Swiss Steel is making its premium Ugitech range of stainless steel and high-nickel welding wires available for direct distribution to South Africa’s fabricators. The company’s MD, Mohamed Imran Kajee, introduces the range.
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Swiss Steel South Africa’s Gqeberha facility. The company also has its South African head office in Johannesburg and distribution warehouses in Durban and Cape Town.
For nearly 18 years, Ugitech welding wires from Swiss Steel have been a preferred option for Tier 1 manufacturers of exhaust systems in the automotive sector. “These customers perform robotic welding using large, customised drums, which we supply in bulk. Now, though, we are introducing a wide range of Ugitech wires into South Africa in standard 15 kg spools, focusing on our stainless steel and nickel-based welding wires,” says
Mohamed Imran Kajee (Imran K), managing director of Swiss Steel in South Africa.
“We have long been supplying wires that are particularly well suited to manufacture modern exhaust systems, especially those with catalytic converters. Now the Ugitech range includes wire grades for other high-integrity work such as stainless tanks and beer kegs, which all have the relevant quality approval certifications required: VdTÜV Merkblat Schweisstechnik, the construction standard for safety-critical vessels; KTA 1408.2, the Quality Assurance standard for filler metals for nuclear power plants; and DB Systemtechnik for use in railway vehicle construction according to the EN 15085 standards,” adds Imran K.
Swiss Steel in South Africa
Swiss Steel, originally a division of the global Thyssen Group, has been trading in specialty steels in South Africa since 1969. “We became part of Swiss Steel back in 2004, when our metals division was sold off. We then became Schmolz+Bickenbach.
Then in 2020, when the family that owned Schmolz+Bickenbach disinvested, our name was changed to Swiss Steel South Africa,” says Kajee.
In terms of its product range, the company has always been known as a supplier of tool steels, stainless steels, and engineering steels for use in South Africa’s manufacturing sector. “We are heavily involved in the plastic mould industry and the hot and cold forming sectors, supplying the steels for manufacturing moulds and dies used in presses. Our tool steels are used in low-pressure die-cast moulds for mag wheels for local OEMs, for example,” he says.
“On the stainless steel side, we have also established a wide range of stainless steel long products, with properties matching various application needs, for the food processing and medical processing industries.
“Then we have our welding division from Ugitech, which gives us a fully integrated development, manufacturing and distribution service that includes Ugitech stainless steel and nickel-based welding wires and rods,” Imran K tells AF.
Ugitech welding consumables
Ugitech has two mills, one in France and one in Italy, each equipped with a melting shop, rolling mills, finishing shops and wire drawing plants. Each mill offers direct technical support for clients anywhere in the world. “This enables Ugitech to guarantee total process control, from steelmaking to final wire drawing and packaging,” notes Swiss Steel’s Imran K.
Ugitech can offer premium high-quality welding consumables materials for MIG, TIG and SAW welding applications. These wires are drawn to deliver a superior surface finish for enhanced wire feeding and improved welding productivity. “Our fully integrated manufacturing process allows us to ensure a consistent quality for regular and homogeneous welding performance,” he tells AF.
Ugitech mills are ISO 9001/2008 and ISO 14001 certified, and, as well as meeting relevant VdTÜV Merkblat Schweisstechnik 1153, KTA 1408.2 and DB standards, most have the CE mark following the requirements of EN 13479.
The available grades include austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, and duplex stainless steels as well as nickel-based alloys and copper-nickel alloys. This range, which is now being made available by Swiss Steel South Africa for distribution in 15 kg spools, is summarised in Table 1. “Additional specialist grades are also available via our overseas mills,” he adds.
Collaboration opportunities
“We are currently looking to collaborate with local distributors to help us distribute these excellent wires more widely across Southern Africa. We believe that the use of stainless steel is likely to grow. As well as for modern exhaust systems, the dairy industry is significant for us at the moment, where high-integrity stainless welding is essential to enable clean-in-place systems to work effectively and to prevent bacterial growth and contamination.
“We also have a strong road tanker industry for export into Europe, so CE standards are essential, and we are beginning to see interest from people manufacturing tanks and containers, including beer kegs.
“In Europe, Ugitech welding consumables are seen as one of the best for this type of application, and the introduction of 15 kg spools to the local market gives local manufacturers better access to this premium option. For anyone wanting to export competitively priced, high-quality stainless components, we believe our Ugitech wires could be the best possible choice,” concludes Imran Kajee.
https://swisssteel-group.com/en
