INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

Eskom into three separate divisions – in generation, transmission, distribution – national-level problems have been confirmed, and these are not in the space where McWade plays.

“Generation is the problem in this country,” states Hindle, Chairperson of the manufacturing arm of The Power Operations & Leadership Association of Southern Africa (POLASA).

“We understand coal generation, but the coal fleet is aging and Medupi and Kusile never got finished. Then there is the reluctance of the government to roll out renewable projects. We simply don’t have enough generating activity. Transmission capacity is where we play – getting what is generated to where it needs to go.”

He adds that coal will remain, that’s guaranteed. But as new generating capacity comes online – and it will come online – those power plants will need to be connected to the grid. And the suggestion right now is that they will not be close to existing generating capacity in the north of the country (more likely in the Western Cape).

“We are quite optimistic,” says Hindle. “We believe we will come right as a country in terms of our generation – it’s just how and when. When it is up and running, there will need to be transition lines and substations. We are in a good place.”

The country’s total generating capacity sits close to 60,000 MW but actual availability was around 55% in 2022, mainly because of regular unplanned breakdowns and maintenance requirements. Finding the opportunity within the challenge is what separates McWade Productions and Hindle and partner Dessen Naidoo.

“If we had excess capacity and excess lines, we would be out of a job as there would be no growth. At one point, Eskom said it would need 10,000km of line to be built in the coming three years – we have never built that in this country in that period of time. If that does start, we are nicely positioned. We see it is a major inconvenience rather than a total negative. Even if everyone puts solar on their roof, you will still need big power generation to prop up industry and everything else.”

Whatever generation capacity looks like in South Africa’s future – privatised or hybridised between private and government, solar, wind, nuclear – the need for transmission will only increase, and the subsequent requirement for robust distribution will also surge.

Strong Growth Platform

To prepare for the growth that Hindle is expecting, new equipment is on the agenda. This will, of course, support employment creation rather than replacement.

“We will be changing old mills for new CNC equipment. We installed welding robots recently and that changed the game significantly. It helped us to make the product cheaper, which encouraged more work, which meant hiring more people,” he says.

Membership of POLASA will help to shape the conversation around local content within wider infrastructure projects, and McWade will push for any further investment into the local ecosystem which could provide big associated benefits.

“We come together under one industry body to lobby the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) to try and get a lot of our products designated. It’s about encouraging Eskom to purchase 100% locally manufactured goods. We try really want locally manufactured products into the system. That goes all the way down the chain – materials have to be purchased locally, and everything in between raw material and finished product must be local.”

However, just being local is not enough to create long-term sustainable growth. There must be an underlying element of quality, and McWade Productions has been serving this up for decades.

“Our reputation for quality service is what has made us as a company,” admits Hindle. “A customer can arrive and ask for product in a hurry. If we don’t have them, we will cast and machine them from scratch while they sit and have a coffee. That doesn’t happen elsewhere. We are hands on and very close to our customers.”

Relationships like this are nurtured over years, and simply cannot be created in the same way with distant suppliers. Working with McWade Productions is a true partnership arrangement and one in which you can be sure of an unbending dedication to South Africa’s manufacturing sector.

“A lot of our opposition don’t manufacture everything – they outsource a lot. We have that capability to design a product from nothing and deliver it finished – we are a one-stop, homegrown shop,” concludes Hindle.