July 2011

Businessexcellence ACHIEVING

JULY 2011

O N L I N E

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From

hookup to decommissioning Newly merged Wood Group PSN has the ability to deliver a full suite of brownfield services

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power

Brand

Everyone in business knows the importance of a strong brand; and this month we have been talking to several companies who have been leveraging their brand power to great effect.

When managing director of South Africa’s Shoreline Beverages, Mahmood Ismail, arrived at the company, he decided to revitalise a brand already familiar to consumers, knowing the advantage this would afford. “I had acquired the Coo-ee brand, which has a long history in KwaZulu-Natal going back to the 1940s,” he explains. “I felt that, although it had been dormant for a couple of years, its history and familiarity among the local population would make it more successful.”

His prediction proved correct—the brand was relaunched in 2004 with a fresh new look and has since succeeded in consistently increasing profits year-on-year. It now counts among its clients all the major South African supermarkets including Shoprite Group, Spar Group and Massmart.

Rezidor Hotel Group, the fastest growing market player in sub-Saharan Africa, is letting its brands lead the way as it continues to expand. “Radisson Blu is our core brand which you might describe as Rezidor’s international heavyweight that we will take to every capital or financial centre on the continent, irrespective of what our competitors may already be doing,” explains Andrew McLachlan, VP for Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

“Our market entry strategy is always to lead with Radisson Blu and then evaluate the demand for other brands.”

And newly merged leading brownfield services provider Wood Group PSN is planning to build upon the reputation of both formerly separate companies to create a new brand of excellence within the oil and gas industry.

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Contents SUPPLY CHAIN: A hub for trade

Fahad Al Gergawi, CEO of Dubai’s Foreign Investment Office, responds to a report on the Gulf Cooperation Council’s trade and investment strategy.

OPERATIONS:

Journey to the fixed-price desktop

Rob Greenslade of Centralis discusses the impact of cloud transformation in the desktop environment.

SUSTAINABILITY: Global gas?

In the light of current energy issues, Toni Johnson looks at the potential of natural gas, particularly shale gas, to fill some gaps.

STRATEGY:

A winning strategy

Rather than compete simply on price and quality, says John Tschohl, create a service culture and watch your sales soar.

Wood Group PSN

From hook-up to decommissioning

The recent merger has created a leading international energy services company with the ability to deliver a full suite of brownfield services.

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Contents

Flinders Ports

Ambitious for growth

The operator of seven of South Australia’s ten ports has ambitious plans to treble its capacity in the next few years.

Telecom Namibia

Connecting Namibia

Communications is the cement that will knit the country’s industry sectors together and connect them to global markets.

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A head in the clouds...

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Volkswagen Group South Africa

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Neotel

After building a nationwide fibre optic communication backbone, Neotel is leading the migration to next generation communications in South Africa.

Investing in the future

A major development programme to upgrade facilities and improve productivity includes the construction of a new press shop.

Shoreline Beverages

A refreshing approach

Innovation is crucial to the producer some of the most popular soft drinks sold in the province of KwaZuluNatal, South Africa.

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Contents The Rezidor Hotel Group Spotlight on Africa

One of the world’s fastest growing hotel chains, with a strong presence in emerging markets and stellar growth in Africa.

African Minerals

All eyes on the prize

With the collective appetite of the world’s steel makers likely only to increase, there has never been a better time to be the hand that feeds them.

Andalusite Resources Exciting the market

Operating in a very specialised area of industry, this is now a thriving business that was once rejected as having no marketing potential.

Dhafir Development & Contracting Going the extra mile

The company’s management and operational principles have given it an edge in a challenging marketplace.

Empire Aviation Group Flying high

Maximizing asset value is key for the Dubai-based operator and manager of the Middle East’s largest fleet of corporate and private jets.

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Contents Saudi Tabreed Cooling Company Cool idea

A relatively new approach to providing air conditioning is contributing greater energy efficiency to the Middle East.

Horizon Power The hot zone

Cutting-edge technology and an innovative approach to problem solving can be the key to rapid success and a large percentage of market share.

Crossrail

Rail relief

The biggest single extension to the UK’s south-east rail network in half a century is gearing up beneath the streets of London.

Technip Germany

In the pipeline

A world leader in EPC for onshore pipeline systems with an emphasis on safety, innovative technology and getting the job done on time.

Technip Norway

Technical challenges

Subsea construction and engineering company providing infrastructure services in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

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Contents Amatola Water

Bringing water to life

Amatola Water operates in the central region of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, with a vision to expand into the entire province.

Bitou Municipality

Long-term thinking

A drought-hit region in the Western Cape is relieving water shortages through the construction of a new seawater desalination plant.

Vale

King coal

With a new coal mine about to open in Mozambique, the benefits should percolate through to the local community.

ELB Group

Double branding: double value

A strong position in the South African mining industry thanks to alliances with the best local and international technology partners.

National Highway Authority Pakistan Take the highway

Improvements to Pakistan’s major highways are critical to the future expansion of the country’s economy and relations with its neighbours.

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Consol Glass

A clear success

Part of South Africa’s history for nearly 70 years, the company prides itself on innovation and engagement with the local community.

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Bombardier Transportation India Ltd Underground take off

An early investment in India has proved advantageous as the country responds to economic growth with improvements in transport infrastructure.

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Tata Projects Limited The power to deliver

Thirty years of experience in India have led this company to work on some of the country’s largest infrastructure projects.

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Kraft Foods Southern Africa From good to great

Southern Africa is becoming an increasingly important revenue stream for the world’s second largest food company.

Dark Fibre Africa

Shining light on the Dark Continent

South Africa is setting the pace of change in many sectors of industry—including the field of communications, which is undergoing dramatic transformation.

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A

for hub

trade

Fahad Al Gergawi, CEO of Dubai’s Foreign Inve perspective on a new report from the Economi Gulf Cooperation Council’s trade and investme

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Supply chain

r

e

estment Office, offers his ist Intelligence Unit on the nt strategy July 2011 17

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Supply chain

F

ew places in the world better symbolize the power and opportunities of globalization than Dubai. Without large oil reserves, our future depends on our success as a trading hub and strategic position in the world. We are an open society not just in economic terms but in the make-up of our population. More than 200 nationalities live and work in harmony within our borders.

Given our location, our heritage and ambitions, the shape of global trade is crucial to our future success.

We need to understand not just the major trends but the details which can help put the bigger picture into focus. Too often, and in defiance of traditional economic thinking, trade is still seen in terms of winners and losers. The true picture, as a new authoritative report into trade between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the rest of world highlights, is more balanced.

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The report, of course, captures the astonishing rise in economic power of the emerging markets over the last two decades. In 1987, they made up just 16 per cent of global GDP. Today, they account for 31 per cent, a figure forecast to rise to 41 per cent by 2015. The skyline, not just the bottom-line, illustrates the remarkable shift underway. In 1989, the ten tallest buildings in the world were all in North America. Today seven are in Asia with the tallest here in Dubai.

As you might expect, the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) trade experience underlines this mega-trend. Thirty years ago, 85 per cent of the GCC’s trade was with OECD members, the group of countries dominated by the developed economies of North America and Europe.

By 2009 the emerging market share was 45 per cent.

This switch, however, doesn’t mean trade with the developed world has fallen. It hasn’t. It is just that its annual growth of five per cent can’t keep up with the boom in trade with the economies of Asia and Africa.

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Supply chain

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The underlying figures also show that OECD countries will remain an important trading partner, especially in knowledge-intensive sectors such as education and healthcare.

For investment, too, it will continue to be an attractive destination for capital from the Gulf, particularly for risk averse funds.

It is easy as well to caricature trade with the new economic powerhouses of the East as a transfer of raw materials to them with low-cost manufactured goods flowing the other way. In this scenario, the smartphone in your pocket is the perfect symbol of the new global economy.

Again, it is only a partial picture. It is, for example, not only goods but capital which is flowing out of an increasingly prosperous Asia. A third of Dubai’s 2009 sovereign bond issue was taken up by Asian investors.

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Across Asia, too, the purchasing power and aspirations of a rising middle class are starting to be felt. Walk through Dubai Airport’s terminal three and you’ll see just how popular luxury brands are with Chinese and Indian tourists. In an extraordinarily short period of time, they have developed the same tastes and love of travel as their counterparts across the world.

China, in particular, figures large in any discussion of global trade trends. The country’s growing need for oil—70 per cent of which will come from the Gulf States by 2015—creates a long-term co-dependence between the Middle and the Far East.

But to focus narrowly on such raw data is, once again, to miss the nuanced picture. India, culturally, is the GCC’s closest neighbor and there are more than six million Indians living in the Gulf. Indian merchants pre-date the British presence here. Such deep historical cultural

Supply chain

affinity will be an important driver for bilateral trade.

Nor can we afford to ignore the south when we consider future trends. Trade between the GCC and Africa is rising, from an admittedly low base, by an impressive 11 per cent per annum. Strong economic growth and increased political stability within Africa is likely to continue this performance.

There are, however, two further factors which could have an important impact on the links between Africa and the Gulf region. The natural fit between the continent’s abundant and under-used arable land and the GCC’s declared aims of securing food security for its citizens seems certain to be an important driver of future investment and trade.

Africa also has the youngest and fastesturbanizing population in the world. GCC firms are already investing in these smaller, faster-growing consumer markets. But the future potential for low

cost manufacturing in Africa is also likely to be increasingly significant.

In a world changing more rapidly than ever, it is becoming even more difficult to predict the future. We can, however, be certain that, as prosperity continues to spread, global trade will keep expanding. We can be confident as well that, through our location, our open attitude and continued investment, Dubai is ideally placed to help the increased flow of goods, services and people between north and south, east and west. BE The report from the Economist Intelligence Unit—GCC Trade and Investment Flows; the Emerging Market Surge—examines trade between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the rest of the world. www.eiu.com/sponsor/ falcon/south-south

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Journe

fixed

desk

Rob Greenslade of Centralis discusses the imp environment and warns of the dangers in ado 24

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Operations

eytothe

d-price

ktop

pact of cloud transformation in the desktop pting ‘bargain’ fixed-price DaaS offerings July 2011

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he concept of providing virtualised applications to desktops, as a service, and for a fixed price, is tempting for almost any business looking to reduce costs and increase efficiency and agility. Yet transformation can be tricky, and questions remain over strategy, compliance and ROI. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) is a subset of desktop virtualisation, under which a desktop is provided to the user when they connect to it, rather than having it installed on their physical device. The ‘as a service’ element means the user has the desktop configured for them by either an internal or external provider, and potentially on a fixed-cost basis.

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DaaS can be as simple as a session on a shared server, or as complex as a dedicated machine over which the end user has complete control. The key is that it is stored and managed centrally and provided ‘on-demand’ to the user. DaaS can also include elements of self-provisioning or subscription, allowing the user to select features, capacity and applications (potentially at a cost) from a catalogue and apply these to one or more desktops—thereby delivering resources as needed rather than across the entire estate.

At a strategic level, DaaS falls under the ‘cloud’ category, which has pretty much become a must in any corporate IT strategy document as firms look to cut costs and complexity whilst delivering efficiencies.

Aside from strategic considerations, the operational advantages of DaaS relate to technical issues and work patterns.

From a technical perspective, migration to Windows 7 will be a major driver over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, given that support for XP ends in April 2014. For firms wrestling with how to deliver, secure and mobilise the Windows 7 desktop environment, DaaS provides an attractive alternative to the cost and complexity of managing it in-house. Migration to Windows 7 is not as linear as its predecessor, calling for the introduction and business buy-in to other types of technologies that can result in compatibility issues for existing applications (e.g. will they work with both 32- and 64-bit platforms?)—especially if they are custom builds.

From a work pattern perspective providing desktops as a service means that everyone, from call centre workers and finance officers working on the same desktop to roaming executives or consultants connecting from airports and hotels around the world has a common desktop, application set and working experience. DaaS also offers other operational advantages such as flexible working

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(e.g. from home), business continuity (e.g. from a branch office) and disaster recovery.

DaaS can be used by organisations demanding high levels of performance and availability, but who can’t afford the cost of a fully-equipped and resilient data centre.

Buying a ‘share’ of a third party desktop solution offers a cost effective alternative to conventional IT solutions, and comes with the added bonus of a trained team dedicated to keeping the desktop environment up to date, rather than being constantly pulled away from maintenance to higher priority tasks.

Personalisation is another advantage to the virtualisation process. Separating the individual user from their device can have significant performance and end-user experience benefits, particularly where users may access their desktops in a number of ways, such as by laptop, desktop and thin client. And as businesses increasingly focus on the cost and environmental impact of travel, power consumption, cooling, disposal and technology refresh, any move towards thinner clients and more flexible working has significant appeal.

This journey into this brave new world of IT is not without complexity or risk—both in ensuring the consistency of experience demanded by corporate desktop users, and in determining how far a business should venture ‘into the cloud’ from the controlled and secure environment afforded by private clouds, to the more uncertain domain of public clouds.

The concept of virtualisation is by no means new. It was computer scientist John McCarthy who first suggested that computer time-sharing technology could lead to a future

Operations

Separating the individual user from their device can have significant performance and end-user experience benefits

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Operations

in which computing power and even specific applications could be sold through the utility business model, during a speech given to celebrate the centennial of MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) back in 1961!

At that time, it was recognised that the technology infrastructure was simply not available to realise the utility computing dream. Today however, advances in IT hardware, software and broadband communications networks have seen its commercial realisation in the many forms of utility or ‘cloud’ computing models being adopted. Last year, the drive towards creating cloud computing environments combined with the economic recovery saw shipments of virtualised servers rising 28 per cent and end-user spending reach $16.8 billion, according to analysts at IDC. Amid this clamour for the cloud, the concept of the ‘fixed-price desktop’ based on DaaS is now attracting considerable interest from firms looking to cut costs and streamline operations, while meeting demand for services with reduced resources. Yet the lack of an industry-standard definition for this model means it can

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be hard for potential adopters to see the wood for the trees when it comes to taking the plunge and planning for migration to a virtualised desktop infrastructure (VDI), given the number of options available: • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): aka ‘utility computing’, describes delivery of a computer infrastructure, typically a platform virtualisation environment, which users buy as a fully outsourced service.

• Platform as a service (PaaS): delivery of a computing platform and/or solution stack, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud applications, which reduces the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software layers.

• Software as a service (SaaS): delivery of software over the internet, which eliminates the need to install and run the application on the desktop and simplifies maintenance and support.

At the risk of sounding non-committal, the reality is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach for all but the smallest and simplest of DaaS projects. Rather, DaaS migration is like starting out at the beginning of a journey.

It calls for careful planning in respect of the start and end points, and the route to be followed, as well as budget considerations, security, and the ability to manage, control and react to changes in circumstances.

Indeed, the analogy takes on even more resonance in respect of the ‘cloudy outlook’ for today’s IT environments.

Furthermore, the risk of jumping to DaaS without the necessary planning is that you can all too easily become stuck with a solution that fails to meet your requirements. Once you have migrated, the cost of buying the infrastructure back in-house is significant.

Thus the importance of planning, knowing what success looks like, and then getting to the point where you are able to build your

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service cannot be overstated.

The elements to be considered therefore include transformational services, software licensing, and provision of a virtualised, scalable, manageable, hosted desktop service that delivers applications and access to system resources on demand, securely, for a known recurring price. The logical approach to tackling DaaS migration is threefold: • Simplify the client device to abstract the ‘personal’ element from the physical device. Making the client a commodity reduces purchase and set-up costs, but most importantly, dramatically reduces support and maintenance.

• Standardise delivery to become more agile. An organisation that standardises applications and desktops, and how they are delivered, reduces the sprawl that inhibits change. If users are free to use any client device, and applications and desktops are delivered as a service, the organisation is able to take advantage of changes to working practice such as mobility, flexible working, hot-desking and branch office consolidation.

• Centralise data and infrastructure to the data centre.

Applications are hosted next to the data, which is held securely outside of client devices. Costs can be minimised through virtualisation, reducing hardware and energy costs and increasing resilience.

The ‘cloud’-based desktop provides the capacity users need, when they need it, rather than leaving computing power idle on the desktop and in the data centre. And the ‘pay per use’ model is quickly catching on from both a software vendor and hosted service perspective. Indeed, it may well be one of the most significant changes to the computing model over the coming years. BE Centralis is a leading independent IT consultancy specialising in delivering applications securely to their point of use. Centralis’ mission is to help customers reduce cost and improve business agility through innovative, award-winning solutions backed by top-level partnership with industry leading vendors, including Citrix, Microsoft and VMware. www.centralis.co.uk

Operations

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Global

In the light of current energy issues, Toni Joh particularly shale gas, to fill some gaps 34

July 2011

Sustainability

gas?

l

hnson looks at the potential of natural gas,

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Sustainability

Even if gas surges in the coming years, markets will continue to be dominated by trade between neighbours rather than becoming truly global

J

apan’s March 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima dealt a tremendous blow to nuclear facilities, both planned and operating, around the globe. It also ignited fresh interest in natural gas and added to the pressure on countries to replace coal power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Germany and Japan have both made dramatic shifts in their nuclear stance, and many countries have been reevaluating the safety of current and future nuclear facilities. This shift is driving speculation that natural gas—especially gas in shale formations—will be the main stop-gap energy source until renewable energy becomes more economically viable.

