Construction World March 2016

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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

MODULAR BUILDINGS SUPPORT MOZAMBICAN PROJECT

In addition, significant damage to the powerline leading to a well- known minerals mine occurred, leaving it in a situation where it had to rely on diesel generators and product inventory to counteract the negative effect of the resultant power cuts. Now, as the repair of infrastructure is carried out, South African-based company, Kwikspace Modular Buildings (Kwikspace), who further has two factories and a strong presence in Mozambique, has played a supporting role to the progress of this project, through the provision of prefabricated buildings ordered by Conco. A company responsible for electrical power distribution system construction, Conco required four prefabricated units for various purposes at a remote location on the mine site, where it is contracted to install new overhead power towers. Comments Nick Alexander, director of business development for Kwik- space Modular Buildings in Africa: “The conditions were tough; bridges we needed to cross had been washed away and roads were impassable. Despite the challenges we were faced with, we went in armed with a wealth of experience in delivering units to remote locations.” Kwikspace was contracted to supply a 12 m x 3 m four room residential unit, a 9 m x 3 m two room residential unit, a 9 m x 3 m open-plan office and a 9 m x 3 m ablution unit to the site at the Meluli river near Angoche Island, about 250 km south of Nacala, for the 10-man Conco team, on a rental basis spanning the duration of their project. “In order to get our units to the site, road repairs had to be done, trees needed to be trimmed with the help of local community members, and eventually an alternative route needed to be devised to allow for our delivery Heavy rains and major flooding left areas of Mozambique in a dismal state last year, having damaged major infrastructure such as roads, bridges and rail networks. >

vehicles to continue to site,” continues Alexander. “We worked closely with our client to find suitable solutions to the obstacles we encountered during this project as we had no access to resources or local services in this very remote location. The successful outcome proved the flexible nature of Kwikspace and our ability to act on the spot to ensure that our client’s requirements are met.” All Kwikspace units were delivered to the Meluli site, and Conco has thus been provided with comfortable accommodation and office space while continuing with their works.

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INITIATIVES TO BOOST QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY

These initiatives include an ongoing mould replacement programme in Johannesburg, which has seen the production of a brand-new mould for 50 mm bend pipe fittings.

new P-trap mould from Portugal within the next couple of months. Another important development at this leading pipe system and fitting supplier and manufacturer is the addition of a second large-bore extrusion line at its Johannesburg manufacturing facility. This follows on from the installation of the original Krauss Maffei 630 mm bore extrusion line in 2013. “Our big bore lines are so highly occupied at the moment that it has resulted in a signif- icant lead time, which is the main motivation for us to install another large-bore line,” Snyman comments. For example, DPI Plastics is supplying 630 mm pipe for a major irrigation project in Zambia at the moment. Snyman adds that, in addition to the new big bore line, DPI Plastics will also be adding a new smaller extrusion line dedicated solely to research and development purposes, which makes the company unique among pipe manu- facturers in South Africa. “This will not only speed up the production process for new products, but also intensify our focus on innovation as a company strategy. “Actually no other pipe manufacturer has these kinds of facilities for research purposes, and neither does anyone else make a similar kind of significant investment in ongoing R&D,” Snyman concludes.

“We are replacing some of the older moulds and fittings, inmost cases opting for new multi-cavity moulds,” Renier Snyman, sales and technical manager at DPI Plastics, explains. “First of all, this will improve the quality of >

the fittings, without altering the dimensions. Secondly, it will also result in a dramatic increase in production output,” Snyman points out. “This is quite a capital-intensive programme as these moulds are costly to produce.” Snyman reveals that DPI Plastics will take delivery of its

Napoleon Potlo is production manager, injection moulding, at DPI Plastics.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD MARCH 2016