WINNER
Hazleton Pumps
For the Design, Development and Manufacture of the HIPPO Slurry Pump Range
Hazleton Pumps has been building slurry pumps since the late 1970s.
Their ongoing strategy has been to foster long-term, sustainable relationships with customers through the design and manufacture of customised solutions.
In particular, Hazleton has experience in creating pumps that operate under punishing conditions and are capable of handling high volumes of corrosive liquids - even those that contain solids. It produces these under its famous Hippo brand.
With the economic slump in the South African market – especially the stagnation in the Southern African mining sector – the decision was taken to concentrate on exports.
But developing bespoke equipment for the international market presented a few challenges, not least because of the sheer scale of the new pumps. Custom specifications required building pumps in excess of 10 tonnes - some with individual components weighing over 2.5 tonnes.
Because of the pumps’ daunting size and because of the kinds of duplex stainless steels that would be used in their castings no existing South African plant was able to do the necessary machining at an internationally competitive price. Thus Hazleton had to establish a new manufacturing plant to produce them.
Since budgets were fixed Hazleton acquired the necessary equipment at auctions and adapted them to be capable of working to the required standard. In order to ensure interchangeability of pump parts they also developed specialised machining jigs and fixtures. New setups, new machines and a stringent set of standards to adhere to meant that it was also necessary to hire and train new machine operators and re-train existing staff. Where possible, Hazleton chooses to employ first from local communities and its staff complement has tripled over the last 2 years.
Staff expertise is particularly critical when working with duplex stainless steels. This is because the material becomes progressively harder - and thus more difficult to work with - with every machining pass. Work needs to be completed with as few passes as possible.
Building all of the components inhouse gives Hazleton complete control over manufacturing quality which is particularly important since that quality is guaranteed. To ensure that it meets the required international standards, Hazleton submitted to audit and received SABS certification.
Contact : Hazleton Pumps
Tel : 012 666 8203
Website : www.hazletonpumps.co.za
RUNNER UP
ND Engineering
For the Fast Track Manufacturing of the 4 x Tongaat-Hulett Developed and Designed Falling Film Evaporators
ND Engineering has manufactured Alidex Falling Fill Evaporators for Tongaat Hulett. About a year ago Tongaat Hulett Starch identified that the market for glucose was expanding at a rate faster than it could supply, even at maximum output. Consumers in food manufacturing were having to import glucose, which in turn had a negative effect on the local value chain. The decision was taken to expand their glucose manufacturing capability
but it had to be done quickly and without impacting existing production.
ND Engineering has more than 40 years in stainless steel fabrication and have an existing relationship with Tongaat Hulett with whom they collaborate on the development of RDA valve technology. Having demonstrated their abilities they were the obvious choice when Tongaat
Engineering Group needed to fast track the manufacture of their new Falling Film Evaporator design.
With their wealth of experience and range of fabrication equipment, ND Engineering was able to offer Tongaat Hulett a very advanced level of manufacturing flexibility. The conceptual design, development and procurement phases were short, but the collaboration was extremely interactive and the project was successfully achieved, on time, with zero interruption to Tongaat Hulett’s existing glucose operations.
The evaporator station that ND Engineering built produces enzyme glucose through a multiple effect evaporation boiling. This is a highly energy
efficient method that allows available steam to be reused within the system. The station also lowers colour formation in the product. This is critical for end uses that allow no variance such as coffee creamers.
The team chose a falling film configuration in part to allow smaller temperature differences in each effect and also because it reduces the overall
footprint of the station.
The evaporators had to be designed to operate over a pressure range of 200 kPag to full vacuum - 100 kPag. Internal baffles in the Calandra around the tubes were also installed in such a way that the risk of tube vibration was eliminated.
Contact : ND Engineering
Tel : 031 464 0510
Website : www.ndengineering.co.za