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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MARCH
2016
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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
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
“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
MODULAR BUILDINGS SUPPORT MOZAMBICAN PROJECT
INITIATIVES TO BOOST QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY
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.
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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.
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.
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
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.
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Napoleon Potlo is production manager,
injection moulding, at DPI Plastics.