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But even if gas surges in the coming years, markets will continue to be dominated by trade between neighbours rather than becoming truly global.

Obstacles to a global market Unlike oil, natural gas faces several obstacles to transportation, so markets tend to be overwhelmingly regional. Pipelines, for example, are expensive and are hampered by geographic and political challenges. Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is easily transported but still limited by the small number of ports and ships currently available—and receiving ports have outpaced shipping facilities.

While there has been tremendous global growth in LNG, the US Energy Information Agency’s (EIA) 2010 global energy assessment found that pipelines, not LNG, will remain the predominant mode of gas transportation for the next two decades. LNG capacity is expected to more than double between now and 2035 to about 19 trillion cubic feet (tcf) per year, up from about 8 tcf in 2007. However, that is still very small in comparison with the 156 tcf of global natural gas demand that is expected in 25 years.

Production remains largely dominated by three regions, the Middle East/North Africa, North America, and Russia/Eurasia. Russia alone accounts for about 20 per cent of the total global gas trade in 2009—but this is down from 30 per cent a few years ago.

Meanwhile, North American gas production, though significant, is almost entirely consumed by the US. Several companies have applied to convert US LNG terminals for export, but the effect of this conversion on markets is far from clear.

The Middle East and Africa—particularly Qatar—dominate LNG exports and provided more than half of all LNG traded in 2009.

Though the Middle East claims almost half of the world’s conventional natural gas reserves, pipelines are not a viable option for

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the region’s main customers in Asia. Japan and South Korea are the largest consumers of LNG, accounting for about half of the global LNG trade.

China rising?

What emerges from this picture is the importance for many countries of increasing local production, particularly of shale gas, which some analysts see as a game changer.

After assessing gas reserves in 32 countries, the EIA now estimates that shale gas could increase recoverable gas globally by as much as 40 per cent.

In the United States, shale gas has already jumped from less than one per cent of US production a decade ago to 23 per cent in 2010. Overall, shale gas has the potential to reduce dependence on imports for several countries, including China and South Africa, as well as provide opportunities for exports for some others.

Indeed, China looks like the biggest winner, potentially having access to a third more shale gas than the US, according to the EIA. China, so far, has been slow to develop natural gas—it represents only about 5 per cent of its energy consumption—but that should change in the coming years. BE Toni Johnson writes on energy, environment, religion, and global health for CFR.org, the website of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has authored extensive coverage of climate change policy and energy challenges.

Sustainability

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A winning

stra

Rather than compete simply on price and qua create a service culture and watch your sales 40

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Strategy

g

ategy

ality, says John Tschohl, s soar

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Strategy

Q

uality and price are two criteria for consumers when making a purchasing decision. So it is that most businesses compete by matching the quality and prices of their products and services.

What too many businesses fail to realize, however, is that there is a third criteria: customer service. How you treat your customers will determine whether or not they will continue to do business with you or turn to one of your competitors. If you reduce your prices, your competitors will copy you within hours. If you add a new product, they will do likewise. A service strategy—a focus on providing an exceptional customer experience—is the only strategy you can implement that will give you a 10-year lead over your competitors.

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Strategy

I can literally count on one hand the number of businesses that excel at customer service—and that have, as a result, shattered their competition. Three of those companies are Amazon, Southwest Airlines, and Metro Bank UK. All three offer quality products and services at competitive prices, but what really sets them apart is their focus on providing their customers with superior customer service. They know it is that service that distinguishes their organizations and that keeps customers coming back to them. They have focused not only on innovation but on customer service, as well.

They don’t have to spend millions of dollars in advertising and marketing each year to draw customers through their doors, whether those doors are physical or virtual. The increased sales their customer service brings in, combined with the money they save in advertising costs, make for very healthy profits.

There is no reason that other organizations can’t be equally successful if they create a culture based on service. How do you do that? Take these four steps: 1. Change employees’ attitudes and behaviours.

You have to get them excited about serving your customers, both external and internal. Share examples—and praise—of employees who have taken the extra step to ensure the customer is satisfied. Reward those employees for their efforts.

That doesn’t have to cost a lot of money; it might be something as simple as an Employee of the Month plaque or parking space. And, while this might sound harsh, terminate those employees who refuse to embrace the new standards you have set for customer service.

2. Train every employee in the art of customer service. When you do, focus on execution. Most people know, intellectually, what they should do but, when it comes to executing what they know,

they run into trouble. Training should include role-playing, which will give employees the opportunity—and the challenge—of thinking on their feet and making quick decisions to take care of your customers.

3. Uplift your employees. If you want your employees to perform to the best of their ability, it’s imperative that you make their jobs so rewarding emotionally that they can’t wait to come to work. Praise them and nurture them. Treat them like kings and queens. And remember this: How you treat your employees is how they will treat your customers.

4. Walk the talk. It’s not enough for the CEO to say, “We are going to make customer service our top priority.” Everyone—from the CEO on down—must focus on customer service. They must institute a service strategy that creates a customer experience that is so remarkable their customers tell everyone they know about it. That doesn’t mean you have to pay employees more money or hire more people.

What you must do is this: Develop the people you have so they understand that their number one task is to take care of the customer. BE John Tschohl, the internationally recognized service strategist, is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today, Time, and Entrepreneur as a “customer service guru,” he has written several books on customer service and has developed more than 26 customer-service training programs that have been distributed throughout the world. John’s monthly strategic newsletter is available online. www.customer-service.com

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From

hook-up

decomm

Wood Group PSN’s Australian operations fo business unit, with more than 2,100 person regions: Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland ( Western Australia (Perth) and Northern Ter

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Wood Group PSN

pto

missioning

orm the company’s largest international nnel now working across five Australian (Brisbane), New South Wales (Sydney), rritory (Darwin)

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Wood Group PSN

B

ack in 1912, William Wood founded Wood & Davidson, a ship repair and marine engineering firm, to service Aberdeen’s fishing fleet. Fishing in those days was a thriving industry along the east coast of Scotland; but although Aberdeen is still a fishing port, these days it is thought of as an oil town above all. In the 1970s, when oil and gas reserves were discovered in the North Sea, this presented an ideal opportunity to translate marine engineering experience into engineering and support services, and the Wood family took full advantage of the altered situation.

Today, Wood Group is a leading international energy services company, employing more than 34,000 people worldwide and operating in 50 countries. The company is a leading independent service provider for the oil and gas and power generation markets and is organised under three divisions—Engineering, Wood Group PSN and Gas Turbine Services.

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Wood Group PSN

Wood Group PSN is a new entity that came into being when Wood Group’s Production Facilities business merged with Production Services Network (PSN) in April 2011. The US$955 million merger created the world’s leading brownfield service provider with annual revenues of around US$3 billion and a 23,000-strong workforce operating in more than 35 countries. As Bob Keiller, formerly CEO of PSN and now CEO of Wood Group PSN explained: “The completion of this deal is a momentous occasion for both companies. Our aim is for Wood Group PSN to be the best brownfield services company to work for and the best company to work with. We have excellent relationships across a broad customer base and we have the capacity to invest and develop our people and our processes so that we can offer an unrivalled service.”

Keiller defined the new company’s goals from the outset. “We want to help our customers to get more from their assets; be innovative—do things safer, quicker, better at a competitive cost and provide a

global skills network so talent is available where our customers need it,” he said. However, this is as much a statement of where the company is already. Though its headquarters are in Aberdeen, the merger simply gave the company a larger footprint, deeper resources and capabilities, and the capacity to add greater value for its customers. One of the advantages of the merged entity over other brownfield service providers will be its ability to deliver a full suite of brownfield services.

Wood Group PSN Australia is one of the most active regional divisions of the merged business, having been serving local customers for more than 14 years. As Australia regional director Matt Gavin puts it: “Australia is the power-house for the global supply of commodities. It’s a demanding environment, and we work closely with our clients to deliver safe, reliable operations at least sustainable cost.

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We w our c get

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want to help customers to t more from their assets

Wood Group PSN

“The merger of Wood Group and PSN in Australia creates an organisation with significant engineering and implementation capability in all of the major oil and gas and coal seam gas centres in Australia offering an enhanced and assured service delivery to new and existing customers,� he says.

His regional office provides solution-based project and integrated maintenance services to the oil and gas, refining, chemicals, coal seam gas, and water industries throughout Australia and Papua New Guinea; however, its geographical footprint reflects the global nature of the group.

The Melbourne office supports projects in Russia, Vietnam and beyond to Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa. While there is no lack of greenfield projects coming up in the country, the merged group will be in a good position to utilise its global base of brownfield personnel to lessen competition for skilled workers, says Gavin.

The company is a well entrenched partner for the biggest players in the petrochemical sphere, reflecting the diversity of their needs. Wood Group PSN provides an integrated suite of maintenance services for Caltex at its two Australian refineries; brownfield EPC project services to Esso for their operations in the Bass Strait; and EPC services for the Kipper Tuna Turrum project, which is one of the largest domestic gas developments on the eastern seaboard. The company is equally

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Wood Group PSN

well versed in civil infrastructure projects, recently achieving a world-class maintenance audit ranking from Queensland management consultancy MCP AIMS for its maintenance management in water utilities. Wood Group PSN now has more than 2,000 employees in Australia, working both on existing long-term contracts and projects.

Caltex Australia, the country’s leading oil refiner, is a new client for the group. Last year the two companies confirmed the signing of a multi-million dollar, threeyear contract for the delivery of integrated maintenance services, under which Wood Group PSN will provide Caltex with maintenance management, mechanical and support services at its two Australian refineries, Kurnell in Sydney and Lytton in Brisbane. “We were delighted when Caltex selected us,” says Gavin. “The contract is a significant milestone and augments our position as a leading service provider to the refining industry in Australia. This is the first time we have been awarded a contract from Caltex and we look forward to building a strong working relationship and delivering effective, efficient and safe operations in line with Caltex’s vision and our core values.”

This year has also seen a good flow of new contracts for the Australian company. In April it was awarded a contract by Woodside Petroleum to support the

3B Consultancy Services 3B is a privately owned 3Dimensional survey and CAD draughting company. Having originated in Aberdeen, our aim is to bring the very best standards to oil and gas fields around the world, providing our clients such as Wood Group PSN with improved cost savings and most importantly, enhanced safety benefits. Our workforce brings with them decades of experience to their field, whilst utilizing the latest technological advances in the discipline. With our head office in Melbourne, Victoria, we service the Australian and South East Asian oil and gas markets, as well as having branch offices in Aberdeen, Equatorial Guinea, and Perth WA.

Browse liquefied natural gas development in Western Australia. The facility, located 425 kilometres north-west of Broome, will help in the distribution of gas from the Torosa, Brecknock and Calliance fields that together comprise the gas fields of the Browse Basin, at depths up to 700 metres. These fields were estimated to have reserves of 13.3 trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 360 million barrels of condensate as of

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Wood Group PSN 31 December 2009, with a field life of 40 years.

In June, the company was awarded a significant contract for work on the GLNG Pipeline Project in Queensland. The project involves the production of coal seam gas in the Surat and Bowen Basins in Queensland, and a 420-kilometre gas pipeline from the gas fields to Gladstone on the coast, as well as a gas liquefaction plant on Curtis Island.

When PSN was brought in to take on the newly outsourced electrical, mechanical and instrumentation services of the Water Corporation of Western Australia, it was able to bring in oil and gas industry practices to deliver unprecedented performance on safety. Though the quality of service was already high, the company has delivered improved asset reliability and cost savings while achieving 300 per cent revenue growth against a 40 per cent headcount growth over 10 years, during which time the contract has been renewed three times. This

GBG Concrete & Construction Since 1954, GBG Concrete & Construction has provided a variety of concrete and construction services to the mining, oil & gas and construction industries throughout Australia. The company now employs more than 90 staff and has built a solid reputation as a provider of quality products and services—from domestic building projects to largescale commercial and industrial projects. GBG Concrete & Construction is proud to be associated with Wood Group PSN.

is typical of the breadth of experience behind the newly merged Wood Group PSN that will be enhanced by the additional resources now available though the group’s global network. www.woodgroup.com BE

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Ambitious

gro

Flinders ten port activity, in the ne explains

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for

owth

s Ports operates seven of South Australia’s ts, and with the recent boom in mining , has ambitious plans to treble its capacity ext few years, as CEO Vincent Tremaine s to Jane Bordenave

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F

linders Ports is the largest private port operator in South Australia, controlling seven of the state’s ten privately operated ports. It was founded as a consortium in 2001 and won the right to run the ports of Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Thevenard, Wallaroo, Port Giles and Klein Point for 99 years in November 2001. The ports handle a wide range of cargo, making the company one of the most diverse in the country. Running the company is CEO Vincent Tremaine, who joined in January 2002.

Across all its ports, the business handles approximately 18 million tonnes of bulk cargo per year and in excess of 600,000 tonnes of break bulk. The products are diverse, ranging from grain to metal ores to fully manufactured cars and it is this diversity that has defined Flinders Ports as an organisation. “Although we’re a state-based operation, we compete at a national level,” explains Tremaine. “While in theory we have local competition in the form of the three other local cargo ports, in practice our main rival is actually Darwin, in the North for bulk and Melbourne for containers.”

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Flinders Ports The reasons for this are simple: the three remaining ports are either small in comparison to those run by Flinders and particularly in comparison to Adelaide, or they are run mainly or exclusively to move the cargo of the organisation that owns them. “One of the ports is owned and run by the oil and gas company Santos Ltd and it deals exclusively with transportation of their liquid bulk cargo. Another is owned by One Steel and deals solely with its iron ore exports. So you can see that we are the only business in South Australia offering full spectrum capabilities to virtually all industries wishing to transport their goods by sea.”

In order to compete at this level, Flinders Ports has had to be proactive in every aspect of business.

“One of the key differentiators between us and our competition is our knowledge of the transport chain from mine or farm right to the wharf, or vice versa,” says Tremaine. “We are taking more and more interest

in this and have recently added a logistics division to our organisation. This allows us to go out and talk directly to the miners and the farmers or anyone who may wish to use our facilities and discuss with them

Cronos The Cronos Half HeightA Versatile, Low Maintenance, Environmentally Friendly Solution Since the 1990s, Cronos has been providing high quality containers suited to securely carry bulkproducts, both to, and from, mining operations in Australia by rail, on roads, and by sea. Cronos efficiently and cost effectively supplies container equipment, designed for individual products, in varying loading environments. Recently, Cronos worked with IMX to supply more than 3,000 iron ore containers to its project in South Australia. Cronos offers a variety of intermodal equipment catering to most transport modes, and can design equipment for non-standard requirements. Financial terms are also available ranging from standard lease to financial lease, and direct sale options.

how best to move their cargo.” This expertise allows the company to approach potential clients and offer them advice and assistance that many others in this field cannot.

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Flinders Ports This is particularly useful not just when talking to organisations based in South Australia, but also those in the middle of the country. “Australia is a big country and South Australia is a big state. We have a fairly low population, but there are a lot of cargoproducing businesses throughout, particularly arable farming and mining. Because of its size, those in the north of the state, i.e. the centre of the country, really have the choice of where they want to take their business, as the distance to any of the major ports, including Adelaide, is to all intents and purposes the same. This also applies to potential customers who may fall outside of state boundaries, but are in the same situation in terms of distance from our ports and those of our competitors.� Therefore an intimate knowledge of and ability to advise on

Pacific Materials Handling In today’s high efficiency port environment there is simply no room for less than perfection.

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goods transportation by both road and rail is a vital tool in the pursuit of new business.

When it comes to business opportunities, for cargo ports, South Australia really is the place to be. “We are on the brink of a major mining boom,” says Tremaine.

“There are approximately 10 billion tonnes of iron ore deposits here that we know of and there could be anywhere up to ten times that amount in total lying under the South Australian soil. So we are currently in talks with 10 different mines in different stages of development and trying to work out how we can help them to get their cargo out of the state and to their customers.”

This presents Flinders Ports with a huge opportunity for growth, but it also brings its own challenges – namely having the capacity to be able to facilitate this export. “We are already exporting a small amount of iron ore for one customer but if we want this side of our business to expand, we have to increase our capabilities.” The main project currently under way is the development of an iron ore export facility at Port Bonython. “There are geotechnical, environmental and demand studies either underway or about to commence, but our plan is to construct a 3km long jetty going out to 20m depth of water. It will have a 25 million tonne capacity, with a conveyer that will be able to carry 4,000 tonnes of cargo per hour, as well as storage.” The project represents an AU$700 million investment and Tremaine hopes that it will be

up and running by the end of 2015.

