves productivity but also has a substantial impact on the bottom line of our customers.
“That is why we have launched the new Renttech ATC, not as a showroom, but as a hands-on solutions development, demonstration and customer focused facility to highlight the benefits that our brands offer when combined, and what problems they can solve for our customer,” he adds.
“We have set out to make this one of the best welding centres in Africa, while also holding its own against those in European countries. We have gone all out to include the most current technology available to the South African market and to bring a hands-on experience to our customers,” Bester tells AF.
The idea is a customer-centric approach. “We aim to go the extra mile with customers by developing end-to-end solutions that directly meet their needs. We want them to step into a state-of-the-art space, not only to watch demonstrations, but to test the welding machines and the consumables for themselves, then, along with our experienced ATC members, to solve problems and develop cost-effective solutions for their own project-related fabrication tasks.
Renttech Welding’s ATC members all have unique practical experiences in various systems and proven solutions across a wide array of sectors and welding processes. “We are hands-on welding people that come with a lot of industry experience across the various welding and cutting disciplines,” he continues.
“This enables us to take every aspect of an application into consideration, so that chosen solutions are ideally suited to the projects, and can be successfully implemented in the customers fabrication shop. Renttech also helps to develop welding procedures; empowers shop-floor welders with usable knowledge on the new technology; and supports onsite implementation and ongoing service needs.
“This is not limited to welding, either, we also offer solutions on the material preparation side: laser cutting, plasma cutting and pipe bevelling. Here we are well positioned with brands such as Hypertherm, Harris, Promotech, as well as various laser solutions. We can do welding and cutting trials based on several different technologies before homing in on a best-fit solution for the customer’s specific application and budget,” Bester assures.
Another key advantage of the ATC is that it enables development, demonstration and customer solutions to be completed in a dedicated environment away from the noise and demands of a busy workshop. “Here, we have a focused environment that allows for dedicated discussions and brainstorming to come up with the best solutions. We can then put it to the test in our welding or cutting booths.
“When conducting customer specific training we not only train the welders on how to effectively use the equipment and consumables but we also make sure we address first line maintenance, as well as the importance of yearly equipment validations, consumable storage and moisture control. We go through both the positives and negatives of any solution and how to manage them to achieve the required outcome.
“We always try to marry the equipment solution with the customer’s needs and capabilities, while making sure we equip the users with the knowledge and skills to use the equipment effectively.” he explains.
When asked about automation, Bester says that every solution needs to be looked at in terms of quality, cost, flexibility, productivity and workload. Sometimes automation will be involved and sometimes not. If automation is indeed the answer, the best technical result is achieved when combining the best welding equipment with the best consumables on suitable manipulation equipment. “Our strong product offering combined with our technical experience allows us to offer a fully supported technical package throughout the various stages of project implementation,” he says.
He goes on to describe the launch of the ATC together with The Böhler Perfect Weld Seam tour: “Back in August, Renttech, as the newly appointed national distributor for voestAlpine Böhler Welding, hosted the Böhler Perfect Weld Seam tour, which also doubled up as our official ATC launch. We ran this over two days to ensure there was enough time and space for our customers to experience all the latest solutions on offer as well as to create an informal networking environment, to share ideas and successes, to enjoy a dedicated welding solutions day and to celebrate the launch of the ATC.
“We had the voestAlpine Böhler Welding team of experts as our esteemed guests, with speakers covering various technical topics, processes and consumable solutions relevant to the south African welding industry. Then it was all about the hands-on experience inside the welding booths,” Bester relates.
Renttech Welding is continuously investing and strengthening its position as a national welding and cutting solutions provider, all with a view to raising customer manufacturing capabilities. South African fabricators are competing in a global market. If they want to participate and compete, they need to invest and stay abreast of the latest technologies to be able to produce consistent quality as competitively as possible.
“As a technical supplier of welding and cutting solutions, we have a valuable part to play in this critical process and will continue to invest in both people and infrastructure to be able to fulfil this obligation to our customers,” Johan Bester concludes.
