AFRICAN FUSION—MARCH2014
10
SAIW bulletin board
New ISO 9606-1 Standard: qualification testing of welders
A
fter many years the new ISO
9606-1: Qualification Testing
of Welder – FusionWelding – Steels
has been published, superseding
the previous standard, which was
published in 1994. EN 287-1 has
been the workhorse standard for
European welding codes for many
years as the Europeanwelding com-
munity did not agree on revisions
of the ISO 9606 standard during
the intervening years. As there was
not a mutual recognition agreement
between the European Standardisa-
tionOrganisations andSouthAfrican
National Standards, EN 287-1 could
not be adopted as an official South
African Standard, leaving a void for
standardisation in South Africa.
ISO 9606-1 will now supersede
EN287-1. This will be an important
transition, as the ISO 9606-1 stan-
dard is better alignedwith competing
standards suchas theASMEandAWS
codes.Onperusing ISO9606-1, it has
many similarities to EN 287-1 and is
indeed an evolution of this standard
whichwas revised in 2004 andmore
recently, in 2011. Many of the es-
sential variables remain the same for
both standards, namely; welding
process, product type, type of weld,
dimensions, welding position and
weld details. However, a significant
change is that welder qualifications
are no longer grouped according to
material group, but are now grouped
by filler material group.
TheSAIWwill beholdingevening
meetings around the country detail-
ing valuable information on this new
standard and the implementation
thereof. Be on the lookout for an-
nouncements in this regard.
The economy of steel imports: by Kobus de Beer, SAISC
S
outh Africa boasts a robust steel
fabrication industry, which pro-
duces 720 000 tons of steel per an-
numand employsmore than110000
people. The steel industry is an
economic multiplier and statistics
show that a R1-billion structural steel
project (50 000 tons) can potentially
initiate economic activity in various
areas to the valueof R1,43-billionand
provide jobs for 5050 people. Such a
projectwill includedisciplines suchas
manufacturing, wholesale and retail,
transport and storage, community
and social and, of course, financial
services.
South Africa should therefore be
self-sufficientwith regards tosteelman-
ufacturing. But much of the structural
steel projectsuse importedsteel.During
2012and2013, at least100000 tons
of steelwere imported forpower station,
power line, cementplant,mining,petro-
chemical and ironoreprojects, resulting
in the loss of 7 650 jobs. This ismost
alarming, especially in light of South
Africa’s unemployment ratewhich, ac-
cording to Financial Mail, is at 25,6%.
In addition, the country loses through
the impact of imports on the economic
multiplier. Thedisappointing fact is that
no import duties were paid on any of
the imported structural steel and only
30% found itsway intoSARS' Customs
statistics, which are used by many to
trackSouthAfricaneconomic flowsand
as a basis for decisionmaking.
There is a general lack of aware-
ness of the consequences of imports.
Reasons for importing include cheaper
labour costs in countries suchasChina
and a perceived shortage of skills in
the local industry. There is limited
on-the-job training for engineers and
draughtsmen in South Africa and new
technologiesbringchallenges.Thereare
also vast discrepancies in qualification
standards between China and South
Africa. Concerns regarding corruption
and price fixing in South Africa have
also played a part in increased imports
and have undermined South Africa’s
credibility.
There ismuch thesteel industrycan
do to halt the steady flow of imports.
A start would be for the local industry
to take a holistic approach to client
needs, to be both cost- and service-
competitive, and to equip staff with
the necessary skills to provide good
service. The steel industry also needs
tobemadeawareof thedisadvantages
of imports, such as the displacement
of South African jobs, quality of the
steelwork, misunderstandings caused
by language barriers and the increased
costsof qualityassuranceand rectifica-
tion. The industry still achieves agrow-
ing stream of exports every year, which
indicates that local pricing remains
reasonably competitive.
The Southern African Institute of
Steel Construction (SAISC) is taking
action to protect the steel industry
from imports by taking an aggressive
approach inpromotingcompetitiveness
amongst South African steel compa-
nies to export, and challenge foreign
projects. SAISC is also exposing illegal
importingactivities to thedti andSARS,
and is applying for the implementation
of dumping, designation and duties.
It is important to create awareness of
the jobs lost due to decisions made to
import structural steel requirements. It
is hoped that other associations and
organisationswill joinSAISC inprotect-
ing the local steel industry.
Top row, left to right: MusaManganye: assistant in the
SAIW Testing Laboratory and FionaWeimers, who recently
joined SAIW in the finance department. Bottom row:
AbsalomChiswo, anNDT level 3 Inspector, has joined
the Institute’s training team and Jean Scholtz, who has
been appointed as assistant toMichelleWarmback in the
finance and administration department.
New appointments
Kobus de Beer.