The future of Flinders Ports can be summed up in one word: growth. “There are a lot of mineral deposits in South Australia in addition to iron ore and in the last two years we have started handling the export of mineral sands through our ports, as well as zinc. We are also about to begin handling copper too. Virtually all of this mining activity has begun in the last two years and I have no doubt that growth in that sector will continue.” As a result of this, Flinders Ports is hoping to double its size. “We have AU$12 million infrastructure investment plan in place for Adelaide and we are going to purchase our own crane to enable us to better handle copper concentrate export. So in 2015, by the time Port Bonython comes online, we will have trebled our total capacity from 16 million tonnes to 50 million, and increased our revenue by 100 per cent.”

With the knowledge, expertise and confidence shown by Flinders Ports, it’s easy to forget the company is only 10 years old.

However by using these assets and offering customers real value added, you can be sure that it will be serving the South Australian import and export markets for many decades to come. www.flindersports.com.au BE

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tinues as Telecom Namibia increases its the cement that will knit the country’s o global markets

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he pace at which Namibia emerges from its recent reclassification by the World Bank as an upper-middle income country to attain a ‘developed nation’ status by 2030 hinges, to some extent, on a dependable, modern and fit-for-purpose communications system.

Fortunately this is one field in which Namibia has taken the initiative. Telecom Namibia, the largest ICT (information and communications technology) provider in the country, has proved itself a proactive player since its foundation in 1992, establishing an integrated voice, data and text network throughout the country.

The Windhoek-headquartered parastatal now serves more than 145,360 customers in a country of some 1.8 million people, and has a well-educated workforce that is over 1,100 strong.

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Telecom Namibia Last year we reported on Telecom Namibia’s programme to improve connection with the rest of the world by installing fibre optic links into the neighbouring countries. In February 2011, Namibia’s link to the WACS undersea telecoms fibre optic cable laid along the West African coast finally landed, which will allow for high bandwidth connectivity for the country and its neighbours when commercially commissioned during the first quarter of 2012. “The 14,900 kilometre West African Cable System (WACS) will provide direct connectivity between Namibia, West Africa, Portugal and the United Kingdom,” said Telecom Namibia’s managing director Frans Ndoroma at the connection ceremony.

The cable enters the country at Swakopmund beach some 370 kilometres west of Windhoek and was developed by Telecom Namibia and other telecommunications investors in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks at a cost of $600 million. “The cable will provide an internet speed of at least 5.12 terabits,” Ndoroma explained.

The cable will be extended to Botswana and the practical result will undoubtedly be to bring down prices for internet and broadband users.

The importance of a world class communications structure for business development needs no explaining. International mining companies like Areva, which expects to produce 3,000 tonnes of uranium a year from its Trekkopje mine, operate in a global environment and need to be in 24hour communication with operations around the world. Even more pressing are the needs of Namibia’s growing tourism industry. Tourism now accounts for nearly 20 per cent of all employment and contributes N$7.2 billion ($1.1 billion) to GDP as around one million visitors are attracted to the country’s scenery and game parks. To support this, the hotels and travel agencies need to be able to connect to booking sites in the UK, Germany and South Africa—and of course, visitors these days expect broadband access and mobile connectivity wherever they are.

In May 2011, Telecom Namibia deployed a SkyEdge

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Torque IT is proud of the thriving relationship it has with Telecom Namibia since 2006, training several candidates successfully in technologies including Cisco, VMware, Microsoft, ITIL, Oracle Sun and CompTIA. We also provide on-site training in over 27 other countries.

Andrew Kanime, Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) at Telecom Namibia said: “Our partnership with Torque IT enabled us to build the IP skills which were a prerequisite for Telecom Namibia to successfully migrate from a legacy network to an all IP/MPLS network and deploy and implement an IP/MPLS network.

Our staff are now fully

empowered and equipped to support the full range of NGN services and solutions to our customers.”

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Telecom Namibia II Broadband Satellite Network to serve hundreds of locations throughout Namibia. In addition to providing network connectivity for businesses and residential customers, Telecom Namibia will provide telephony and broadband internet services to remote communities across the country.

This is a multi-service platform capable of delivering high-quality voice, broadband data and video services for different environments including large companies, rural networks, cellular backhaul and government network applications, explained Oiva Angula, senior manager of Corporate Communications and Public Relations. “Telecom Namibia is now uniquely positioned in the market, combining its terrestrial and satellite capabilities with its extensive national coverage of a 100 per cent

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Whatever your ICT business ambitions, Dimension Data can help you accelerate them with tailor made, world-class technology offerings.

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digital network, including IP/MPLS (internet protocol/ multiprotocol label switching), CDMA (code division multiple access), WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access), ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line), leased lines and ethernet.�

Telecom Namibia works in a uniquely challenging environment. A population of around two million is spread across 824,000 square kilometres and local access is a problem, particularly in the north.

Nevertheless, Telecom Namibia had a good year in 2010, recording a three per cent increase in its total revenue from N$1.13 billion for the financial

year ending in September 2009 to N$1.16 billion for the year ending 30 September 2010. The growth in demand of broadband product and service offerings as well as cross border connectivity contributed significantly to the increase in revenue.

Detecon International GmbH Detecon International GmbH supports Telecom Namibia in its transformation to a next generation telecommunications transformation

operator.

(infrastructure

After

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services),

Detecon currently focuses on organisational and commercial realignment, as well as assisting Telecom Namibia in taking its strategy to the next level and taking full advantage of the recently landed undersea cable WACS. E-mail info-africa@detecon. com for information.

In a year that saw the global recession finally start to hit businesses around the world, Telecom Namibia not only managed a modest increase in turnover but achieved a 77 per cent improvement in operating profit,

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from N$58.5 million to N$103.7 million ($15.3 million).

“These impressive results were achieved amidst the ongoing transformation exercise within Telecom Namibia,” said Angula. “We have been successful in growing our NGN technology and service portfolios and providing broadband services to business and individual users across the whole of Namibia.”

This is a company that has embraced the principle that innovation beats playing catch-up: it is taking an independent stance tailor-made to the needs of the Namibian population and business community. “In terms of strategy, broadband services play a highly significant role in delivering to the customer a ‘one stop’ solution to a variety of needs spanning voice, data, video and mobility—all delivered on a single platform,” Angula stressed. “This offers customers unprecedented conveniences and flexibility, while such a single network will effect significant cost savings for them.”

Accordingly, R&D investment will continue to be a top priority. February this year saw the launch

of a Telecom Namibia-funded Centre of Excellence at the University of Namibia. “Our vision as Telecom Namibia is to make Namibia a part of the vibrant and innovative knowledge society. Developing a strong culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is essential to the growth and success of the ICT in our country in order to achieve our national goals of economic growth and development,” said Ndoroma at the launch. “The objective of this centre at UNAM is to create an opportunity for graduates to conduct research in a world class environment so that the much needed skills can be developed to grow the ICT knowledge base in Namibia.”

Ndoroma went on to say that the centre has the potential to contribute to the overall implementation of Namibia’s Vision 2030, the national development blueprint launched by Namibia’s founding president Sam Nujoma in

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Telecom Namibia 2004. “Our main objective and mission as a national telecommunications operator is to serve as a catalyst for realizing Vision 2030 by creating the necessary infrastructural conditions. We see that as part of our responsibility as one of the leading ICT players in the country.” In addition to supplying and installing all the equipment and software at the centre, Telecom Namibia is also providing four research scholarships to promising Namibian students aiming to do postgraduate studies while setting out on a career in the industry.

Whether or not Namibia is classed as a developed nation by that date—and given its natural resources, political stability and its geographical advantage as a staging post between Europe, the burgeoning oil ports of West Africa to the west and South Africa and Asia to the east, this is by no means impossible—Vision 2030 has given the country a goal to pursue with vigour.

Telecom Namibia’s vision is to be the leading

and preferred ICT player in the country.

The company’s strategic roadmap provides direction in the development and innovation of solutions while creating sustainable value for all its stakeholders. Angula said Telecom Namibia is redefining itself in order to adapt to the rapid changes taking place in the telecom industry, for the good of its customers and the country as a whole.

“I think the future is exciting for a couple of reasons. First, it is encouraging to me to see that Telecom Namibia has, and continues to, invest so much into the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.

And secondly, I believe that the new data products will help to encourage productivity at all levels of business, both small and corporate,” he concluded. www.telecom.na/ BE

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mean that after five years building a nationwide kbone, Neotel is leading the migration to next Dr Angus Hay talks to Gay Sutton about the omputing available in South Africa

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outh Africa is rapidly coming of age as a globally connected nation, its businesses increasingly gaining access to a new high speed fibre optic communications network that enables them to communicate and compete on the world stage. The company behind this swift advance in technology is Neotel, launched just five years ago with the financial and technical backing of the global communications company, Tata Communications, along with Nexus Communications and CommuniTel. In that short space of time, the company has carved a place for itself as a major force in South African telecommunications.

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Neotel “We are known for fibre optic converged communications services, but we are now much more than that,” explains general manager of Strategy Business Development, Dr Angus Hay. “Our business has two stacks of capabilities. One stack is the connectivity through fibre networks, and we have spent much of our first four years deploying this infrastructure. The other stack is taking the company into the next generation of communications.

We are providing a range of managed services for business customers via our data centres and delivering access to the cloud. Very soon now, we will be offering full cloud computing.”

During the first four years in business, Neotel laid the groundwork for this ambitious vision by investing some R4.5 billion in infrastructure alone, rolling out a new fibre optic communications backbone nationwide. This included higher density installation in the metropolitan areas amounting to some 5,000 kilometres of cable, and delivering fibre communication to the kerbside for large corporate customers. Much of the Neotel service is internet based, and not only includes ISP services and managed global and local VPN services for corporate customers, but the company has also introduced the first Metro Ethernet in South Africa.

The effectiveness of the Neotel network is the foundation upon which the business is built; however, that’s only part of the equation. “At a very early stage we took a strategic decision to get involved in all the cable systems that land in South Africa. When we started, there were two subsea cables, both controlled by our competitor, Telkom,” Hay says.

“With the help of Tata Communications, who was a shareholder in those cables, we managed to crack the monopoly and gain access to both systems.”

Since then, Neotel has taken part in each cable project to touch South Africa, with the aim of ensuring completely reliable global access and broad bandwidth. Partnering with SEACOM in 2009, the company provided the landing station and connectivity to the South African network, and in 2010 it was part of the EASSy consortium that laid subsea cable up the east coast of Africa.

However the company’s latest venture is perhaps the most ambitious: “We are part of the consortium laying in the WACS cable [West Africa Cable System] which is the largest ever cable to land on the African continent,” Hay says. “With a design capacity of over five Tbits per second, it will more than double South Africa’s cable capacity.”

With the infrastructure in place, the focus over the last 18 months has been on rapidly developing the customer base. Although around 90 per cent of Neotel’s customers are in the business sector, the company is developing a significant presence in the consumer market, currently providing 3G—mobile broadband—in the major cities, offering coverage for some 20 per cent of the population.

For enterprise customers the company is continuing to raise its game and will soon be delivering higher bandwidth services in the order of 100 Mbits per second (Mbps)—a paradigm shift for a market where broadband was originally delivered over a copper wire network at speeds below four Mbps.

Accessibility for large corporate customers is also being taken a step further with the fibre cable being extended from the kerbside into the buildings as part of the standard service.

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It is, however, with the introduction of the second stack of services that Neotel sees the biggest opportunities for growth. “Over the last two years we’ve rapidly been growing our capabilities as an IT and data centre host,” Hay says. Two world class and very substantial data centres have been built, offering 99.98 per cent availability. The first was opened in Johannesburg 18 months ago with 1,000 square metres of capacity expandable to 6,000 square metres. The second became operational in Cape Town centre just six months ago offering 1,000 square metres expandable to 2,000 square metres. Uptake has been impressive. The Johannesburg centre has already undergone one expansion to 2,000 square metres and a second is currently being planned, while the Cape Town facility is filling quickly.

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Nothing remains static in this fast-moving business, though, and Neotel’s next strategic move is likely to put South African businesses on a par with the most sophisticated around the world. In a few months, the company will be launching a full cloud computing platform which, through the Tata Communications global network, will be able to draw on data centres and services around the world, offering data storage and managed software services that simply do not reside in any one particular data centre but which are truly ‘in the cloud’.

For the small and medium sized businesses—a sector of the market where Hay sees huge opportunities—the plan is to launch a new suite of software services over the cloud, beginning with the essentials such as mail systems, calendars and online sharing capabilities and hosted platforms provided by the company’s IT partners, and expanding into

the more complex software in the future.

It’s been a fast ride for Neotel, resulting in rapid growth. Today, the company employs some 1,100 people and operates with a high level of efficiency. “We see our network stack and the data centre capability as a very powerful combination,” says Hay. “We’re no longer just the plumber; we’re now able to add a wide range of services. The secret for us is to focus on specific markets and segments within those markets, and to concentrate on particular geographies. For customers within these areas we outperform the incumbent by a long way. That is where we have been gaining market share and we will continue to market aggressively into those target markets,” he concludes. www.neotel.co.za BE

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thefu

Having cornered the global export market for production for the derivative Cross Polo, auto South Africa has embarked on a major develo improve productivity and efficiency. Manufact talks to Gay Sutton about the latest project— 94

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Volkswagen Group South Africa

uture

r the right-hand drive Polo and total omotive manufacturer Volkswagen Group opment programme to upgrade facilities, and turing planning division head Chris Glover —the construction of a new press shop

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he automotive landscape in South Africa is far from static, as it gears up to take its place as a major player in the international export market.

One of the trailblazers in this rapid evolution is Volkswagen Group South Africa, and this year the company is celebrating its 60th anniversary in the country, marking the date in 1951 when SAMAD (South Africa Motor Assemblers and Distributors) first began producing the iconic Volkswagen Beetle from the same manufacturing site at Uitenhage, Eastern Cape. Today, of course, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Europe’s largest auto manufacturer, the Volkswagen Group.

Volkswagen Group South Africa has been at the forefront of a remarkable change in the South African automotive industry, not only introducing the latest concepts in manufacturing best practice, but increasing the volume of products exported to the global market and encouraging the establishment of an array of the world’s top automotive suppliers close to the plant.

“Our policy in recent years has been to reduce the number of platforms produced at the plant from five to two, thereby reducing complexity in the plant,” explains manufacturing planning division head Chris Glover. “But at the same time, we have significantly increased volume through the plant, and this has been a big incentive for international supplier companies to establish themselves locally.

We currently produce over 600 cars a day but still have some possibilities for future expansion.”

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The most significant change in manufacturing efficiency and export output began in 2008 when the South African plant was awarded the contract to manufacture right-hand drive Polo models for the worldwide market. The plant’s comprehensive business case and investment plan for producing the model were supported by the fact that Volkswagen could derive economies of scale by having right hand drive manufacturing located at one site.

The South African subsidiary also offered a favourable logistical position. With the two major markets for right-hand drive Polos being Japan and the UK, the plant’s location close to the Port Elizabeth port and the new international deepwater port at Ngqura made it well positioned for the receipt of CKD material and the export of finished vehicles to both destinations, as well as other markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

“By 2008, we had already invested some ZAR 750

Aveng Trident Steel Aveng Trident Steel is the leading supplier of automotive raw materials and services to all the original equipment manufacturers in South Africa. As always we strive to be at the forefront of current technologies by listening to our customers and reacting to the needs of the industry. Through this, Aveng Trident Steel has taken the initiative of installing a comprehensive service centre in Port Elizabeth designed to live our ‘safety first’ culture and is TS19649 qualitycertified. Aveng Trident Steel is proud to be associated with a blue chip organisation such as Volkswagen and remains an enthusiastic supplier to the automotive industry.

million (over €70 million) commissioning a new paint shop, which gave us the capacity

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to deliver world-class water-based painted bodies in an energy efficient and environmentally friendly way,” Glover says. “But with approval of the worldwide Polo production in 2008, we began a €300 million investment programme which included the installation of a state of the art production line capable of handling 500 units per day. Right-hand Polo production then commenced as planned in July 2009.”

In parallel with this, the company embarked on an extensive training programme to prepare its staff for the introduction of the new Volkswagen production system, which was being rolled out concurrently across the group. Three new training academies were built and all production employees were extensively trained. “This has enabled us to drive improvement from the shop floor upwards, resulting in a big breakthrough in productivity,” Glover comments. “And of course the timing was perfect, as it coincided with the introduction of our new production line.”

In true kaizen (continuous improvement) fashion, however, improvement has not been a one-off single investment but an ongoing process. With the refurbished facilities up and running and output increased, it became apparent that the existing press shop had a number of shortcomings. “We then received approval from the Group to invest a further €43.5 million in the construction of a new press shop and high speed press line. This brings our press plant in line with the Group-standard investment we had made into other areas of the plant.”

