Safal Steel

COMPANY PROFILE

2015

Safal Steel

www.safalsteel.co.za | +27 (31) 782 5500

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company profile

The future of coated steel Editorial: Rebecca Bingley

“We will continue this journey by expanding our manufacturing into as many new countries in Africa as possible, whilst always providing the best service and quality to our customers and to the end users of our products,” explains Dhiru P Shah, co-founder of the Safal Group; and with the recent R1 billion state-of-the-art metal coating facility built in Cato Ridge, KZN, this has ensured its subsidiary, Safal Steel, will continue to play an integral role within the coated steel industry in South Africa.

Standing as the largest producer of steel roof sheeting on the continent, operational in 11 countries and selling products across three continents, it’s no surprise that Safal Group has built up a strong reputation and wealth of experience that now spans across five successful decades.

Opening its first manufacturing facility in Mombasa, Kenya in 1962 – today the Group utilises world leading metal coating technology and colour coating processes that allows it to produce the coil used within its roofing applications.

With a budding portfolio of trusted brands under its belt located across Africa, all operating companies were taken under the current holding company, Safal Group in 2003, with shareholding

by Mauritius-based company, Safal Investments.

Dr Manu Chandaria, Founder of the Safal Group, explains: “Businesses can help build the future of Africa. By investing with responsibility and insight, by partnering with communities and investing in its people, sustaining each other and protecting

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the environment as the source of all our wealth with these values, we firmly believe that success is inevitable. We strive to make ours such a business.

This is our approach to sustainability.”

SAFAL STEEL SA In line with the company’s growth strategy, Safal Steel was first constructed by the Safal Group in the Cato Ridge area – primarily manufacturing aluminium zinc coated steel coils, these are distributed to markets both on a local and international scale. Produced in a variety of widths, the coils and gauges can be supplied in either an unpainted or pre-painted state.

Developed in 2012, the R1 billion state-of-theart metal coating facility, measuring 30,000 square meters with a total site covering 14.4 hectares, has been designed with a pickling and oiling line, a cold rolling mill, an aluminium zinc coating line and a colour coating line – all in preparation for the coated steel process.

In addition, the new facility has been developed with a number of support lines and services -

Safal Steel

including a Nitrogen generation plant, an acid regeneration plant, a Hydrogen generation plant, rewind and trim line, the regenerative thermal oxidiser, an effluent treatment plant and a sewerage treatment plant.

A SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT Speaking at the launch of the new coating facility in KZN, Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, stressed the importance of the steel industry in the continued economic development of South Africa.

“This investment, supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and in which the Industrial Development Corporation also participated, clearly demonstrates Safal Group’s confidence in South Africa as an investment destination and the maturity of our steel industry.”

A significant investment, the development presents an important opportunity for the local manufacturing sector and will help to ensure the support of the automotive and appliance manufacturing sectors which face ongoing structural upgrades and developments.

“The facility is manufacturing and supplying coated steel roofing to both the local and global markets, with 60 percent of the product targeted for the local market and the balance for exports.

“The facility has already created 370 jobs, mainly employing people from local community, Durban and Pietermaritzburg,” explained Davies.

A foreign investment from its Mauritius-based major shareholders, Safal Group, the Japanese firms, Marubeni Itochi and Nippon Steel Holdings both have a 7% in the project with a further 26% set for a BBEEE deal in the near future.

“Safal Steel’s investment is timely, especially in light of the government’s massive infrastructure development programme over the next several years, announced by President Jacob Zuma, in his state of the nation address,” Davies explained.

“This investment will support the government’s infrastructure development programme with locally produced material. It’s a remarkable investment by a company headquartered in Mauritius and with operations in 16 countries in Africa. It contributes to regional economic integration.”

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company profile What’s of paramount importance here is the local manufacturing sector to South Africans - the 30,000 m2 coating plant will continue to employ trade workers from local communities. Reaching its full capacity, it produces 150,000 tons of coated steel on an annual basis with the capability to double this.

“Too often we just import goods that we need… but this is the kind of investment that we want and support as government,” Davies explained.

“The Department of Trade and Industry has allocated R39 million in tax incentives for this project. We have allocated R30m through the enterprise development programme, of which about R22m has already been used. A further R9m came from the critical infrastructure programme of the Industrial Development Corporation.”

