Capital Equipment News June 2015

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

JUNE 2015

MATERIALS HANDLING

aterpillar and Barloworld Power have

launched a combined initiative to

assemble Cat electric power genera-

tors in South Africa to meet rising demand,

reduce unit cost and promote localisation.

As the first Cat equipment assembly unit to

be established in South Africa, the new facil-

ity marks a significant milestone in the part-

nership between Caterpillar and Barloworld

Power, its southern African dealer for Energy

and Transportation.

The generators are supplied in kit form and

assembled locally from scratch, contributing

to the drive for localisation and enabling the

transfer of new and valuable skills to South

African employees. This also enables the

Cat units to compete on a more even footing

with locally manufactured equivalents.

“The assembly facility is a major step for-

ward in Barloworld Power and Caterpillar’s

growth aspirations across southern Africa,”

says Mark Mencel, executive director of Bar-

loworld Power southern Africa.

“We are now assembling Cat branded gen-

erators at our Boksburg, Gauteng, premises

that have the same highest quality stan-

dards for which Caterpillar is renowned

worldwide. Barloworld Power can now offer

truly competitive Cat products while aligning

with government objectives in local employ-

ment and development.”

“This initiative between Barloworld and

Caterpillar promotes localisation and lever-

ages our excellent capabilities to provide a

local solution for South Africa,” adds Chris

Monge, Caterpillar area manager. “This rep-

resents a significant investment in the local

economy to support our growth strategy in

the power business.”

The assembly unit was set up with the as-

sistance of experts from Caterpillar’s power

systems assembly factory in India and is

being managed and staffed by Barloworld

Power. Initially the facility will assemble the

Cat i6 and 400 series generator sets, rang-

ing from 400 kVA to 1 000 kVA and suited

to the provision of standby power for medi-

um to large industries. Barloworld plans to

produce about 500 units a year, expanding

according to market demand.

Barloworld Power assembly manager at the

new facility, Imraan Amod, says this initiative

will give Barloworld Power and Caterpillar

greater access to the southern African mar-

ket.

The first two pilot 550 kVA generator kits,

supplied by Caterpillar in China, were sold

before they arrived in South Africa. They

were assembled and delivered by Barloworld

Power in the last week in February 2015.

The team operating the assembly line has

been supplied by the Barloworld Power Cus-

tomised Solution Centre in Boksburg and

received specialised training from Caterpil-

lar’s international experts to assemble Cat

generator sets.

BARLOWORLD POWER

to assemble cat generators in SA

SKF’S UNIQUE

BEARING SOLUTION

improves production

for agricultural OEM

KF South Africa, working closely with

Agricultural Distributor, Bolt and Engi-

neering Welkom, provided an agricul-

tural OEM customer with a unique bearing

solution for a maize de-bagger machine.

Local agricultural OEM, Jacques Rens-

burg from Jorus Engineering, designed the

de-bagger machine to facilitate the removal

of stored maize from storage bags. The ma-

chine was fitted with a second tier bearing

and was not producing the required results.

Time was at the essence and the customer

was in urgent need of a solution.

Philip Botha from Bolt and Engineering

Welkom, approached the customer with

a solution in the form of a SKF hexagonal

bore Y-bearing. “The YHC 207-104-2LS8W/

VT357 bearing has a complicated name but

provides a simple solution,” says SKF Key

Accounts Manager – Agriculture, Charl En-

gelbrecht.

He explains, “The hexagonal bore design

presents a better load rating and sealing

arrangement which enables the bearing to

handle faster speeds and higher loads. The

de-bagger machine’s offloading capabilities

were thus increased which delivered the

benefits of reduced downtime and improved

production to our customer.”

We are very cognisant of the fact that the

agricultural industry faces numerous chal-

lenges, many of which are time critical due

to seasonal and other pressures. Meeting

the customer’s requirement with the right

solution and on time was for us the most im-

portant factors of this project. We believe it

is a successful three-way partnership which

involves a close working relationship with our

agricultural distributor to ensure that we can

add value by finding the right solution for our

agri customers, especially when they are un-

der extreme time pressure.”

This application serves as the perfect exam-

ple of SKF’s ability to offer unique solutions

to the agricultural sector.