Businessexcellence ACHIEVING
O N L I N E
AVENA TRIDENTSTEEL www.trident.co.za
C O R P O R AT E B R O C H U R E
Shaping the
future of
Alan Van Rooyen, sales director at Aveng Trid company’s mission to become the leading So
Aveng Trident Steel
steel
dent Steel, talks to Jayne Alverca about the outh African steel distributor and processor
Aveng Trident Steel
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o day, Aveng Trident Steel operates seven facilities across South Africa, including a new state-of the-art facility at Port Elizabeth. Last year, revenues for 2010 stood at £340 million. It is a far cry from the company’s humble origins as a simple steel merchandising operation in 1972 when the first premises were rented in Wadeville. Since those early days, the story has been one of consistent and steady expansion as the company has sought to enhance its value offering and achieve national coverage through a long series of acquisitions.
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Aveng Trident Steel A major milestone came in 1998 when Trident Steel became part of the infrastructure, construction and engineering cluster of the Aveng group, formerly Anglovaal Engineering, which listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) a year later. The Aveng Group is a leader in infrastructure development with a strong presence in Southern Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Currently, it has the largest market capitalisation of any company within its category on the JSE and has made a major contribution to the development and modernisation of Africa’s infrastructure across the continent. Aveng Trident Steel is one of a portfolio of companies that operate under the Aveng banner—all with operations that broadly support the many activities that fall under infrastructure development. The main operation is strategically situated in Roodekop, Germiston, which is where most of South Africa’s industrial and economic activity is sited; and there are other facilities in Alrode, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. The company supplies an exceptionally wide product range to the steel industry in South Africa as well as internationally from its extensive steel yards and comprehensive steel processing service centres. The focus is on areas such as the Steel Stockist range, prime steel plate, structural sections and also meeting customised demand. “Our vision is that we want to be rated by the end users of our products as South Africa’s leading steel processor and distributor with world class service centres, an integrated merchanting capability and the customer orientation necessary to offer an efficient one-stop service,” states sales director Alan Van Rooyen.
But the company does not undertake galvanizing, painting or other final treatments. This is left to sub-contractors or customers to handle their own requirements. “It is a very concentrated market here with a number of capable established service providers who can do a quality job. There is no need for us to make a huge investment in developing an internal capability,” he adds. However, Aveng Trident does have its
own tube manufacturing plant as well as a speciality steel division, Trident Speciality Steel. This supplies speciality steels for specific applications and can be processed to specific requirements or supplied from the company’s large inventory. These steels include black and bright steel, alloy steel (including leaded), hollow bar for mechanical tubing applications and both flat and round spring steels. For all seven facilities, there is a total quality
Aveng Trident Steel management system in place which is based on the ISO9001: 2008 and ISO/TS16949: 2009 standards. Meanwhile the automotive divisions are certified to the ISO/TS 16949:2009 standard. “As part of the Aveng Group, we operate to the highest standards of governance and compliance and that, combined with our long track record in South Africa, means that Trident is a name to be trusted. Our customers know that we ask a fair price for the services we offer and they understand the value that we can add to their operations,” he says. The company aims to offer customers a quality product, delivered on time and at a competitive price, but what really sets Aveng Trident apart is its extensive processing capability allied to a large, highly flexible stockholding. “We can shape and form steel in just about any way that is possible. Adding value to steel, which is obviously a basic commodity, is very important to an operation such
as ours. To achieve this, we process flat sheet from coil and then laser-cut, gas-cut or plasma-cut the product to offer our customers a product that exactly matches their requirements. “Also, our approach to stockholding means that we can offer a very broad spectrum of products. We don’t just carry one or two lines of a particular product, but every conceivable size and configuration.” As a company, Aveng Trident has totally rejected the niche approach. Diversity is the name of the game
Rohlig-Grindrod Rohlig-Grindrod’s international network provides smart solutions for the management of long term projects, involving complex plant movements to various destinations. Our project specialists are deadline driven, with hands-on precision and accuracy, ensuring customer satisfaction during each process of the logistics supply chain. Scope of services provided: imports, exports, shipment charters, cargo consolidation & packing, customs documentation & clearing, supervised & specialised cargo movements, status reports, warehousing, up to final multi-modal deliveries (sea/air/road/rail). “We are proud and supportive of our partnership with Aveng Trident Steel. As their reliable logistics service partner we continue to contribute to the successful completion of their present and future projects.”