The new press line is to be housed in a purpose built 10,800 square metre facility located alongside the existing press shop. Construction commenced in January this year and the building will be ready for press installation at the end of November. There will be six presses in all, the lead press having a press capacity of 2,100 tonnes and the five following presses with 1,200 tons capacity each. “The line will incorporate brand new technology, ‘Wave Line’ motion for the presses from the Spanish company Fagor Arrasate,

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Volkswagen Group South Africa

ntly through s has ive upplier ablish y

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integrated with automated ‘Cobra’ part transfer system and special software from the company KUKA Systems. We believe we are the first company in the world to use it,” comments press shop project leader, Robert Pressly. “The presses are highly automated and include an automatic five-minute die changeover cycle which is a considerable improvement on our current manual tool changeover process. Every minute saved means additional parts we can produce.”

Considerable attention has also been paid to the environmental performance of the new building and plant. Recycled building materials have been used where possible, maximised usage of natural light and rain water harvesting are all included. Energy consumption played a significant part in the selection of the press line.

The construction project has not been without its challenges, though. “We are building onto bedrock, and the area has

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a high water table so we have had to pay special attention to the design and waterproofing of our press pit,” Glover explains.

The press pit is a vast L-shaped hole in the ground with a total surface area of 451 square meters. The entire area of the pit is six metres in depth with an additional 2.5m foundation thickness.

The construction methodology necessitates the removal of 7,247 cubic meters of natural ground.

While the bedrock provides a solid foundation for the presses, experience shows there is a risk that vibrations can be transmitted through the rock to surrounding buildings. A special imported damping layer will therefore be installed between the pit base and the bedrock to alleviate this problem. To ensure all technical details are being thoroughly addressed in the project, the local team is working closely with specialist engineers from Volkswagen in Germany.

“Interestingly,” Glover continues, “we have also proved that Murphy is alive and well in South Africa!

For the last five years we’ve had drought conditions here in Uitenhage. But from the moment construction

Volkswagen Group South Africa began we’ve had abnormally high rainfall, posing some interesting challenges for the project.”

The entire project is being conducted according to a very tight timeframe. With production scheduled to start in July 2012, building work has been progressing in parallel with the development and manufacture of the presses in Europe. “The presses will arrive literally just in time for installation into the building,” Glover says. While this will undoubtedly be quite a planning feat, it is no less than the JIT delivery one would expect of the highly efficient automotive sector.

For Volkswagen Group South Africa, when the press shop comes online next year, there will be many benefits. Not only will it deliver a marked reduction in operating costs and an improvement in reliability, but it will also future-proof the plant.

“The new press line will create greater efficiencies,”

IC-L For more than 32 years we at IC-L have been working as expert planners for the automotive industry, in particular VW on international industrial construction and civil engineering projects. To this end we have been—and in part still are—involved in projects in South Africa, Russia, Mexico and the US, China, Slovakia, Spain and Poland, among others.

Our focus is mainly on project control, full design team package, general planning, object planning/ design,

structural

design

and

construction

supervision, as well as architectural visualization.

Glover concludes, “and this will enable us to expand production volumes in the future, in line with our long-term strategic initiatives.” www.vw.co.za BE

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o unded in 2003 by a number of former Coca-Cola employees, Shoreline Beverages produces some of the most popular soft drinks sold in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its Coo-ee brand has an approximate 20 per cent share of the soft drinks market as a whole and a 35 per cent share of the flavour drinks market. Mahmood Ismail took over as managing director in 2004, when the founding partners stepped down, and the company remains a family-owned, private business to this day.

While the first 12 months was spent building up the company, it was when Ismail became head that the business really started to take off. “When I took up the position, I made the decision to move away from the brand that the founding members had been marketing at the time in favour of a longerestablished one,” he says. “I had acquired the Cooee brand, which has a long history in KwaZulu-Natal going back to the 1940s. I felt that, although it had been dormant for a couple of years, its history and familiarity among the local population would make it more successful.”

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Shoreline Beverages The brand was relaunched in 2004 with a fresh new look and has since succeeded in consistently increasing profits year-on-year. It now counts among its clients all the major supermarkets including Shoprite Group, Spar Group and Massmart, as well as a large number of independent stores and forecourts.

One of Shoreline Beverages’ key strategies is to only market and sell its products in bottles made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate, which is commonly recycled). “We have been very aggressive on this issue,” says Ismail. “Right from when we first started, PET had been the preferred packaging material for all

SIPA SIPA is one of the world leaders for the supply of plastic container production systems, filling equipments and end-of-the-line solutions for beverage, food and non-food producers.

SIPA and SIPA Berchi have more than 30 years’ experience in the Southern African market.

Shoreline is one of our best partners and we are very glad to be part of their success with the supply of three complete lines.

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our customers, as opposed to returnable materials such as glass, which they would then have to dispose of. They also don’t have to handle crates, which glass comes in, or worry about fragility,” he explains. “By using plastic containers for all our products, we simplify things for our clients while still using a material that is recyclable by the end consumer.”

While all packaging is PET, the company seeks to provide extended choice to consumers in terms of packaging size. Shoreline’s products are available in sizes from two litres through to 300 ml, with 300 ml being an innovation by Shoreline. “At the time that we launched our

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300 ml bottle, there were no other companies offering a non-cola soft drink product of that size,” explains Ismail. “We identified this as a perfect product size for children to have during their lunch breaks or recess; and the popularity of the product has proved that we were right. It was an idea that really helped to set us apart in the marketplace.”

As well as its packaging strategies, Shoreline strives constantly to differentiate itself in the market by identifying niches and producing new products to fill them. “We are a very innovative company and currently offer a range of 20 flavours of beverage. In this market, we are up against international behemoths such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, so it is important to be able to offer something new and desirable to consumers in order to compete effectively.”

One of the company’s innovative successes is the introduction of apple-flavoured drinks into its line. The number of apple-flavoured beverages in the soft drinks market was very limited, and so the apple-flavoured Coo-ee products were hugely popular, as they were by and large the only drinks of that flavour that people could buy across the province.

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“We identified this niche in the market and it really took off. Our main competitor, Coca-Cola, had no apple-flavoured product in its stable, so we were virtually without competition. Coca-Cola has now started selling its own apple-flavoured product, but Coo-ee is still the market leader.”

The recent economic downturn has by no means proved disastrous for Shoreline; but it has had the effect of shifting sales levels between product sizes.

“The most important effect of the recession has been to make people downsize, by which I mean that people who had been buying a two litre bottle are now choosing to buy a 1.5 litre bottle—and those who had been buying the 1.5 litre size are now buying one litre, and so on. That is the main change we have seen,” says Ismail.

However, as a ‘premium economy’ brand, the company has also seen an up-tick in consumers converting from big name brands to Coo-ee.

“Premium economy means that while our products are on a par with the big international companies in terms of quality, our prices are more affordable. So there is a swing from premium products with higher prices towards a trusted product and name like ours, which we feel offers better value.”

Naturally, when Ismail considers the future of Shoreline Beverages, innovation is at the heart of

Shoreline Beverages his plans. “We are always looking to improve on our current products and develop new ones—and our highly skilled, in-house research and development team works on this constantly. By the end of 2011 we will have launched a new ‘fusion range’ of mixedflavour drinks, with flavours such as blackcurrant and cranberry or mango and granadilla. Once again, this is a pioneering step—no-one else produces mixed-flavour beverages in this way.”

The company also added a completely new production line in October and has recently acquired another well established local brand—Crerars— along with its production plant. In total, Shoreline Beverages is now capable of producing in excess of 100 million litres of soft drinks per annum.

Over the next five to 10 years, Shoreline Beverages hopes to expand into canned beverages, as well as breaking out of KwaZulu Natal and into the rest of

South and indeed southern Africa. Ismail foresees this success being achieved through a continuing combination of R&D, tenacity and self belief: “As a company, we are not afraid to take on the massive multinational brands; we have always been able to identify a niche and successfully fill it, as our track record shows.

“To anyone reading this article and thinking of setting up as a small business I give them this advice: if you have the courage to do it and have everything in order then you need not be worried about the conglomerates. Being a small company allows you the flexibility to be able to react to the market in a way that they can’t—which has ultimately been the key to our current and future success.” www.shorelinebev.co.za BE

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The Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the world’s presence in emerging markets is viewed as c Andrew McLachlan, VP for Africa & the Indian about the factors that are driving the compan 114 July 2011

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ht

Africa

s fastest growing hotel chains, and a strong critical to the group’s long-term success. n Ocean Islands, talks to Jayne Alverca ny’s stellar growth in Africa

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uccess has come rapidly to The Rezidor Hotel Group. Since 1994, the number of rooms has increased tenfold and Rezidor now ranks as one of the fastest growing hotel groups in the world, with a portfolio of over 420 hotels in 64 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

At present, 37 per cent of the group’s total hospitality offering is in the emerging markets of Africa, the Middle East, and Russia and the CIS. However, as the mature markets of the West become increasingly saturated, this is where Rezidor sees its future—74 per cent of the 100 new hotels currently under development will be located in the capitals or financial hubs of these emerging economies.

Andrew McLachlan, a South African, is VP for Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands and established the Rezidor Africa development office in Cape Town in 2007. Over the last 48 months the office has added a further 33 hotels to the portfolio, making the company the fastest growing market player in sub-Saharan Africa.

However, unlike established competitors such as Intercontinental, Accor, Sheraton and Hilton—brands which have had a presence in Africa for over 40 years —Rezidor did not open its first hotel in Africa until the year 2000 in Cape Town. Today there are three Rezidor hotels in Sandton, which form part of the city’s iconic skyline in South Africa’s own ‘Manhattan’, the glittering Sandton district. The jewel in the crown is the landmark Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton, which has 302 rooms over 20 stories including a world-class 3,000 square metres of fitness facilities with a landmark running track that spirals round the hotel on the eighth floor of the building. Crowning the property is a series of 12 spectacular two- and three-storey penthouses. “It is a truly spectacular building and a tribute to what we have achieved in Africa,” states McLachlan.

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Davis Langdon Davis Langdon, an AECOM company, is a leading global construction consultancy, providing managed solutions for clients investing in infrastructure, property and construction. Established in South Africa in 1922, our nearly 90-year history attests to our commitment of adding value to construction projects on the African continent.

As a key growth region for our business, together with AECOM, we have experience in 43 countries in Africa. We provide cost management and project management services to a variety of industry sectors, with a specific focus on the energy, sports & leisure, commercial and retail sectors.

With AECOM, we employ approximately 45,000 people in more than 125 countries, spanning Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, and the USA. For more information please see our ad and visit our website.

However for the first six years, growth in Africa was slow, with only eight new hotels open or under development; but a visionary shift in executive board strategy then decided that success on the continent needed to be driven by a local, de-centralised structure and a strong management presence on the ground in Africa.

“We were the first international hotel group to actually open a development office for Africa in Africa, as opposed to driving growth from Europe or elsewhere, like our competitors,” McLachlan continues. “Having local people on the ground who understand the market makes it much easier for us to gain a clear first mover advantage and has been a key factor contributing to our rapid growth since 2007.”

Rezidor also has a very flat management structure, which means that reaction times and decision-making processes are fast and streamlined. “We are empowered on the ground

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to make immediate decisions and can expedite the process as soon as we judge an opportunity warrants it rather than waiting for board meetings which may take months and may not directly involve local knowledge,” he says.

“Even if we enter a market late, we will still have a fast mover advantage because of the way the company is structured. Also, Rezidor is a very flexible company that is prepared to adapt to local conditions and to local cultures.

Unlike others we do not operate to a strict immoveable mandate and pride ourselves on taking a non-conformist approach,” he adds.

Another unique advantage held by Rezidor is its ability to access capital. Funding is critical to the success of hotel development, but can be seen as particularly risky in new, untested markets. “Several years ago we founded a company known as AfriNord Hotel Investments, which is an equal partnership between Rezidor and four Nordic government development agencies which we use on a case-by-case basis if there is a funding requirement or a shortfall that is proving difficult to meet by other means,” he explains.

“It means we can provide mezzanine debt funding, which is a competitor advantage.

With four of the five partners being Nordic governments, AfriNord is regarded as highly stable and reliable.”

Globally, Rezidor manages a portfolio of five hospitality brands, each designed to capture a distinct segment of the market. In Africa the focus and thrust is on consolidating the position of two of these brands—Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson. Radisson Blu is a first-class, full service offering, while Park Inn by Radisson is orientated more towards the mid-level market. However, the point of reference for both is a contemporary and innovative feel which stresses modernity and connectivity.

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McLachlan explains how Rezidor plans to leverage its brands. “Radisson Blu is our core brand which you might describe as Rezidor’s international heavyweight that we will take to every capital or financial centre on the continent, irrespective of what our competitors may already be doing. Our market entry strategy is always to lead with Radisson Blu and then evaluate the demand for other brands. In the case of Africa this will mainly be Park Inn by Radisson but we also see some potential for the Hotel Missoni brand, which is a luxury lifestyle brand geared to resort-type destinations in Africa.”

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As far as Africa is concerned, McLachlan is convinced that the opportunity is wide open. “As a group, there is clear recognition within Rezidor that this is where our future focus should be, along with the emerging economies of Russia. In Africa alone, there are 53 countries which means as a minimum there are 53 capital cities where we should be represented, although in many countries the opportunity is far larger.

“When we opened our Africa office in 2007, we had a 2015 target of 50 hotels open or under development. That target has already been moved forward by three years to 2012, when we will have surpassed our original goal. At present there are over 40 hotels open or under development and we hope to double that in the next five years,” he concludes. www.rezidor.com BE

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Allp eyestheon

With the collective appetite of the world’s ste never been a better time to be the hand that discussion with Michael Jones and Victoria Sh

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eel makers likely only to increase, there has t feeds them, as Becky Done finds out in herwood of African Minerals

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t eel mills across the globe gobble up a massive 98 per cent of the world’s total iron ore output—little wonder, then, that both demand and prices are currently experiencing record highs. For African Minerals, the company developing the largest magnetite iron ore project on the African continent, these are exciting times indeed.

Founded in 1996, the company was originally known as the Sierra Leone Diamond Company, with a focus on the prolific alluvial diamonds that had previously been exploited within the West African country. In 2005, following years of civil war, the company funded exploration of possible targets within a number of mineral licences it had amassed; but no significant sources of diamonds were revealed. What

did come to light, however, were some gold, nickel and uranium showings and—crucially— iron ore showings.

As a result, in 2008 the company’s focus turned towards the major anomalies of iron ore discovered at Tonkolili, in Sierra Leone’s Northern Province. Late that year, the discovery hole for the magnetite resource was established, and the company’s name was changed to African Minerals, to reflect the broad-based nature of the mineral activity during the exploration of the previous three years.

From then to now, development at Tonkolili has been rapid, to say the least. The company expects to have its first ore on ship by quarter four of 2011—a timeframe of just three short years since discovery.

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African Minerals “It has been a different way of approaching this sort of project,” says African Minerals’ VP of Services, Victoria Sherwood. “We recognised that we needed to move quickly and be able to deliver results quickly to prove a commercial operation could stand up in a country like Sierra Leone.” The company therefore chose not to follow the usual timeline of carrying out the initial scoping study, definitive engineering study and bankable feasibility study before seeking funding, commencing construction, and starting up operations.

On the contrary, the way it handled things was far from linear, with everything essentially parallel-processed in order to get the project up and running.

The company was still exploring at the same time that it had actually started construction; but in terms of risk,

it was a fairly safe bet. “We had enough data to know we had a quality asset in Tonkolili, the magnetite being of significant quality,” explains Sherwood. “There was still a lot more exploration and validation that needed to be done on that, but whatever that amounted to, it

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A full logistical support is provided from South Africa to ensure a high level of service delivery to the client. Equipment and training can also be provided to the client so as to enhance the quality of service delivery. Expat Rescue—A total medical management solution.

was certainly going to be a saleable product— and if you’ve got a saleable product you need a rail and a port operation to ship it through.”

So in November 2008 African Minerals secured a 99-year lease on the rail and

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Expat Rescue An Expat Rescue contract offers a fire, search and rescue service on remote sites for those reported in trouble either on land, water or for those reported missing. Our service includes fire fighting, locating and recovering persons either in distress, potential distress or missing, and delivering them to a place of safety. A total fire, search and rescue solution.

port infrastructure surrounding the project.

Fortunately, there was some pre-existing infrastructure from a previous mine operation which enabled the company to fast-track the development of the port operation at Pepel, as well as the first 74 kilometres of the railway—essentially a rehabilitation of what had previously existed.

By this time of course, a serious amount of money had already been spent. “Our Phase One and Phase Two ore resource was really only defined in December of last year,” explains head of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Michael Jones. “But we’d already committed almost $1 billion by then on development. It’s a completely different way of working from the other mining players, who want everything engineered to the nth degree before they put their first penny in.”

Fortunately, the company’s investors were willing to back both chairman Frank Timis, who had invested an amount of his own money into the project, and African Minerals’ senior management team. No doubt it was a comfort to know that a significant proportion of the leadership team hailed from Australiabased Fortescue Metals Group, which itself managed to achieve a 35 million tonne per annum start-up iron ore operation within a 22-month timeframe.

