AFRICAN FUSION—MARCH2014
30
Automation for aluminium stage trusses
S
tage Audio Works is a leading
international supplier, manufac-
turer and distributor of technol-
ogy solutions to the entertainment
and commercial industries. According
to Gustav Barnard, the company’s
managing director, “we take a holistic
distribution approach, which encom-
passes stage structures, lighting, audio,
visual, rigging, andenergymanagement
systems.Wedon’t just sell components,
we engineer systems. Our expertise is
puttingpackages togetherwitha strong
emphasis on customer training and
education,” he says.
Since founding the company in
2000, Stage Audio Works has grown
from a small three-person distribution
business intoan international company
employing over 80 people and with
current growth rate of 100%.
On themanufacturing side, accord-
ing to Kruger, “we specialise in alu-
minium ground support structure and
individual truss components, display
stands and scaffolding systems,” he
explains. Theseareused in theatres, for
open-air concert stages and stadiums
all over Africa.
Four years ago, Stage AudioWorks
began to look atmanufacturing its own
range of aluminium trussing for the
entertainment industry. “Wewere faced
with two options, we could either start
from scratch with our own line, or de-
velopapartnershipwithanestablished
overseas manufacturer. We quickly
established a partnership with a UK-
based company called Total Solutions
Groupand itsmanufacturingsubsidiary,
Total FabricationLimited (TFL), aglobal
aluminium structures business.
As a result of the relationship and
after having imported the product for
a few years, we began tomanufacture
their trusses under license and to their
quality standards and specifications
for the Africanmarket.” Kruger relates.
Thecompanybegan to look intoau-
tomationof for300mm (lightduty) and
400mm (mediumduty) truss ranges in
2012. “Thekeydifficulty forus inSouth
Africa is achieving consistency from
manual welders, due to a combination
of skills and labour issues.
Achieving consistently highquality,
safetyandaesthetics isabsolutelycriti-
cal in our industry. By using robots we
havebeenable to take the techniqueof
a skilledwelder and programme it into
a machine that can deliver repeatedly
excellent results. We don’t use fewer
people, but our end-results are not
as dependent on people performing
at 100% as they once were,” Kruger
explains.
He settled on an ABB IRB 2600
welding robot solution with a Fronius
CMT-enabledTPSpower source. “From
importing these trusses, our company
has now switched to local fabrication,
whichcutsour import costsandenables
us to be a competitive exporter and to
react quickly to the needs of the local
market,” he reveals, adding that in the
UK, the fabrication work is still being
donemanually and “as far awe know,
we are the only entertainment truss
manufacturer who has adopted the
robotics route for the complete manu-
facturing process.”
On one side of the tracked robot is
a large custom-built jig table, and on
the opposite side, a rotating positioner.
“One single jig allows us to fabricate
both the 300 mm trusses and the
400 mm versions in section lengths
of between 500mm and 4,0m,” says
Kruger, adding that the fixed jig table
was precision laser cut and fitted with
African Fusion
talks to Jaco Kruger of Stage Plus
Engineering, a division Stage AudioWorks in Strijdompark,
Randburg, about the local manufacture of aluminium stage
trusses for the entertainment industry and the company’s
global competitiveness as a result of the shift to a custom-
built robot welding system.
Automation success for SA’s stage
engineering specialist
Jaco Kruger of Stage Plus Engineering
After welding up the individual ladders, they are boxed in the same jig and the final two sets of cross
braces are welded in.