and the company aims to meet the needs of the broadest array of customers possible, drawn from a wide range of industries. The company meets a host of general manufacturing and engineering requirements and the construction and automotive sectors are of particular importance. This creates an inherent stability: if one sector is suffering, another may be buoyant. “Demand from the manufacturing and engineering sector is
a little soft at the moment,” he comments. “However, we see steady growth within the construction sector and it has great potential for the future because of the number of power generation and electrification projects that are planned within South Africa. We also see our expertise as lending itself particularly well to the automotive sector, which has made a good recovery.” The automotive industry has a key role to play in South Africa’s economy. Through the Motor Industry Development Plan, the automotive sector has more than doubled in size since 1994, and it has been earmarked as a future economic growth engine for the country. The manufacturing sector
contributed a mighty 54.4 per cent of GDP last year and a large part of this activity was contributed by the automotive industry and the myriad of lower tier suppliers that sit beneath the OEMs. To demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the industry and in recognition of its growing importance in South Africa, Aveng Trident recently made its biggest investment to date in a new blanking press line at its Port Elizabeth premises. The 630-ton servo press blanking line, which was manufactured by Shuler of Gemminen in Germany, will allow Aveng Trident to press curved, trapezoidal or straight-edge blanks. It is a high volume but flexible operation, which will add a new level of cost efficiency. Transporting the gigantic machine from Germany to the Port Elizabeth premises presented a number of
Aveng Trident Steel logistical difficulties. The largest part of the machine is a single piece weighing around 167.7 tons and measuring 8.9 metres by 6.25 metres by 4.1 metres. The machine began its journey by barge down the Rhine river to port at Antwerp and then travelled in a vessel that had to be specially fitted out with its own crane to handle the weight through to the Coega Port in the Eastern Cape. This was the only port in the country with the facilities needed to accommodate a load of this nature. It was then transported to its final resting place via special rigging equipment and extra heavy duty low bed trailers and truck tractors over a carefully prescribed route. The new line is located within the heart of South Africa’s automotive hub and will focus on supplying the local motor industry, which has traditionally been supplied from press operations in Gauteng. Shifting operations to Port Elizabeth will result on further savings in transport and logistics and will also contribute to raising the general level of economic activity at Port Elizabeth Harbour by increasing local supply activities such as the imports of special steels. The investment means that Aveng Trident is now positioned as the foremost supplier of structural and panel blanks to the automotive industry. It is also demonstrating that it can operate at the cutting edge of new technology within the industry. For example, in line with the international trend towards the use of higher strength steels in thinner gauges, the new Shuler press handles high strength steel from 0.7 to 2.00 mm thick. Speaking at an unveiling ceremony with members of the industry, Aveng Trident Steel’s managing director Hercu Aucamp commented: “The decision to purchase the particular blanking line that we chose is to increase flexibility in this growing economic sector, thus promoting a more cost effective component. The equipment’s high output performance and short changeover times directly contribute to lower costs and higher efficiency.” Another special feature of line’s capability is that the edge trimming process can straighten the edge and centre curvature of residual strips, but can also
recoil strips of varying quality up to 130 mm on each side. “This targets a particular problem that has been experienced in the past and has caused considerable slowdowns. The process we have adopted ensures the reduction of country-specific supply bottlenecks due to certain coil widths,” added Aucamp. Says Van Rooyen: “This sort of equipment allied to the skill base of our staff means that we can offer an unequalled level of service to our customers. We aim to remain the supplier of choice by seeking to understand each customer’s expectations and to achieve and maintain these requirements without compromise.” Staff training and development is a priority within the company, but Van Rooyen points out that the company’s success in this area has come at a cost. “We undertake a lot of inhouse training for our staff, but in the past this has tended to mean that we lose staff to our competitors because our people are so well trained and have a thorough understanding of the industry. It is good to know that we are doing the right thing by our people, but we are now having to work much harder to retain them. To this end, we have put in place a continuous assessment of their needs and requirements which moves far beyond the salary they expect to earn.” The health and safety of staff has always been a priority, but now the company has put in place a far-reaching programme which aims to see time lost due to injury reduced to zero. Over the last nine months, time lost due to injury has been reduced by 50 per cent and Van Rooyen believes that there are still further gains to be made. The company currently has 1,850 staff and although its operations were inevitably affected by the global downturn, Van Rooyen believes that the long-term outlook is bright. South Africa’s domestic economy has survived the recession in much better
Aveng Trident Steel
We want to be rated by the end users of our products as South Africa’s leading steel processor and distributor
shape than that to be found in many other developed industrial states and it also enjoys a superb geographical position, with proximity to some of the world’s fastest growing markets. Steady expansion is foreseen over the next five years and with the company’s long history of mergers and acquisitions, it is unlikely to sate its appetite for growth with simple organic growth. “We are constantly looking at new opportunities and we have a broad range of interests,” states Van Rooyen. “For example, we might consider a move into more diversified steel processing, or consider options in downstream automotive components as well as strengthening our capability in distribution networks. We never turn anything away—any opportunity to add value for our shareholders is considered. “The onus is on us to continually reevaluate how we can provide the best service to our customers that in turn enables them to unlock value in their own operations,” he continues. “For example, we are currently looking at new technologies, notably the alternatives to galvanising which is an emerging market and new steel processing technologies in general. We can never afford to fall behind because we know that it would be almost impossible to catch up. Our success is derived from the fact that we are at the leading edge of what we do and we are determined to do whatever it takes to retain that edge,” he concludes. www.trident.co.za BE
AVENA TRIDENTSTEEL www.trident.co.za