Tonkolili is divided into three phases,

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corresponding to the three different layers of ore that have been identified. Phase One is 126 million tonnes of direct shipping ore (DSO), which will support the company’s planned production rate on a standalone basis for about nine years. Phase Two is 1.1 billion tonnes of saprolite, which at the planned production rate of 23 million tonnes a year of product will support a mine life of between 18 and 19 years. Phase Three, at 11.6 billion tonnes of magnetite iron ore (90 per cent of the resource), will support over 60 years of production.

The first two phases in themselves represent something of an environmentally conscious decision, says Sherwood. “The magnetite is really the prize— the significant component and the premium quality product. Most other organisations would go straight for that product, and anything above it would be waste and would have to be stored in a tailings dam. Fortunately, there were people within our organisation who were smart enough to suggest that

Expat Rescue The Expat Rescue contract includes, but is not

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if the lower product of the magnetite was of such good quality, then maybe we should have a look at what was above it. Those two products may not be as premium grade quality as the magnetite, but they’re certainly saleable. We could have been just storing them in a tailings dam.”

So the magnetite is something special— but so is its location. “The quality of our

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magnetite product will be comparable to that of Vale,” asserts Sherwood, “and from a geographical perspective, we’re equidistant to the Asian market and we’re closer to Europe [than Vale]. We also have the ability to deliver a lower cost operation as a result of where we’re operating in Sierra Leone; and that certainly puts us at a huge advantage against Australia-based BHP and Rio as well.”

With these advantages in hand, the company is seeking to access the Chinese market, other Asian markets such as Japan, Thailand and Korea, and Europe. “We are certainly aiming to set ourselves up as a proper, strategic alternative to the typical Australian feed to China,” asserts Jones. “Australia has its own pressures in that the deleterious elements are growing in the deposits being mined and that are going to be mined. And labour cost is a major inflation factor in Australia.

On the Brazilian side, they are getting fewer lumps, more fines, and higher phosphorus levels.

“Towards West Africa, meanwhile, there are some huge deposits that are going to be developed over the next five or six years. So what we have is almost a shift in the critical mass of where the major iron ore assets are.”

Clearly, with an opportunity of this magnitude and a projected mine life of more than 60 years, the prospect of making a positive impact in Sierra Leone that could endure for generations is significant. “Our strategy is to build an international iron ore company run by Sierra Leoneans,” explains Sherwood. “It makes commercial sense as well as being the right thing for the country.”

This is a big commitment and an ever bigger challenge, especially in a third world country where there is a distinct lack of qualified and skilled professionals. So the company embarked upon a number of strategies to help redress the expatriate/local balance. “Wherever we have an expatriate within the business, we have at least one Sierra Leonean working alongside them, and then a tailored training programme and a strategy to work out how we will transition that expatriate position into one for a Sierra Leonean,” says Sherwood.

Where there have been local people not qualified to carry out the job they applied for, the company has brought in an expatriate and paired them up. Meanwhile, every single unskilled role is filled by a Sierra Leonean, with African Minerals enforcing that policy among all of its subcontractors as well.

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African Minerals The company also set out to attract the Sierra Leonean diaspora with international mining experience—typically gained from working in the UK, the US and Australia—to bring their skills to the Tonkolili project. “We’ve been able to find them, entice them back and leverage their international experience,” comments Sherwood.

It’s been a massive undertaking—a total of over 5,000 people are now working on the Tonkolili project. One thousand of these are direct employees of African Minerals, 85 per cent of whom are Sierra Leonean. The remaining 4,000 personnel are subcontractors working on the construction, and within those organisations, roughly 65 per cent are Sierra Leonean nationals.

An important facet of the social upliftment in progress is to create a workforce that can sustain itself throughout the decades during which the mine will be in operation. This means, among other things, embedding a strong work ethic.

“Just two weeks ago, we promoted 10 people at the mine into supervisor roles. They completed their basic training and proved that they can manage people within a team, and those 10 people now have 15 people each underneath them. It sends a really strong message to the rest of the organisation, and visibly demonstrates our commitment to replacing that expatriate leadership layer with locals,” asserts Sherwood. “It helps our employees understand that a good work ethic, performance, achieving, doing your job well, learning and acquiring knowledge is how you will further and better yourself. And the fact that these promotions came with an increase in remuneration really brings to life that progression for the local people—and then word starts

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to disseminate through the workforce.”

Direct employment is only part of the equation, however. “We’ve taken a very different, grass-roots approach involving ‘business incubators’ which is certainly something that organisations such as the World Bank had not seen before,” reveals Sherwood.

Instead of simply helping out larger organisations locally, African Minerals is actually going into the local communities and carrying out skills assessments to identify what roles people could already perform in the local vicinity. “Around the area of the mine, in the heart of Sierra Leone, there’s very few people who have actually worked before—yet there were a lot of expectations that because our operation is in their local community, we would provide them with jobs,” explains Sherwood. “What we’ve been able to do is talk to them about an alternative to what may be a 12-year career path to become a mine engineer. There’s quite a lot of agriculture in the region; but it’s only agriculture to support the local communities.

So what we’ve done is provide people with resources that can help them commercialise, for example, the production of rice, bananas, and other fruit and vegetables.”

Across the footprint of the Tonkolili project, there are now 12 small ‘business incubators’ working in this way, around 80 per cent of which are food suppliers providing fruit, vegetables and rice to the various sites within the project. In addition, the company has supported businesses operating in tailoring and brick-making, which are now also supplying certain services and products.

This positive social impact goes hand-in-hand with what African Minerals envisages as becoming its net positive impact on the environment. The company is working with the UK’s

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Taking an a standing sta production a short spa something ore produc

African Minerals

asset from a art to being in n within such ace of time is that no other iron cer has done

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It’s a completely different way of working from the other mining players, who want everything engineered to the nth degree before they put their first penny in

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Kew Gardens, who have assisted in understanding and identifying indigenous species of flora and fauna that have disappeared from the surrounding area, and assisting with their rehabilitation. It is also in partnership with Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the baseline environmental audit for Tonkolili’s environmental licence having identified a small population of monkeys that neither the local communities nor the Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency even knew existed. This partnership will now rehabilitate and protect the chimpanzees, with community education and institutional strengthening having been undertaken in order to ensure that locals are on board with the protection effort.

African Minerals’ involvement in and commitment to Sierra Leone has now begun to inspire others to bring their own foreign direct investment to the country, says Jones. “There are now another four public mining companies in Sierra Leone and a major oil company, as well as increased investment from biofuel companies. It’s not solely because of us; but we have certainly paved the way and shown that Sierra Leone is a safe and simple place in which to operate.”

Being 100 per cent focused on getting its first ore on ship later this year, there is little time for African Minerals to sit back and bask in the warm glow of its achievements to date. But there are certain milestones that undoubtedly create a sense of pride. “Taking an asset from a standing start to being in production within such a short space of time is something that no other iron ore producer has done—and we have done so with the full support of the people and the government of Sierra Leone,” says Jones.

“Tonkolili is very important for African Minerals; but similarly, Tonkolili is very important for Sierra Leone. It has the ability to double the country’s GDP as Phase Two hits production,” he concludes. www.african-minerals.com BE

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Exciting the

mar

Alan Swaby looks at a now thriving business that w

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was once rejected as having no marketing potential

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ike evolution and survival of the fittest, the beauty of the free market is that it encourages new life forms. Take the case of Andalusite Resources in South Africa as an example. It is now sitting on a successful and potentially very valuable business because the once dominant life force became complacent and relaxed its guard, enabling a new life form to gain a toe-hold.

The consequence of that is that Andalusite Resources’ mine in northern South Africa is on territory surveyed and overlooked by the market leader—once the monopoly supplier of andalusite to the world. Today, Andalusite Resources already has a 20 per cent market share—and that could become even larger.

The story starts in 2001 when the business was set up to exploit known reserves 220 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg at a place called Maroeloesfontein near the town of Thabazimbi, smack in the middle of a very important and extensive mining region of the country. The managers behind Andalusite Resources had already tried another South African site of andalusite without much success; but within the group of shareholders and promoters, there was some experience of refractory manufacturing and therefore it was well understood what was needed from this material.

“We operate in a very specialised area of industry,” describes sales and marketing director Andreas Pabst. “Andalusite is used in refractory materials of many different kinds; but the technology behind refractories is very demanding regarding the specification of the raw material it uses.”

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Andalusite Resources Andalusite is used in a wide range of applications but the majority goes into refractory materials used by the iron and steel industry, in either cast forms such as bricks or an unshaped, monolithic version of the material. Either way, though, the refractory industry needs a range of crystal sizes and very specific chemical properties. The reason why Maroeloesfontein was overlooked is that it produces crystals at the smaller end of the spectrum and it was once thought that only larger crystals were most marketable. Since then, changes in technology, but more appropriately in attitude, have opened the market for the crystal size that Andalusite Resources now offers.

“The market we operate in is very dynamic,” comments finance director Colin Bain, “and although technology is paramount, price comes a close second. Consequently, the current high price of bauxite is leading to greater interest in andalusite, as it can serve as a substitute to bauxite in a number of applications.”

Bauxite is often the material of choice for refractory materials, but much of it comes from China—and the Chinese can use a large proportion of all the bauxite they mine themselves. As such, exports have been restricted to the extent that the price has risen 300 per cent in three years. Not surprisingly, alternative approaches have been sought.

“But industry can’t switch at a moment’s notice,” says Pabst. “It could take a year or 18 months for a steel plant to prepare itself properly [to use andalusite].” Nevertheless, Andalusite Resources managed to convince enough users to try its form of andalusite—branded under the name of Marlusite, after the name of the mine—for it to be a profitable and going concern, with reserves sufficient for 20 years, based on a production rate of 30,000 tons per annum.

Since then, the company has surveyed the site more extensively and discovered much bigger reserves.

Last year, production was more than doubled to 70,000 tons per annum and even at this rate there is now enough minable ore to last for 80 to 100 years.

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“In fact,” says Pabst, “there is much more ore on the site than we ever envisaged. We plan to go to a depth of 35 metres but we have found the mineral down to 70 metres. However, we won’t be going that far, as that doesn’t offer what the market wants at this moment.”

As it is, mining at Maroeloesfontein is relatively simple. For every ton of ore there is 14 per cent andalusite, of which seven per cent is recoverable and the remainder too small to be of interest. The deposits start four metres below a soft overburden that is easily stripped and then the ore can be dug out by excavator without any blasting necessary.

The beauty of this site is that although Andalusite Resources is open mining in three different locations, they are no more than a stone’s throw away from each other and the processing plant. Nevertheless, the variation in conditions over this short distance has thrown up some challenging metallurgical processing problems. “If you looked into each pit,” says Blain, “you’d think they were three

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completely different locations. To the south, the soil is heavy clay which initially choked the crushing and screening plant. To the north, the conditions are good but the yield lower; and in the third pit there are certain silicate impurities which shatter and are hard to get out of the process before they enter the final product.”

There is even a non-magnetic iron oxide called goethite that was able to find its way through the magnetic screening until Andalusite Resources called upon the services of a specialist manufacturer capable of developing a new magnetic separation system requiring special magnets and extremely precise material flow rates.

Although the refining process requires a good deal of careful management and tight control, the technology is commonplace, based on multiple crushing, washing and screening stages until the crystals have been sorted into their various sizes.

It’s a process that needs no chemicals but does rely on copious amounts of water.

“It’s a very thirsty process,” says Pabst, “that uses 500,000 litres of water an hour! However without any

Andalusite Resources aggressive chemicals to treat, we can recycle 70 per cent of the water immediately and as we only use water from our own boreholes, you could say we recycle 100 per cent as all water will eventually soak back into the underground aquifers, from which we draw our water in the first place.” The water levels are monitored regularly to ensure that ground water is not depleted and the mine runs have fully sustainable levels of water usage vis-à-vis available water reserves.

With constantly rising prices of bauxite, the market looks good—but Andalusite Resources is taking no chances. A project is currently underway with the German refractory specialist Mine Feurfest to study how bauxite can be replaced entirely with andalusite in specific applications. If the results of the 12 month study are as favourable as expected, evolution will once again take a big step forward.

The world is thirsty for raw materials and there is an

Bearing Transmission Ops We provide and specialize in a wide variety of products like bearings, electric motors, v-belts, sprockets, seals, power transmission, motor mounts and guards, pulleys and all industrial relevant products. Not only does BTO aim at selling products at reasonable prices, we provide products that are of the highest quality in the entire industry. Tswella Tech, a division of BTO, brings you all the mechanical and electrical gearboxes and owns a full functional workshop for all repairs.

increasing scarcity of vital industrial minerals.

Andalusite Resources is in a good position to take advantage of the future demand that will be fuelled by the world’s appetite for growth. www.andalusiteresources.com BE

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Going the extra

The last few years have seen an unprecedente matched by a dramatic rise in competition wit Development and Contracting, explains to Gay operational principles have given it an edge in 152 July 2011

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mile

a

ed increase in new development in Abu Dhabi, thin the industry. Elie Saikali, GMO of Dhafir y Sutton how the company’s management and n this challenging marketplace July 2011 153

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linging to the edge of the desert, Abu Dhabi is a surprisingly green and verdant city. Located on an island jutting into the Arabian Gulf and connected to the mainland by three very busy bridges, the city boasts a skyline that’s a glittering display of sophisticated high rise buildings arranged along a well designed grid of wide boulevards. One company that has played a major part in shaping the city of today is Dhafir Development and Contracting (DDC).

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Folcra Beach Folcra Beach is an aluminium and glazing contractor specialized in the field of design, manufacturing and installation of building envelopes and modern architectural facades. Our activities are related to the major components involved in closing the outer skin of a building—providing a functional and practical construction method that preserves the initial architectural intent desired by our clients.

We have successfully completed many of the challenging and technically complicated façade projects in the UAE by utilizing the most experienced technical expertise and by adopting the most modern methods of fabrication, manufacturing and installation and by doing so we have been able to maintain the highest international standards recognized in our industry.

Established in 1976, DDC’s growth not only paralleled that of the city itself but extended beyond its bounds in 1998 with the opening of an office in Dubai. Ranked among the special category contractors in Abu Dhabi, the company has developed an enviable expertise in executing multi-disciplinary projects specialising in the high quality end of the market. Indeed, the products of DDC’s endeavours can be seen across the island, ranging from hospitals and hotels through to office towers, residential buildings, shopping centres, palaces, industrial projects and villa compounds.

The secret of DDC’s success is multi-faceted, but at its heart lies a management culture that personifies proactive and friendly collaboration based on forming strong relationships with the client. “We are a client satisfaction oriented company and always honour our contractual commitments,” explains GMO, Elie Saikali.

“We will always go the extra mile to fulfil the needs and requirements of our clients. By so doing, we have gained a long-standing good reputation in the market, and this has been built up over a period of 35 years.”

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KONE “KONE has been proud to work with Dhafir for several years. We believe our earlier performance on the execution of delivered projects and the excellent feedback on our service during the maintenance period were the primary reasons for selecting KONE to supply 16 MiniSpace passenger elevators to the Amaya and Beach Towers that are being developed

by Dhafir at Reem Island, Abu Dhabi. We take pride in being a reliable partner with honorable business ethics.” Ghazi Khalek, Regional Director, KONE Middle East.

The catalogue of projects during that time is extensive and includes such iconic Abu Dhabi landmarks as the 21-storey Masaood Office Tower, the Central Bank of the UAE and the 42-storey Liwa Heights apartment block in Dubai. But perhaps the most prestigious project to date was the construction of the American Hospital in Dubai. Worth some $250 million overall, the contract came in two parts and began with the construction of a fivestorey outpatient clinic and administration building. On its successful completion in 2007, the company was awarded the second part of the contract: to add a state-of-the-art, sevenfloor inpatient block providing 250 bed spaces, eight operating theatres, physician rooms, laboratories and a range of other services.

Construction projects, of course, are never without their challenges. And in the case of the American Hospital, the company found itself liaising closely with architects and designers located a world away in the United States, and constructing to very demanding specifications and to an extremely tight time schedule. “The work was also carried out during a peak in construction when there was a scarcity of resources,” Saikali says. “So we had to import workforce and staff at short notice, and ensure they worked to the high

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standard of quality we demanded, and to the satisfaction of our consultants and clients.

“We bring in subcontractors for highly specialised disciplines,” he continues. “This means we have a much better control over the quality of our work. We invest a great deal in training our people and growing the skills of the workforce. In this way, we can be sure that our performance continuously improves from one project to another.”

Performing to these standards requires a continuous focus on improvement, and DDC manages this by keeping abreast of the latest construction techniques and materials, ensuring that knowledge is exchanged across the company, and has developed a range of methods for meeting the region’s unique construction challenges, such as under-water-table multi-storey construction with tanking systems, fast track projects, design and build projects, and hot weather construction methods.

“We strive for excellence,” Saikali asserts, “as an ongoing process. Our clients want their project on time, on cost and at the best quality possible, and that is what we aim to do.”

