Belmet Boosts Productivity With Ongoing Investment

Cape Town, South Africa - In a move to bolster productivity and offer a broader range of solutions for its customers, Cape Town-based steel fabricator Belmet has recently invested over R 2.5million in new equipment at its Cape Town and Walvis Bay workshops. The company has been operating in the international offshore oil & gas, marine and industrial sectors for over two decades and today has an extensive customer base in Europe, North and South America and Africa.

Following another year of growth, Belmet has purchased five new ESAB Origo MIG 502 multi-process welding machines with Miggytrac 1001 motorized tractors, in order to stay at the cutting edge of fabrication technology in the Western Cape. A key feature of the new system is a magnet on the tractor unit which ensures accurate and even welding during movement along the material weld seam.

“This sizeable investment in equipment has enabled us to achieve exceptional productivity levels during the fabrication of rolled cans for the Sasol Gas Ducting System on behalf of our client, Wartsila/3cMetal,” said Pieter Kroon, Managing Director at Belmet. “For example, during March, 500 out of 800 scheduled cans were fabricated (equating to 300 tons of 6mm rolled Corten 10 plate) with delivery only due in June, 2012, due to the increased production levels offered by this new equipment.”

Similarly, a guide track and manipulator on which the welder resides was developed so that the can turns around the welder, allowing for constant down-hand welding, thereby further increasing productivity and virtually eliminating weld repairs using ESAB ER80-SG MIG wire imported from Sweden.