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AFRICAN FUSION
March 2015
36
Launch of the Smarter range
A
ugusta Tools, initially founded
as a supplier of power tool ac-
cessories and industrial tools in
the late 1990s, was awarded the African
distribution rights for the Smarter range
of welding equipment in 2013 and
established Smarter Welding Africa in
October of that year. Manufactured in
China to European norms, the range of
light industrial inverters and the more
sophisticated range of multi-process
machines for the professional market
achieved immediate success.
Smarter is a global company found-
ed in 1997 in China to develop and
manufacture inverter-based welding
equipment. “I joined the company
from Portugal in 2008 to implement a
European-style group strategy, and from
a US$2.8-million company at that time,
we arenowa $40-millionglobal business
with representation in Russia; the USA;
Europe; Brazil and more. We intend to
addanewmanufacturingplant inTurkey
in the near future to better support our
European markets and, here in South
Africa, we have found an ideal partner
in Smarter Welding Africa,” says Amaral.
Smarter’s core business involves
large quantities of the smaller sized
inverters and associated accessories –
multi-process MMA and MIG inverters
on the professional side and ac/dcMMA/
TIGmachines of up to 200 A for the light
industrial market. “We produce 600 000
machines per year, of which 90 % are
exported. But to complete our solutions
offering, we have developed a global
relationship with Weco, renowned in
Europe for its high-end welding devel-
opment and engineering expertise,”
he adds.
Initially, the Weco machines were
chosen to meet a need for a premium
quality welding solution for the Chinese
market, mostly for the military indus-
tries. “The Chinese army as a huge need
for big high-techweldingmachines, and
in general, the most up to date welding
technologies are beingdevelopedby the
Europeans,” Amaral suggests. “Weco,
although a small company operating
in niche markets, develops some of the
most technologically advancedwelding
systems in the world, and since it is a
small tomediumenterprise (SME), it has
lower overheads and is able to produce
these advanced systems at significantly
lower costs than competing OEMs of
premium quality welding equipment.”
Why is Weco being introduced into
South Africa? “We are travelling around
the world to learn about new opportu-
nities and markets,” responds Toniolo.
“Here, we see opportunities in stain-
less steel and duplex, in the building of
trains, petrochemical equipment and
a host of other industrial fabrication
applications. Most importantly, though
we see an opportunity to go to the next
level in terms of weld quality and pro-
ductivity. We want to become known as
aprovider of welding solutionswithhigh
quality requirements. We believe that,
by becoming associated with success
in more difficult areas, all of Smarter’s
otherweldingbusinesswill alsobenefit,”
he explains.
Amaral continues: “By offering the
best solutions possible, we aim to de-
velop partnerships based on trust. We
are not seeking to simply sell machines.
We aim to partner with fabricators to
implement whole welding solutions.
And by adding the Weco range to our
offering, we can now cover the full spec-
trumof welding fields and applications,”
he tells
African Fusion.
“
Weco is an engineering company.
We are small and focus mostly on engi-
neering and development of solutions
for the future. We operate in the niche
market for machines with state-of-the-
art functionality,” says Toniolo. “We
were the first company in the world to
have developed a 500 A multiprocess
machine with TIG ac and dc capability
and a full pulsed MIG feature set. We
provide machines that offer the highest
level of control, but at significantly lower
costs compared to other top perform-
ers,” he claims.
Describing the Weco high-speed
line (HSL) range of MIG (GMAW) welding
machines, he reveals that HSLwas origi-
nally developed five years ago for steel
welding. “In steel, HSL offers significant
welding speed increases, andwhile oth-
ers have now followed suit, we were the
first to develop this high speed GMAW
technology,” Toniolo claims.
Weco’s HSL solution:
the smarter choice
During the last week of February
2015, Smarter Welding Africa, the sole
distributor of the Smarter welding
equipment range in Africa, added the
Italian Weco brand to its local offering.
African Fusion
attends the launch and
talks toSmarter’sCEO, FernandoAmaral
and Weco director Giorgio Toniolo.
Smarter’s CEO, Fernando Amaral and Weco director Giorgio Toniolo.