African Fusion March 2015

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March 2015 AFRICAN FUSION 39
Renttech SA adopts Air Liquide welding gases
ESAB strengthens position with BBBEE deal
E SAB has concluded an empowerment deal with Xeon Holdings (Pty) Ltd, of which Xeon Gas
and Welding is a division, making Xeon the first BBBEE Level 1 contributor in the industry
in terms of the new scorecard to be introduced in April 2015.
Countrymanager andmar-
keting director for ESAB Region
Africa, KimBrightwell, says the
agreement between ESAB and
Xeon would see Xeon become
the official importer and dis-
tributor of all ESABwelding and
cutting products into South
Africa.
“Consequently with ESAB
products being supplied in
South Africa by a Level 1 BBBEE
contributor, all our other dis-
tributors and customers will
be able to claimempowerment
supplier points on the new
scorecard,” Brightwell adds.
While ESAB has ceased to operate in its previous form in southern and east Africa, measures
have been implemented to ensure that the company will continue to support its products with
the necessary service and process support, where required.
The majority of personnel, including ESAB Africa managing director, Chris Eibl, have moved
over to Xeon. Eibl will become the Xeon Holdings Group CEO, and customers and distributors will
be working with the same personnel from the former ESAB Africa operation.
The ESAB Demonstration Centre and Service Repair facility will also be relocated to Xeon’s
Pomona premises. Customers will experience the same level of support from the technical team
that will continue to be employed by ESAB and the expanded service team employed by Xeon.
Specialist technical, process and marketing support for sub-Saharan Africa will be supplied
through a new ESAB Regional office based in Johannesburg, managed by Brightwell.
“In essence it will be business as usual,” says Brightwell. “Our customers will still receive the
products and quality support to which they are accustomed with the added advantage of BBBEE
Level 1 contributor status,” he adds.
ESAB has a well-established, successful relationship with both Xeon Gas and Welding and
Xeon Logistics, another division of Xeon Holdings. Xeon Gas & Welding have had a distribution
agreement since 2013, and Xeon Logistics has warehoused and distributed ESAB products for
the past four years.
Xeon has excellent supply logistics capability, with warehousing and freight forwarding facili-
ties in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Durban.
Xeon Holdings Group CEO, Chris Eibl; and country manager and
marketing director for ESAB Region Africa, Kim Brightwell.
A n extensive national footprint,
the largest fleet of rental welding
equipment, and the largest Harris Gas
equipment distributor in Southern
Africa were compelling reasons why Air
Liquide chose Renttech South Africa to
distribute its range of welding gases in
South Africa.
For Renttech, this agreementmeans
a substantially enhanced customer of-
fering for its welding customers. “Along
with our other international brands in
welding equipment, our agreementwith
Air Liquide nowbrings a full welding and
cutting solution for our customers,” says
but also our full range of existing gases
and gasmixtures, which formpart of our
technical range,” he adds.
Johan Bester, welding product
manager at Renttech explains that Air
Liquide has rolled out a training pro-
gramme for all Renttech sales staff to
equip them with the requisite knowl-
edge of the welding gases in terms of
their properties and applications. “Our
staff members throughout the country
are currently being trainedby Air Liquide
in the use, application and safe handling
of these shielding gases. This is not only
to equip Renttech with sound technical
knowledge of industrial gases, but to
gear our branches up for the efficient
delivery and collection of the gases by
our customers,” says Bester.
“We are very pleased to be able
to provide our customers with a more
comprehensive, one-stop solution for
their welding requirements through
our partnership with Air Liquide;
while providing Air Liquide with the
opportunity to leverage our growing
national footprint to introduce its new
shielding gas range to awidermarket,”
van Zyl concludes.
Gerrit van Zyl, managing direc-
tor of Renttech South Africa.
“Our solid background and
capabilities in the welding and
rental industry, I believe, are
a perfect complement for Air
Liquide’s expertise in shielding
gases for welding.”
He continues: “Renttech
is dedicated to providing our
customers with the right equip-
ment solutions for their par-
ticular needs, based on the
latest technologies coupled
with up-to-the-minute product
knowledge. Air Liquide’s range
of ARCALTM New Generation
shielding gases fits ‘hand-in-
glove’ into our strategy of in-
troducing high-performance,
value-added solutions to our
customers.”
The range comprises four
‘simplified’ two-part gas mixes:
Arcal Prime, Arcal Chrome, Arcal
Speed and Arcal Force, which,
combinedare designed to cover
80% of all gas shielded weld-
ing applications, including gas
tungsten arc welding (GTAW),
gas metal arc welding (GMAW),
and flux cored arc welding
(FCAW) processes.
“At Air Liquide we identi-
fied the need to simplify our
shielding gas offering without
compromising on quality, per-
formance or reliability,” says
Chris Phillips, sales andmarket-
ing director at Air Liquide. “We
are pleased to be able to offer,
through Renttech’s expertise
in sales and distribution, not
only our ‘new generation’ high
performance shielding gases,