Of course, the last few years have not been easy for the global construction industry, and the recent economic difficulties in the UAE have compounded those problems, forcing local contractors to look elsewhere in the Emirates for work. “The market here is therefore becoming very competitive, and clients are becoming more price-sensitive.

But still we see good prospects here in Abu Dhabi. We have a growing economy, oil prices are high, and the city has not yet gone through a boom in the way Dubai did. So there are good grounds for the construction industry.”

The company’s strategy, going forward, is to continue to target high quality projects, and to capitalise on its expertise in hospital construction. “There is a policy here to improve the healthcare system, so this is a good area to specialise in. We are also diversifying into development, and we currently have a luxurious project—Amaya Tower— underway on Reem Island, due to be completed by the end of 2011,” he concludes.

In spite of the growing competition, DDC is expanding its horizons and reaping the benefits of its search for excellence, a process that it will no doubt be continuing in the future. www.dhafirdc.com/ BE

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Flying

Steve Hartley, executive director of private av Group, talks to Jayne Alverca about the comp asset value and the flight experience in the M 162 July 2011

Empire Aviation Group

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viation specialist Empire Aviation pany’s approach to maximizing Middle East and beyond July 2011 163

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ased in Dubai, Empire Aviation Group stands apart as the operator and manager of the Middle East’s largest fleet of corporate and private jets. As well as aircraft sales, the company provides aircraft charter and management services with a focus on high quality luxury and corporate travel throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world.

Executive director Steve Hartley is very clear about the company’s mission.

“The purchase of an aircraft, whether for private or corporate purposes, represents a very significant investment. Our entire operation is geared towards managing and maximizing the value of that asset on behalf of our clients in the most professional and efficient way possible,” he states.

Managing the aircraft asset properly ensures that its value is protected, leveraged and maintained during the years of ownership. “Historically, aircraft have either maintained their original purchase price or in some cases even appreciated in value but without the effective management we provide, this would not be the case. We can also help customers to charter their aircraft and so offset some of the costs of ownership,” he explains.

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For this reason, he is clear that despite Empire Aviation’s wealth of experience, owning as opposed to operating and managing a fleet could never be an option. “If we had our own aircraft we would inevitably be competing with our customers as charter requests would naturally be directed to our own aircraft first,” he adds.

“For similar reasons we do not offer a direct maintenance service, although we do have an extremely skilled division of maintenance engineers who measure cost against quality control and oversee all maintenance contracts. If we were to offer that service directly, customers could never be certain that they were getting value for money whereas with our third party arrangement, they know we will search out the best supplier. As it stands we can use our expertise to save our customers a great deal of money. For example, Jet Aviation is a preferred supplier, but for the benefit of owners, we also work with a number of other maintenance

providers and we regularly put maintenance contracts out to tender.”

Hartley sees the company’s reputation for fairness and sound business ethics as the cornerstone of its success. “Something that sets us apart in this business is that we operate a completely transparent cost structure. Of course, we exist to make a profit, but it has to be a fair profit and we are very happy for all our customers to have access to this information.

Transparency is critical to us. Our aim is to create a win-win situation for everyone, but it is imperative that our customers understand we will always treat them fairly.”

All aircraft meet the extensive safety, training, and inspection requirements required by the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates, but this is merely a starting point. The Empire Aviation business model stresses providing

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customers with an unsurpassed travel experience, whether it be in terms of security, comfort, flight personnel or catering.

Pilots and crew undergo a rigorous recruitment process—all training is directly supervised by Empire Aviation—and no detail is spared in the search for an incomparable service proposition. For example, an agreement has just been signed to become the first operator in the Middle East of the Vigiplane security system—a completely new concept in aircraft security. The system comprises five day and night cameras in a special composite sealed container which provides high quality pictures and infrared projectors. It is unique, because it is completely independent from the aircraft’s own systems and thus requires no special aircraft certification.

Another agreement that breaks new ground has been reached with global catering services provider Private Flight Global to restructure the catering management operations for the entire fleet.

A specially customized version of Private Flight’s online system enables flight personnel to offer the highest level of personalized service with the flexibility to create tailored menus, track customer preferences and ensure a faster response to VIP requests. As well as enhancing the customer experience, the partnership will give Empire Aviation better oversight and control of the catering function, greater cost efficiency and more streamlined administration.

For customers whose requirements centre predominantly on pleasure, the luxury travel division of the company takes the service proposition even further. Empire Aviation has now joined forces with Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, one of Asia’s most exclusive luxury hotel groups, to create a special portfolio of travel packages, all of which include a private jet.

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We can help customers to charter their aircraft and so offset some of the costs of ownership

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So far, the business model has worked extremely well in Dubai. Hartley points out that since its inception, the company has typically grown its revenues by a heady 100 per cent per annum. “We are very proud of our achievements to date. Even last year which was one of the worst in aviation history, we still managed to increase turnover by 25 per cent,” he adds.

Empire Aviation is now in readiness to replicate its model further afield. “We are already working with Indian customers operating out of Dubai, so it is a logical extension of those relationships to establish a direct presence in India. In August 2011 we will open our first branch in Mumbai. There is tremendous growth potential in India and Asia generally, but no professional management companies,” he says. Empire Aviation is also considering other

geographical options in the Far East but he is reluctant to be drawn on details, as these plans are still at an early stage.

While Hartley sees the composition of the fleet evolving in line with the growing acceptance of aircraft ownership as a business tool, he is adamant that the basic formula with its focus on transparent financial procedures will not change. “There is an old adage that stresses: stick to what you know you do well. We want to preserve all the benefits to customers that we can offer as a wholly independent management company with no possible conflicts of interest. Our model is well received and respected and we have nothing to gain from competing with our customers.” www.empire.aero BE

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Cool Jeff Daniels looks at a relatively new a that is contributing greater energy effi

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lidea pproach to providing air conditioning ciency to the Middle East

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orget about oil refining and horse breeding; air conditioning must be one of the more sensible business sectors to be involved with in Saudi Arabia. Nomadic Arabs might have managed for centuries without air conditioning, but modern living, with its higher density populations—and with everyone contributing to the environmental impact via computers and other electronic gadgets—means that Saudi Arabia today simply wouldn’t function without a cooling breeze to make the 40 degrees-plus temperatures bearable.

But while the need hasn’t changed in the past decade, the method of cooling homes, hotels and offices has. There’s something of a quiet revolution in the technology brought about in part by the need to create greater energy efficiency and reduce the impact on the environment. Today, buildings are just as likely to be served by a district cooling system (DCS) as they are to have their own standalone air conditioning plants.

These DCSs can be measured in tens or even hundreds of thousands of tonnes of refrigerant.

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District cooling is the process of distributing cooling water produced in a central source to lots of user buildings in the area. Chilled water is produced at one or more plants and then piped out for use in a specific building’s air conditioning system. In Saudi Arabia, it is now widely used in downtown business districts and institutional settings such as college campuses. But it’s a process not many people are yet familiar with, because the system quietly goes about its work and as the pipes that deliver the chilled water are usually buried beneath the streets, most people are simply unaware that they are there.

At a stroke, the need for individual buildings to have their own chillers is removed and with it, the associated capital and maintenance costs.

One of the biggest names in the business is Saudi Tabreed Cooling Company. Located in Al-Khobar, on the shores of the Arabian Sea and overlooking Bahrain and Qatar beyond, the company was formed in 2005 as a Saudi private sector joint venture company with Tabreed UAE, ACWA Holding and

RUSD International as the key members of the venture and major shareholders.

The cooling and distribution technology comes from Tabreed UAE, a Dubai-based operation said to be the largest district cooling provider in the world, owning and operating around 50 district cooling plants as joint ventures or subsidiaries throughout Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia—a position it has achieved in the 13 years since inception.

Water technology comes from ASWA (Arabian Company for Water and Power Development), a company engaged in the investment of seawater and brackish water desalination, power generation, potable water treatment and sewerage and industrial wastewater treatment.

RUSD International contributes marketing know-how as well as specialising in financial services through the Investment Bank and Asia Finance Bank of Malaysia, Salama

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Islamic Arab Insurance Company of the UAE and Ta’jeer Co. of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Tabreed’s approach to district cooling is founded on the principle of operating a stable and long-term utility business that provides clients with a sustainable approach to climate control. The contract it has with clients guarantees a chilled water supply throughout the period in question at a fixed cost—a solution that provides not only a cost effective service but peace of mind for the building owner as well.

For the community and economy as a whole, district cooling systems displace peak electric power demand with district cooling and storage using ice or chilled water. Local power grids aren’t hit by high surges in demand; and power congestion due to power

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transmission limitations in cities is alleviated.

District cooling systems claim a variety of other benefits, both qualitative and economic. For example, the emotional advantages are perceived in terms of better comfort, better reliability and convenience. In cash terms, there are benefits for both building owners and tenants. The capital costs of control panels, internal power distribution, annual maintenance and power consumption inside the building are reduced and the cost of chillers is eliminated. Nor do roof lines need to be festooned with individual air conditioning units.

Tenants are happier and therefore less likely to want to move because they have greater control over the temperature and humidity of their environment, and less accommodation space needs to be allocated to cooling units. District cooling also puts paid to much of the noise often associated with air con.

In the Middle East, air conditioning is such an integral part of existence that the economic benefits of district cooling need to be given strong consideration.

As such, Saudi Tabreed is finding ready listeners for

the economic arguments it can offer.

For example, air conditioning equipment consumes around 70 per cent of a building’s total energy needs and constitutes 70 per cent of peak electric demand. By shifting that load from individual houses to a central plant, the housing electric load is reduced substantially and along with it, the number of electric substations and length and sizes of electric cables.

Within the system itself, district cooling requires far less electric power than multiple plant rooms or ducted splits. Furthermore, the plant room can house the electric substation, enormously reducing the electric works.

Electric demand and peak shaving are easily controlled when district cooling is applied— especially important in the case of on-site continuous or standby power generation.

From Saudi Tabreed’s point of view, a central plant is much less labour-intensive to maintain in comparison with the large number of teams required to maintain numerous smaller plants or hundreds of condensing units. Fan coil units and air handling units require minimal maintenance and cause only rare breakdowns.

Saudi Tabreed is keen to mirror the performance other Tabreed markets have achieved. It has recently signed an agreement to provide cooling services to the Saudi Aramco Dhahran complex. The contracted cooling capacity is 32,000 TR (tonnes refrigerant) and is based on a 25-year buildoperate-own basis. A much larger deal has been struck with Raydah Investment Company for a 100,000 TR plant at the King Abdullah Financial District. Here, Saudi Tabreed will carry out the operation and maintenance activities for the first 10 years of the project’s life. www.sauditabreed.com BE

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The hotzo

Western Australia’s unique of the world’s most innova so

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one

location makes it an ideal region to pioneer some ative solar power solutions. Jayne Alverca reviews ome of the recent achievements of Horizon Power July 2011 181

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he horizon seems to stretch on forever in the vast territories that make up Western Australia. This is one of the hottest places on earth and clouds are a welcome but all too rare sight.

The region provides a home to many small, isolated Aboriginal communities, but despite the heat and isolation, it also has a booming economy driven by rich mineral deposits and soaring commodity prices.

Horizon Power, which is operated by the state government, is tasked with the challenge of providing a reliable power supply in the south-west corner of the state. The company is responsible for generating, procuring, distributing and retailing electricity to residential, industrial and commercial customers, and developing energy resources.

The company was established in 2006 in response to reforms to Western Australia’s electricity sector and today has over 30,00 customers. It is the pre-eminent supplier of energy solutions to the remotest region of Western Australia with a uniquely diverse customer base. This ranges from tiny isolated indigenous communities with less than 100 people to residents and small businesses in busy regional towns. At the far end of the spectrum are the major mining companies in the resource-rich Pilbara region. Industrial customers such as these are a key segment; and the company supplies power to over 7,300 business customers from Esperance in the south to Kununurra in the north.

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It is an enormous area which spans 2.3 million square kilometres, covering the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne, Mid West and southern Goldfields (Esperance) regions. But what all customers have in common is a requirement for a safe, affordable and reliable power supply. This is achieved via one major interconnected system, the North West Interconnected System (NWIS), and a growing number of non-interconnected or islanded systems in regional towns and remote communities.

Horizon’s approach allows for diverse and discrete solutions to power generation, according to local needs and environmental conditions. The company has adopted a bespoke method of developing solutions that meet the energy needs of people living in remote areas and is a leading specialist in the design and implementation of fully-integrated energy systems. The service package begins with a comprehensive analysis of energy demand, local weather and geographical features to determine the best source of energy. Then demand management

Serviceworks Serviceworks and valued client Horizon Power have worked in partnership since 2008 to build and operate Australia’s leading customer management platform.

Serviceworks provides customer service, billing, payments, meter data management, systems development, hosting and change management services to Horizon Power supporting them in providing high quality service to their customers and achieving greater operational efficiency.

Serviceworks

Managing

Director

Andrew

Duncan said: “Serviceworks are committed to supporting Horizon Power to continue to create lasting value in Regional Western Australia by delivering performance excellence in operations.

Horizon Power services a unique region and the challenges are constantly evolving. To remain in a strong position we must evolve too, remaining nimble, challenging previously held assumptions and never losing sight of the end customer.”

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Horizon Power studies are used to help customers to manage consumption and to correctly size new systems.

It will even tailor services to individual customers rather than taking a ‘whole community’ approach.

Horizon Power is focused on delivering highpenetration, renewable energy solutions on all of its small networks and isolated systems to reduce carbon emissions and ensure the security of supply in regional areas. Potential solutions include photovoltaic solar energy and wind turbines ranging from 30 kW up to 6 MW; and new technologies such as energy storage systems and ripple and demand side management using smart meter systems to ensure that the largest possible proportion of renewable energy is supplied to customers.

Aftercare is always a major consideration and the

deployment of renewable energy systems involves the establishment of sustainable maintenance and support arrangements.

A key facet of the company’s work is the promotion and development of new privately owned power stations to replace its own ageing diesel power stations. Advances in solar technology and the many

Misand Holdings Pty Ltd Preventative maintenance is important in many fields; however when people’s lives and livelihoods are involved it becomes doubly important. That is why Misand Holdings has been providing quality service to Horizon Power for years in the fields of asset inspection and maintenance, high risk vegetation management, and more recently thermographics. Horizon Power is one of our key customers and we have a developed a close working relationship with them over the years.

We are a flexible company, with experience and qualifications in many fields, and as such have been able to tailor contracts to the specific needs of the client.

hours of sunshine provide a special window of opportunity for that particular form of power generation.

Horizon Power is particularly proud of two new power stations at the towns of Marble Bar and Nullagine, in the east Pilbara region of Western Australia. The power stations are

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the first high-penetration, hybrid solar-diesel power stations in the world and will set new benchmarks for hybrid, standalone systems, featuring extremely high renewable energy generation and conversion. To date, the ground-mounted systems are the largest of their kind in Australia. Commissioned in 2010, they are the result of a joint project with development partners PowerCorp Pty Ltd and Sunpower Australia.

The project has included the installation of more than 2,000 solar panels across both towns and incorporates solar tracking systems that follow the path of the sun in each town throughout the day. The latest energy storage technology is being used to store energy from the panels and to stabilize power quality between the diesel power station and the solar farm.

The solar energy systems will generate over 1.155 MWh of renewable energy per annum, supplying 30 per cent of the annual energy for both towns and up to 65 per cent of day-time energy. The systems are resulting in savings of 405,000 litres of fuel and 1,093 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each

IML Logistics IML Logistics is a Western Australian privately owned

company

which

has

been

providing

specialist logistics solutions since it was founded by the Ridolfo Family in 1957. Since this time IML has been heavily involved in servicing the majority of Western Australia’s power and water utilities as well a range of other industries throughout the whole state.

IML is a proud partner of Horizon Power having serviced its logistics requirements both in Perth and the North West since its inception. IML has established a supply base in Dampier and transport Depot in Karratha on the strength of this relationship and service arrangement.

IML’s

logistics

solutions,

whether

they

be

transport, warehousing, projects or complete supply chain management are differentiated from its competitors through its progressive customer service function and modern logistics systems.

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year and should meet the energy needs of local communities for the next 20 years.

Horizon Power is also finding innovative ways in which to promote knowledge and understanding of new technologies. The mining boom in Pilbara, for example, has generated skills shortages in technology which have become the focus of a new corporate social responsibility initiative. Horizon announced in June 2011 that it would be involved as a sponsor of Women in Technology Western Australia (WITWA). The organisation has designed a technology outreach programme for youth in remote and regional Western Australia to encourage girls and boys into careers in technology.

“Support from Horizon Power means we have the pleasure of partnering with a likeminded organisation interested in providing opportunities for children living in regional Western Australia,” said Marjolein Towler, chair of WITWA. James Deacon, general manager of Knowledge and Technology at Horizon Power, commented: “The partnership between Horizon Power and Women in Technology Western Australia is in the spirit of our company’s commitment to deliver lasting value to the communities we serve. We expect this partnership to leave a positive legacy in the Pilbara community by helping to deliver educational and leadership benefits.