The coating plant stands as one of the biggest foreign direct investments in KZN and certainly one of the biggest private sector driven construction projects within the region. CEO of Safal Steel, Ronnie Graham, explained: “Safal is the only manufacturer of aluminium zinc

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coated steel in South Africa. Up to 60 percent of our products are for the domestic market, while the rest is exported. The product is mainly used in the roofing industry, but as the minister mentioned, there are opportunities for growth in the automotive and ‘white goods’ or appliance manufacturing industry.”

Wi t h t h e n e w p l a n t c o n s t r u c t i o n , t h e c o m p a n y ’s r o l e i s t o p u r c h a s e H o t R o l l C o i l s ( H R C ) f r o m a v a r i e t y o f t h e S a f a l G r o u p ’s current global suppliers - these are initially cleaned through a fully automated Pickling and Oiling Line to remove any mill scale.

From this process, the coils are then Cold Rolled to a variety of gauges ranging from 0,2mm to 1,2mm before they are cleaned for a second time and then coated with an alloy of aluminium zinc in the metal coating process (55% aluminium, 43.5% zinc 1.5% S i l i c o n ) a n d s o l d t o S a f a l S t e e l ’s c u s t o m e r base as ZincAL®. The final process involves the painting of the coils, if this is required, before they are then sold to market as ColorPLUS®.

Safal Steel COLORPLUS® Used in almost all industries, from automotive and consumer goods to engineering and construction, steel does, despite its strength, possess one weakness – corrosion. When it is used in construction projects but exposed to the environment and harsh weather conditions, its service life can deteriorate rapidly.

In an effort to overcome this detrimental and costly feature, steel can be treated with a corrosion inhibiting coating such as aluminium-zinc or galvanised steel.

The Safal Group stands as the first company in Africa to set up the aluminium–zinc coating technology, referred to as aluminium zinc (AZ) coating, it is done under licence to BIEC International Inc., the worldwide licensor and renowned leader in technologies associated with AZ coated steel.

Considered the next generation of colour coated steel, ColorPLUS® has been developed as a premium product, helping to ensure it can withstand the harshest of South Africa’s climates – directly increasing service life, thermal protection, cost effectiveness, the aesthetic value and maintaining an eco-friendly stance. Introducing a zest of colour and originality into the steel construction industry, ColorPLUS® has also been designed to ensure it satisfies the 21st century demands of steel roofing in South Africa.

The patented coating helps to protect the steel in two ways: firstly, the aluminium component of the coating provides a tough physical barrier between the inner core of steel and the extreme atmospheric condition and secondly, the zinc in the coating helps to protect the steel at the cut edges.

With much extensive and thorough research, the technique of coating steel with an alloy of aluminium and zinc (55% aluminium, 43.5% zinc and 1.5% silicon) has now proven its performance and outcome to surpass that even of the more traditional method, using galvanised steel.

in the country.

“The 13 projects are in greenfield and expansion manufacturing… Six of the projects will commence commercial production between March and August, three in 2013 and the rest in 2014. An amount of R4.5bn in additional tax allowances has been granted to the approved projects,” he said.

“These approved projects are all within the priority sectors identified in the Industrial Policy Action Plan; eight are in the chemical sector, one in the agro processing sector, two in the paper and pulp sector and two in the bio-fuel sector.

“In addition to encouraging investment and employment in the manufacturing sector, the Section 12I incentive also aims to encourage greater energy efficiency in the manufacturing sector as well as to strengthen the industrial skills base,” Davies concluded With such innovation, dedication and commitment embedded in the workforce across the Safal Group, it looks as though this company will maintain its position as one of the leading manufacturers and preferred suppliers of both unpainted & pre-painted aluminium zinc coated coils within the South African market for many more years to come

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Beckers is a global industrial coatings company specialising in coil coatings and industrial coatings for metal, providing finishes for mobile phones and other electronic devices, endeavouring to make it more sustainable over our 20 sites in 16 countries. At Beckers we form partnerships with our customers. This, of course, is based on our focus on innovation, quality and local service.

We believe in action and commitment

CONTINUED SUCCESS With further projects and an investment value of R21.7 billion announced during the development of the new coating plant – Davies explained at the time that in line with the government’s tax incentive schemes for South African businesses, projects such as these will help to bolster the manufacturing industry through major investments

Becker Industrial Coatings (Pty) Ltd 105 Houtkop Road, Duncanville, Vereeniging South Africa, 1930 Office +27(0)16 428 4011 Cell +27 (0)83 408 2758 Fax +27 (0)86 594 0058

www.beckers-group.com

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