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Perspective – December 2021
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Industry Insight
Strategic Review
Market Intelligence
Women in Stainless Steel – SASSDA BOOSTS FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE STAINLESS STEEL ECONOMY“Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world” – Hillary Clinton The world is entering a new era of female empowerment. Where women are at the helm; they are the ‘captains of industry’, the moguls, industrialists and tycoons. In line with this, government has plans to roll out a National Strategic Plan, consisting of six pillars of which one, aims to ensure women’s economic and financial inclusion as part of a broader localisation drive. This will fuel a critically needed agenda that paves the way towards gender equality, poverty eradication, sustainability and inclusive economic growth. President Ramaphosa has said “We are going to drive women’s economic inclusion through public procurement. We have set the target of ensuring that 40% of goods and services procured by public entities are procured from women-owned business”. A Women’s Economic Assembly (WECONA) has therefore been created with the focus on finding “supply chain opportunities for women-owned businesses in key industries such as steel, automotive and energy sectors”, stated President Ramaphosa. COLLABORATING FOR SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS As a result, Sassda has been working with government to find opportunities for female-led companies within their membership and contribute…
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Sector Focus – LOCALISATION HAS POTENTIAL FOR FAR REACHING BENEFITSThe South African Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) is playing a vital role in developing downstream opportunities for the local holloware sector as part of its key stakeholder representation role in the development of the government’s Steel Master Plan. The plan has seen the dtic focusing on developing opportunities for stainless steel, and prioritising the localisation of products. This has been wrought with challenges in sourcing products from abroad, thereby increasing the need for localising the manufacturing of stainless steel products. Sassda Market Intelligence specialist Lesley Squires reports; “When the Steel Master Plan was first released last year, the stainless steel subsector received recognition for its work and the potential it offers the steel industry. Sassda’s role in the plan is aligned with its mandate, to promote the growth of the local conversion of stainless steel to the benefit of our members, industry, and the country. “Although there are a substantial number of stainless steel consumer goods available in the market, it was decided to put our focus into specific product types initially, with a view to sourcing from local manufacturers and ascertaining if the local pricing was acceptable to the clients.” She said…
Case Study : 3CR12 in Busses
Case Study : 3CR12 – 3CR12 OFFERS NEW SOLUTIONS TO AGE-OLD APPLICATIONSEarly humans made a breakthrough when the making and controlling of fire was invented. This was critical, not only for security and warmth but also provided new ways of preparing food. Since then, cooking has developed into a global industry and, as we all know, stainless steel plays an inherent part in this industry. However, the original cooking style developed by early men is still very popular in the shape of what we know as a braai. Especially in South Africa where nearly every household has an area for fire making and cooking on coals or flame. We also find that virtually all participants in the art of braaiing have a design for the ultimate braai and finding the best design often leads to ‘heated’ arguments! A METAL THAT KEEPS ITS COOL WHEN HOT In the US there is also a trend towards portable camping braais and 4×4 enthusiasts in Texas seems to be very impressed by the latest South African braai export. This homegrown innovation is manufactured by a local entrepreneur and is made from another South African innovation, 3CR12 stainless steel. The product is designed to last a lifetime with a 100-year…
Personality Profile – A LIFETIME OF DEDICATIONThe greatest strength of the South African stainless steel sector is undoubtedly its people, who believe in the material’s ability to enhance and sustain the South African economy no matter how onerous the challenges it faces. For this reason, our profile series focuses on stainless professionals who embody the entrepreneurial spirit and who will shape our industry for years to come. In this issue, we speak to Wire Products Stainless Steel Director Tanya Papadopoulos. What was your path to forging a career in the South African stainless steel sector? I have no formal post school degree. I started in this industry at the age of 21 and it was not long after that, my interest in this industry grew. With the help of my predecessors, I was trained in different fields throughout my years at the company. I have been with the company for over 30 years and it is with my experience, initiative and dedication that I have succeeded in my current position. I look at this as an advantage where experience is what comes down to understanding the industry. What attracts me about this industry is that there are continuous opportunities for growth and I …
Advertorial : SAIW – SAIW CHAMPIONS TOP QUALITY WELDING SKILLS ACROSS THE CONTINENTThe Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) is a champion of the world class skills, quality levels and productivity output that are all key rivers of a sustainable economic growth plan. In light of this, it aims to develop its existing top quality training and increase South Africa’s welding, NDT, inspection (including certified inspectors, IPEs and CPs) and welding coordinator (including the International Welding Practitioner, Specialist and Technologist) skills base. In line with this, the SAIW is forging a path to boost welding skills across the African continent and has signed an SLA with The African Welding Federation (TWF) of which it is a founding member. Significant to the TWF and SAIW alliance, is a strong focus on ISO 3834 certification, which allows certification bodies to assess a manufacturer’s ability to meet customer and regulatory quality requirements in fusion welding in both workshops and in the field, and further endorses a company’s welding employees as competent. It also boosts a manufacturer’s ability to sell its products in domestic and international markets. This type of strategic partnership is a key part of the SAIW’s long terms growth plans with Executive Director John Tarboton…
Africa Market Intelligence – $60-BILLION MOZAMBIQUE OIL & GAS PROJECT BACK IN BUSINESSMozambique presents an excellent opportunity for the local supply of stainless steel into various ventures that form part of the $60-Billion oil and gas projects. Unfortunately, the project was halted in the first half of 2021 due to Islamist militant insurgencies in the far north of the country, in the provinces where the gas projects were located… Mozambique’s gas and oil fields have long been touted as a fertile breeding ground for new business opportunities in the form of project participation for South Africa stainless steel manufacturers, distributors, and fabricators. The good news is that despite the stalling of this project due to insurgency attacks, Italian energy services group Saipem SPMI.MI has now said it expects a major LNG project in Mozambique to restart around mid-2022 after it was put on hold this year for safety reasons. This follows French energy Group Total declaring a force majeure on its $20 billion liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique Late in April 2021 following insurgent attacks. A LOOK BACK & CURRENT CONTEXT… In the first half of the second millennium A.D., northern Mozambican port towns were frequented by traders from Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia,…