“Horizon Power is also focused on improving the quality of life of Aboriginal people and I believe this programme will provide important encouragement and support to the leadership of Aboriginal communities in this region by demonstrating real opportunities available—in both Horizon Power and the technical industry as a whole,” he added. http://www.horizonpower.com.au BE

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Rail

Jeff Daniels looks at what could possibly be Euro largest construction project gearing up at the moment beneath the streets of London 192 July 2011

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ope’s

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raw a horizontal line smack through the centre of London from Heathrow Airport in the west to the financial district of Canary Wharf in the east, and you have a rough idea of where Britain’s biggest civil construction project is to be found.

It is the newest rail line in the country and the biggest single extension to the south-east network in half a century. But the route will be far from a straight line: instead, it will weave its way between existing underground lines, sewers, utility tunnels and building foundations from station to station at depths of up to 36 metres.

With more than a passing resemblance to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Crossrail—as the project is known—will deliver a high-frequency, highcapacity service to 37 stations linking Maidenhead on the Berkshire side of the M25 to Shenfield on the Essex side, via 21 kilometres of new twinbore tunnels under central London. Head east, and shortly after Liverpool Street Station, the line divides to serve both sides of the River Thames.

For an estimated cost of £17 billion, it will add 10 per cent to the capital’s rail capacity and bring an additional 1.5 million people within 45 minutes commuting distance of London’s key business districts. By carrying an anticipated 200 million passengers per year, it will bring much needed relief to other parts of the rail and road network.

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DMA Media DMA Media is a global media consulting, production and

outsourcing

company.

DMA

combines

unparalleled experience with a comprehensive understanding of digital media.

With offices in London, Abu Dhabi, Beijing and Moscow, the company supports global corporate, government and broadcast clients.

DMA is the media partner for the Crossrail project.

Using video, mobile and online channels, it will capture the progress of the whole project, from construction through to the first trains.

The 7-year contract includes the creation and management of a digital video archive, which will contain all the milestone construction work, news, training and community events, as well as all the historical and archaeological discoveries along the route. www.dma-media.com

But as with everything in the UK, it has been a slow process窶馬ot because of engineering inadequacies but rather the bureaucratic need to give everyone the chance to voice an objection. As such, the process began in 2005 when a bill to build the railway was introduced to parliament.

After three years of consultation and scrutiny in both houses of parliament, the Crossrail Bill was enacted in July 2008, with Royal Assent turning an idea into the

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For an estimated cost of £17 billion, Crossrail will add 10 per cent to the capital’s rail capacity

beginning of reality. The construction project is being managed by Crossrail Ltd—now a fully owned subsidiary of TfL, the body that runs London’s underground network.

Despite spending much of its time below the surface, the line will be more akin to normal commuter trains than the Underground. The plan is to run a fleet of fixed-formation, 10-car, mainline-size trains measuring 200 metres in length and capable of each carrying more than 1,500 passengers during peak periods. The plan is that by ordering 63 such trains, it will enable 57 sets to be in service during peak hours. The project promises high-speed travel and is being designed for speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour on the surface parts of the route and up to 100 kilometres per hour in the tunnels.

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Considerable work has been conducted with Network Rail and the various freight and passenger franchisee holders that are linked with Crossrail. The planning team has carried out extensive simulations of future services operating on the rail network, indicating that a high level of punctuality of services can be achieved with at least 24 trains per hour at peak times in each direction. Worst case scenarios have also been simulated— including signal failures, extended dwell times and interfering freight paths—to see what impact would occur and how best to improve traffic flow. As a result, Crossrail has developed a programme to continue testing the timetable model, enabling fine-tuning of all variables impacting on punctuality.

Above ground, the new line will need to be integrated into the network currently being used by the Great Eastern, Great Western and North

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Kent mainlines. But it is the section under central London that will create the most challenges and engineering interest.

New Crossrail stations, costing in the region of £2 billion, will be constructed along the central route at Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Canary Wharf. As many as 65 new escalators will be needed here alone, with another 40 or more outside the central district. Combined, this could be the UK’s largest single contract for the supply and maintenance of escalators. Work sites have been established for each of these stations throughout central London, with main construction of the stations due to commence late this year.

Just as with the Channel Tunnel, work will commence from both ends,

working towards the centre. In spring 2012, the first tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will start on their journey from Royal Oak towards the west of Farringdon station. This will be followed shortly by the launch of further TBMs in Docklands that will head under central London towards the east of Farringdon.

Crossrail will use eight TBMs working 24 hours a day beneath the streets of London, excavating large volumes of ground and erecting the concrete tunnel lining. TBMs are best suited to longer tunnel drives where the cross-sectional profile remains constant and where finished precast concrete linings can be erected directly behind the machine. They also limit the disturbance to the surrounding ground and the surface above, making them ideal for use in heavily urbanized areas.

Tunnelling is such a crucial aspect of the project that the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) has been established. In its final stages of completion, TUCA will provide purpose-built training facilities in the provision of key skills required to work in tunnel excavation, underground construction and infrastructure. Equally important, it will ensure that everyone working underground has the necessary safety training in the form of the obligatory Tunnel Safety Card.

The main civil engineering construction works for Crossrail are planned to complete in 2017; but it will then need to fit out the stations and conduct exhaustive tests, so it will be late 2018 before the central section is put into service, followed by a phased introduction of services along the rest of the Crossrail route over several months.

By this time, the industry is hoping that the next big rail infrastructure project for the UK—the proposed London to Birmingham (and beyond) HS2 (High Speed 2) rail line—will have cleared all its own hurdles, offering more opportunities for the companies that have brought Crossrail to the capital. www.crossrail.co.uk BE

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aris-based Technip Group is a world leader in project management, technology, engineering and construction for the global energy industry. Technip serves various sectors of the industry, but the oil and gas market represents 97 per cent of the Group’s sales through its activities in three business segments; subsea, offshore and onshore.

From the deepest subsea oil and gas developments to the largest and most complex offshore and onshore infrastructures, Technip’s 23,000 employees offer world class solutions and innovative technologies to meet global energy challenges. With a presence in 48 countries, Technip has state-of-the-art industrial assets on all continents and operates a fleet of specialized vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction.

Technip Germany, based in DĂźsseldorf, specialises in engineering, procurement and construction for onshore pipeline systems, underground gas storage, refineries and chemical/petrochemical plants. Its geographical spread includes Germanspeaking territories as well as locations in which German companies are operational, with its clients including the oil majors and large gas and water utility companies, among others.

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Technip Germany With extensive experience in the implementation of refinery units, plastic production plants and other petrochemical products as well as base chemicals such as chlorine, Technip Germany combines Technip’s technological know-how with the local requirements of EPC implementation in specific German speaking areas.

Technip Germany is one of the most experienced pipeline builders in the world, with more than 25,000 kilometres of pipeline in 35 countries, and a reputation of completing projects on schedule under the most adverse circumstances, including extreme climate conditions like permafrost, desert and monsoon, or difficult geological situations.

Technip Germany’s dedication to exceeding expectations was demonstrated in a recent project (outside of the oil and gas sector) to increase the throughput of the Fujairah Water Transmission System in the United Arab Emirates from 454,600 to 1,045,600 cubic metres per day. The large-scale project involved pipes of 64 inches in diameter—big enough to walk through—lined with cement mortar.

Technip was responsible for project management, engineering and procurement (but not construction) and when the supplier of the pipeline’s stainless steel pumps—built to a unique design and the largest of their kind in the world—encountered a delay due to manufacturing failures, it took definitive action. “We recovered the time lost by chartering an Antonov aircraft, as we had to keep on schedule for our client,” explained CEO Mesut Sahin. The company paid to fly three pumps from Brazil straight to Fujairah airport in Abu Dhabi, rather than risk delay and inconvenience to the client.

A significant proportion of Technip Germany’s activities involve large-scale projects, so safety is always a priority. “All of our clients see safety as being of the highest priority,” said Sahin, “so a few years ago Technip developed the Pulse programme, which is not only a tool for us to follow but also a tool for our partners, subcontractors and clients.

The results we have on safety are really excellent.

It costs money at the outset—you have to invest

SIM SIM has been proud and fully committed in the collaboration with Technip Germany in the development of EKB Project Viking Lot 300, in Etzel.

SIM’s scope of work, starting February 2010, is presently achieved through the performance of 200 people, with a peak of 300 units, highly specialized in order to perform the different activities of the project, such as: prefabrication, piping installation, supports, equipments and machinery erection.

Some minor activities of our scope of work are still in progress.

This experience has improved SIM’s international network in terms of experience and reliability. A joint vision will create project operational excellence.

to ensure that safety is not only a priority for everyone but a value that drives our decisions and day-to-day behaviours in our projects—but the payback is actually within a very short space of time.”

Based on industry best practice and research, Pulse aims to ensure that all Technip projects are performed with responsibility for health, safety and the environment; that everyone working on Technip projects embraces HSE as a core value; that the company’s behaviours demonstrate that HSE is a core value; and that Technip is the industry reference company for HSE. This last ambition is well on its way to becoming a reality for Technip Germany.

Pulse was launched internally at first, but was soon transferred to the company’s clients and subcontractors. “Full commitment starts with the company’s management, going down to the very last employee in our company,” explain Sahin. “Education and training takes place regularly and cascades from the top down. It is something we are very proud of developing—it has now reached a status where having trained our employees, the next step is on-site training,

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including our subcontractors and the client’s management team, in order to share the importance of this value.”

Under the Pulse initiative, Technip Germany enjoyed a notable achievement during the construction of a new hydro-desulphurisation unit within an existing refinery for an oil major in Spergau, Germany—over the course of more than 500,000 working hours, no accidents were recorded.

This achievement is all the more remarkable as, during peak periods, there were up to 300 people from various European countries on the construction site, with a number of different languages being spoken. Crane activities were carried out alongside other construction work at ground level; and a multitude of different technical tasks were being executed simultaneously. The work was also completed on time and under budget, prompting excellent feedback from the client—the best advertisement for any business.

The success of complex and demanding projects rests on the dedication of a company’s people—a core strength of Technip Germany. “We have one of the best retention rates,” said Sahin. “Over the last three to four years staff turnover has been at a rate of below three per cent, which is excellent in the market.”

Looking forward, the company is actively involved in R&D activities to prepare it for the industry’s growing inclination towards renewables. “Without neglecting our traditional business in onshore pipeline systems, underground gas storage and calcining plants, we are involved in developing technologies to support our clients in regard to renewable energy,” said Sahin. “The focus on clean energy is growing, not only within Europe but outside of it as well. Carbon capture and storage, technologies in CO2 compression and transport, efficient reduction of emissions, solar and wind farms, will all definitely be areas of growth,” he concluded. www.technip.com BE

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he Technip Group is a French engineering company, headquartered in Paris, employing more than 23,000 people across the world. Its main office in Norway is in Sandvika, a few kilometres west of Oslo, with additional facilities in Orkanger, Haugesund and Stavanger. As the leading subsea engineering contractor on the Norwegian continental shelf, Technip Norway designs, fabricates, installs and services systems for subsea oil and gas fields.

Globally, Technip is involved in most segments of the oil and gas business, apart from down-hole and production, including subsea, large onshore facilities and offshore platforms. Its primary area of work is the Norwegian continental shelf but it also works on subsea projects offshore north-west Russia, in the Barents Sea and on some ad-hoc international projects.

It’s a very competitive arena and competition has led to a raft of significant advances in marine energy technology over the past 40 years. It remains a technology-rich environment and if you’re not at the forefront of development, you’re

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Technip Norway nowhere. Technip believes that its major differentials include its competent people, its technologies, product focus and project execution model.

The company’s employees in Norway represent many nationalities from across the world—as far afield as Australia and the Americas, as well as European countries and Russia. Induction training begins with health, safety and environment (HSE), followed by technical initiation. The intention is to embed its core cultures and values within the company from top to bottom, such that Technip can become the reference company in safety performance.

Everyone has to meet Technip’s safety and quality (QHSE) standards. The company has an apprenticeship scheme and a graduate recruitment and training programme, which enables it to ensure a mix of younger and more experienced people. The 18 to 24 month initial training process enables Technip to see how quickly its new employees understand the business and become valuable contributors.

Technip Norway operates as a main contractor to oil and gas companies and is currently engaged as an engineering, procurement, installation and construction (EPIC) contractor on several significant field developments in the Norwegian North Sea sector.

It was recently awarded a contract by GDF SUEZ, worth approximately €45 million, for the Gjøa field development in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, covering engineering and fabrication of two smoothbore gas export risers to connect the Gjøa platform with the gas export pipeline, removal of the existing roughbore risers and installation of the two new smoothbore risers, as well as tie-ins and precommissioning activities. Fabrication of the risers will take place in the Group’s flexible pipe plant in Le Trait, France. Offshore installation is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2011.

Technip Norway has also been awarded a contract from Statoil, worth approximately €90 million, for the Gygrid field development in the Norwegian Sea at a water depth of 265-330 metres. This contract covers engineering, procurement, welding and installation of flowlines, including a 19.5 kilometre pipe-in-pipe

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production flowline, a plastic-lined water injection flowline and a gas lift flowline of the same length.

Technip has also been working hard on subsea harsh environment projects over the past decade, from Terra Nova and White Rose on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to Snohvit in Northern Norway, which provide valuable experience that can applied to the development of projects for oil and gas development in the Arctic region.

The company considers these projects to be stepping stones towards oil and gas development in the Arctic region. “The lessons learned from operations in harsh environments in relatively remote locations can be used to better prepare for any future operations undertaken in the Arctic,” said Sam Allen, president of Technip Canada.

It is not necessarily the individual challenges offered by the various environmental elements that make working in such areas so demanding, but the combination of wave, current, wind, fog, ice, soils and short season make the subArctic and Arctic a very unique area of the world to undertake offshore operations.

Environmental data for frontier regions is generally lacking when compared to the mature oil and gas regions. When the industry talks of exploration and production in the Arctic, the impression often given is that the Arctic is one homogenous region. In fact, Technip has divided the Arctic into six regions, each with its own set of challenges.

The Terra Nova project, conducted from 1997 through 2001, was the first-sub-Arctic subsea mega project, the first to use large scale open glory hole construction for iceberg protection and the first to deploy a disconnectable riser system in a harsh environment. Terra Nova was also the first full field subsea development on the Grand Banks and the first floating production,

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storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to be deployed in North America.

As the industry pushes further north, new technical challenges will continue to present themselves, not least the logistical issues around transporting construction to the project location.

Technip encountered the challenge of distances between manufacturing locations and the project worksite on the Snohvit project, where Technip’s work scope included the installation of more than 450 kilometres of product using one of Technip’s reel-lay vessels, the Apache. The distance between Technip’s Norwegian spoolbase in Orkanger and the project worksite made multiple interim trips of the Apache to the spool base impractical. The solution was the development of a pipe transportation system allowing delivery of large volumes of rigid and flexible pipe to remote regions.

With increased water depth, a significant amount of future field developments will be made through the use of subsea completions and longer tiebacks.

Due to the environmental sensitivity of the area, there will be zero tolerance for spills and system and execution integrity will be critical.

Construction vessels will require larger decks, bigger cranes and faster transit speeds, and will need to be capable of operating in temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius for extended periods of time.

“There will be new, yet unforeseen, system design and construction challenges and offshore planning will become increasingly sophisticated. Development of the region will not be for the faint hearted and only the very top contractors will be able to respond to the challenges,” said Allen. www.technip.com BE

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Amatola Water operates over an area of appro region of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province province; and it has taken long strides towards 218 July 2011

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outh Africa is one of the few countries in the world that enshrines the basic right to sufficient water in its constitution, which states: “Everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water”.

However, much remains to be done to fulfil that right. When Thabo Mbeki took over the reins of office in 2004, he promised running water to all households within five years; yet there’s some way to go before that vision is realised by the country’s 20 water boards, of which Amatola Water is one.

Amatola Water, a state-owned, non-profit making business enterprise accountable to the minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, was established in November 1997 by national, provincial and local community stakeholders to serve as a multi-service, bulk water services provider.

Initially the catchment area covered 11,000 square kilometres in the Eastern Cape province; but this has since been increased fourfold to 45,800 and now encompasses most of the Amathole and Chris Hani district municipalities, together with smaller portions of the Joe Gbadi and Cacadu district municipalities. With its headquarters in East London, Amatola Water operates 11 plants and seven subregional, bulk distribution networks. It offers comprehensive contract services to municipalities for water abstraction, treatment, bulk supply and water quality monitoring for domestic, industrial and agricultural use. Service agreements are devised for the operation and maintenance of customer-owned water treatment and plant and reticulation installations. Amatola Water supports these services with complementary managerial, technical, laboratory and related specialist advisory services tailored to the needs of major industry and other institutional customers.

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Amatola Water However, the operations of the company extend further than this suggests, according to operations director Xola Bomela. “Our operational activities have grown dramatically over the past five years.

Our vision is to cover the entire province and we have been developing an expansion plan to guide the organisation though this growth phase.” The expansion plan was adopted in February 2010 and is now being implemented.

The plan will result in the water utility operating outside the gazetted area as it extends its footprint in the province. Amatola Water’s gazetted service area has increased from about 43,800 square kilometres to 47,515 square kilometres as part of a strategy officially launched in July 2010 and since converted into a five-year business plan. This forms part of a 2020 project aimed at assisting municipalities as water services authorities to provide safe potable bulk water. The expansion drive has resulted in the utility increasing its operational area to about 125,100 square kilometres of the 170,000 square kilometres that constitute the Eastern Cape. The vision is nearly complete.

Amatola Water focuses on service and quality in bringing water to the people, stresses Bomela.

“Clearly we want to be recognised as the best bulk water supplier in the Eastern Cape. But our core aim is to assist local government in the effective development and sustainable operation and maintenance of safe, reliable water supply and wastewater services. Amatola Water is committed to improving the quality of people’s lives. The eradication of water and sanitation backlogs is central to the supportive role that Amatola Water plays in this regard,” he says.

The problems in the Eastern Cape have more to do with population movement and the lack of investment in the past rather than the rapid population growth that has caused acute problems elsewhere. General trends indicate that urbanisation is significant, while the overall population growth rate is between 0.75 and 1.5 per cent. These figures are relatively low due to the predicted impact of AIDS and migration to

Zetachem Zetachem is recognised as a major supplier of specialty chemicals to the water industry and is supported by a significant manufacturing capability within South Africa. The company produces and trades in a range of synthetic organic and inorganic coagulants to assist in liquid solid separation processes. It is one of only two South African manufacturers of water treatment chemicals to operate under NSF and ISO 9001 certifications. NSF approval guarantees that the products carrying NSF Certification are manufactured to a consistently high international drinking water standard. Zetachem’s areas of application include potable water clarification, sludge dewatering and effluent treatment.

more economically active areas such as the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces.

The real challenges in the Eastern Cape are what are termed the ‘service backlogs’ for water and sanitation, the severe lack of capacity at the municipalities and insufficient capital and operational funding, he says. “Amatola Water’s response to these challenges is currently being developed in the expansion plan. The approach is essentially to take over the operation and maintenance of the province’s bulk water and sanitation services either directly through the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) institutional realignment process, where this infrastructure will be given to our organisation, or by contracting directly with the municipalities for this function.

The reticulation, revenue management and customer management functions will remain with the municipalities and it is hoped that this reduced direct responsibility for the municipalities will be within their grasp.”

Amatola Water follows a procurement policy focused on the Broad-Based Black

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Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) charter for the sector. The principle is to award contracts to companies that generally offer the best combination of value for money, adequate competency, and strong BBBEE compliance in their own right. The organisation also seeks to support locally based service providers with offices located in the Eastern Cape. Supply chain management is the responsibility of the organisation’s procurement section.

Longer term contracts include the supply of water treatment chemicals, safety clothing and the like. In terms of quality of service, these contracts are governed by service level agreements that detail roles, responsibilities and standards of service expected.

Cost reduction programmes include a pump efficiency programme, an equipment calibration programme, off-peak electricity

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consumption maximisation, regionalisation of bulk infrastructure to eliminate smaller, less efficient water treatment works, water demand management, water loss monitoring, maximising the use of gravity in the bulk infrastructure schemes, recycling of backwashing water at water treatment works and the implementation of a preventative maintenance programme, says Bomela. “Quality is very important to us, and we realise that we need not only to achieve high standards but to be able to measure them as well. We have identified six sigma as a regime that we would like to implement in the near future.”

Of course, quality depends directly on the competency of the operators, so training is another priority. “We train our own water treatment works operators and are busy developing a plan to create a training academy around this critical function in the water sector, having appointed a consultant to assist us with this challenge. We set aside about

Amatola Water five per cent of our salary budget for training across the organisation. This caters for postgraduate studies right through to ABET [Adult Basic Education Training],” says Bomela. In September 2010, Amatola Water took another step towards establishing its fully-fledged training hub when it received accreditation as a training provider by the Energy Sector Education and Training Authority.

The utility also celebrated the graduation of 140 learners from its wastewater treatment and practice programme, conducted in partnership with Buffalo City FET College.

The past three years have seen an increasing number of the municipalities turning to Amatola Water. So far it has helped them on a demanddriven basis but the organisation is now determined to restructure itself to take on the challenge of the entire province’s bulk water service function. The big

Fields In July 1953, Fields came into existence, and today is still supplying a comprehensive range of engineering requirements to industry, parastatals, etc, in the Border region. What is not kept as one of 8,000 line items can be effectively found to suit customer requirements. The long-standing relationship with Amatola Water is testimony to our commitment to service and quality.

change is going to be replacing the old adhoc approach with a sustainable and efficient operation, says Bomela. “Maintaining the bulk water and sanitation services is the most significant contribution Amatola Water can make to economic development in the province.” www.amatolawater.co.za BE

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Solving the world’s water problems is not going Municipality in South Africa’s Western Cape is m shortages through the construction of a new se 226 July 2011

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ater is one of the world’s most valuable commodities, and perhaps one of its most destructive. Over the past 12 months floods have washed away entire communities in Pakistan, while hot on the heels of this natural disaster came the unprecedented floods in Queensland, Australia, which reduced much of this sophisticated state to a seething mass of refugees forced from their homes by none other than Mother Nature.

In other areas of the world, however, the all too familiar problems of drought continue to threaten the lives of people, their livestock, crops and industry.

In 2009 the Western Cape of South Africa was held fast in the grip of the worst drought in 138 years. By 2010, the situation had become so serious in the municipality of Bitou that the Roodefontein Dam had been depleted to just 10 per cent of its normal capacity and water flow in the Keurbooms River—the major source of fresh water—had fallen substantially and was approaching the point where water would no longer be pumped from it. The municipality of Bitou faced a crisis, and joined those of George and Knysna to be declared disaster zones by the National Disaster Management Centre.

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The municipality announced ambitious plans to construct a sea water desalination plant which it hoped would fulfil both short-term and long-term objectives

Bitou Municipality The authorities were presented with two pressing but contradictory needs. They had to find a way of providing water for the local communities, including the town of Plettenberg Bay, in the short term and to ease the crisis. However, they also had to develop a satisfactory long-term plan to establish a reliable water supply for the future which would be unaffected by reduced rainfall and drought.

Many options were explored and hotly debated, and this was supported by a highly successful campaign to encourage people to reduce their water consumption significantly.

In some instances, extreme measures were taken against stubbornly high water users, who were named and shamed in the local newspaper. The initiative bore fruit, and water consumption across the municipality was slashed by 40 per cent, earning the region the coveted Blue Drop status.

After much deliberation, the municipality announced ambitious plans to construct a sea water desalination plant on the coast close to the town of Plettenberg, which it hoped would fulfil both short-term and long-term objectives. The system would take water from the sea and pass it through a reverse osmosis processing plant to produce potable-quality water at a rate of 2 megalitres of water a day—sufficient to supply 50 per cent of the region’s water requirement. The remaining 50 per cent would be provided through a combination of surface water, boreholes and agreements with big developments to trade fresh water for recycled effluent.

The search for a suitable location for the desalination plant took many factors into account including the environmental sensitivity of this beautiful and pristine coastline as well as the cost of the project, land availability and infrastructure. Finally, a suitable site was identified on one of the tennis courts of the Beacon Isle Hotel. Located on municipal land,

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the site already had much of the pipe work and electricity supply in place.

The intention was to sink bore holes to a depth of 12m on the adjacent Robberg Beach, and then cover them with sand. The beach sand would then act as a filter, and perform one of the pre-treatment functions naturally.

The final environmentally sensitive question was how to dispose of the waste product of the reverse osmosis process, brine. The solution to find the greatest favour was to pump the brine through an outlet pipe to Blinders, some 250m out to sea, where the tides and wave action on the rocks would ensure the brine mixed with the seawater and would have no significant adverse effect on the environment.

The desalination plant itself was designed to minimise environmental impact and increase its aesthetic appeal. Viewing windows were added with the intention of creating something of a tourist attraction. From the environmental perspective, the structure would have a flat concrete roof which could be

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planted with indigenous succulents to reduce noise, and would house mechanical energy recuperation units to increase the plant energy efficiency.

The project was always battling against time, though. With no end in sight to the drought and the water shortage becoming increasingly serious, it was essential that the desalination plant be up and running by the beginning of December 2010 in readiness for the influx of holiday makers expected over the peak season.

Supported by R20 million in disaster relief funding from the Government, the municipality awarded Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies subsidiary VWS Envig the R32 million turnkey contract to design, build and maintain the desalination plant, and Aurecon was tasked with conducting an environmental impact assessment in parallel with the planning and engineering. No one said the process was going to be easy though.

After a thorough engineering investigation, the Robberg beach was found to be unsuitable for seawater abstraction. Not only was the sand shallow and lying directly onto bedrock, but it was fine and relatively impermeable, which meant that

Bitou Municipality the holes simply would not be capable of producing enough water. This presented the engineers with the challenge of finding a practical alternative. The options included increasing the number of beach wells, moving the abstraction wells to the sand bar at the mouth of the Piesang River estuary, or abstracting directly from the sea.

Finally the decision was taken to site the plant as planned at the Beacon Isle Hotel, but to move the intake wells to the Piesang estuary. In September 2010 construction began on the plant and seven test boreholes were sunk 8.5m down into the sandbar.

The results of a two month water quality trial showed that three of the seven bore holes were producing water of reduced salinity and were therefore probably abstracting estuary rather than sea water. These boreholes were relocated closer to the four that were effectively abstracting sea water, and the depth of the

holes was extended to 12m.

The plant went into test mode in early December, and then progressed to a threefour month pilot phase aimed at providing the municipality with adequate water over the peak demand season while generating data on plant performance and effects on the river estuary.

The challenges have continued through this period, particularly when the estuary water level dropped below the environmentally viable threshold, the mouth of the river closed up and abstracted water became increasingly fresh. At the end of the pilot phase, having successfully satisfied short-term demand, the desalination plant was shut down and its resourceful engineers are doing what they do best: working to develop the best solution for long-term water abstraction. www.plett.gov.za BE

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Vale, the world’s second largest mini coal mine in Mozambique. Ben Sanso responsibility and discovers the effor percolate through to the local comm 234 July 2011

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ozambique is one of the poorest nations on earth. It was ravaged by a brutal civil war for 15 years after its independence from Portugal, but the country has made huge efforts since peace was achieved in 1992 to improve the national economy and boost its productivity. Among the many successful strategies for economic development has been the privatisation of a large swathe of state owned businesses and the attraction of considerable foreign investment into the country. As a result, Mozambique has enjoyed what the World Bank described as a “blistering pace of economic growth”, averaging around an eight per cent increase in GDP per annum between 1994 and 2006.

In spite of this undoubted success, described by the IMF as “one of the success stories in sub-Saharan Africa”, the trickle of wealth down to those living in poverty simply has not happened at the rate that had been hoped for. Life expectancy is still very low and Mozambique has one of the worst infant mortality rates in the world, thanks to the malaria-carrying mosquito.

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Vale Efforts continue to be poured into economic reform and into reviving agriculture and improving transportation.

With political stability and modern mineral legislation, it is the exploitation of the land’s valuable mineral deposits that have the potential to lift the nation out of poverty and provide employment as well as finance for improvements in health and wellbeing.

One of the companies playing a major part in this resurgence in Mozambique’s fortunes is the Brazilian mining company Vale. Launched as the state owned Companhia Vale do Rio Doce in 1942, Vale had grown to become the country’s principal exporter of iron ore within seven years, being responsible for some 80 per cent of the nation’s iron ore exports.

Out the Box Creationz The team that has become known as Out the Box Creationz has evolved over several years and various projects in Africa, namely the contractors’ camps at Tenke Fungarume Copper Mine in the DRC, the Sishen Coal Mine camp in SA, numerous clinics and classrooms for local government (SA) and of course, the Vale Project in Mozambique. We understand that we are visitors to neighbouring countries and communities and pride ourselves not only on our onsite ethics but also our ability to empower the local labour force through hands-on training.

Our promise to you, our valued client: loyalty, passion, pride, commitment.

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Privatisation followed in 1997, and since then the company has pursued a strategy of concentrating on its core mining business, divesting non-core operations and strengthening and diversifying its portfolio of mining interests largely through acquisition.

Today, Vale is the world’s second largest mining company, employing over 100,000 people across five continents. Iron ore and nickel continue to be its largest business interests, but it is increasing its presence in coal, copper, potassium and phosphate rock.

Vale’s history in Mozambique dates back to the late 1980s when it began working on a pre-feasibility study for an integrated mine, rail and port project to develop the Moatize coal deposit—the world’s largest unexplored coal reserve. However, studies were suspended because of the internal conflicts and political instability.

APR Energy APR Energy specializes in the sale of reliable and efficient electricity through the rapid deployment of customized turnkey power solutions. APR’s power generation solutions, coupled with comprehensive operation and maintenance services and flexible commercial terms, have established APR as a leader in the utility and industrial segments. APR provides these solutions to customers around the world, with an emphasis in Africa, South America, Central America and Asia. In addition to providing world-class power solutions, APR also implements philanthropic projects

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Program, which aims to build and maintain close relationships with its neighbors through donations in health and education.

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In 2003, the company returned to Moatize, which is located in the Zambezi Valley province of Tete, some 1,700 kilometres north of Maputo, with a mandate to update the previous studies. In November 2004, under the guidance of the IFC (International Finance Corporation—a division of the World Bank), the government of Mozambique declared Vale’s bid to explore and develop the region’s coal resources as the winner.

Work on the infrastructure and utilities required for the project has been extensive, and includes development of the 600 kilometre railway line from Sena to the Port of Beira, the construction of a new maritime coal terminal at the port and the construction of a 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power station sited next to the mine.

Moatize is the southern hemisphere’s largest coal project, and is expected to produce 1.5 million tonnes in 2011 with output rising to 6.3 million tons in 2012, sales manager Marcelo Matos said recently during an industry conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro-based Vale now expects to start supplying its customers in October 2011. Most of its output will be coking

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or metallurgical coal used in steelmaking. “Our objective is to begin production on a large scale next year, and to begin testing the product with clients as of October,” Matos said.

Vale is the world’s largest iron-ore producer, but it is expanding its coal mining business to increase the range of products it can offer to steelmakers, and increase the efficiency of its transport systems.

Ships emptied of iron-ore in Asia can be filled with coal in Mozambique for return journeys to Brazil and other steelmaking markets.

Coking coal is used to remove oxygen from iron ore and provide the carbon for the carbon-iron alloy that is steel. Vale has also made itself the world’s largest nickel producer to supply steelmakers with the metal that makes stainless steel rustproof.

During the first phase of the Moatize project, production is slated to reach 11 million tonnes per year. About 8.5 million tonnes, or more than three quarters of output, will be metallurgical coal. The rest will be the softer thermal coal that is burned in power plants.

The company plans to spend $422 million on the Moatize project in 2011. A second phase, beginning in 2014, is expected to double output to 22 million tonnes per year.

Vale The social impact of the Moatize mine has already been significant. Vale has spent over $6.5 million on community development projects alone during the exploration phase of the project and plans to spend over $50 million more during the production phase.

The Moatize Medical Station and the Tete Regional Hospital have been improved, updated and provided with new equipment and staff training. The local orphanages have also been revamped and a new one constructed, while the existing hydroelectric plant at Ulongwe has been rehabilitated and the power supply infrastructure strengthened.

Much work has also been done on the softer, social aspects. Moatize lies in the Zambezi Valley region, one of the poorest and most densely populated regions in Mozambique. To help develop the local community and nurture social cohesion, Vale has invested in a literacy programme and is also working in a collaborative effort to support the growth of family-based agriculture and

CPi Technologies Vale at Moatize, in close consultation with CPi Technologies, opted for an integrated, intelligent system rather than a conventional hard wired solution on the conveyors. This technique would retain the statutory hard wired conveyor drive interlocking and would allow weekly safety system reporting via the overall plant control system as well as rapid recovery from any unsafe situations.

the establishment of associations and work cooperatives for income generation.

The company hopes that as the mine becomes established, the benefits of its presence will percolate through to the people of the Zambezi Valley and out into the wider community, easing the plight of those living in poverty. www.vale.com BE

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ELB Engineering Services has an entrenched industry thanks to over a century of experien with the best local and international technolo

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ELB Group: Engineering Services

ELB is short for Edward L Bateman, the man who founded the company in 1903 having moved to South Africa from the United States. Originally Bateman was selling mining equipment produced

by Allis-Chalmers, well known for its tractors but sadly no longer in operation. Bateman was joined by his son Glen in 1925, establishing a family dynasty that grew the firm into a thriving mining support company with offices all over the world.

In 2002, the company brought in an international consortium and a restructuring took place which created the present day group structure under which ELB became an investment holding company owning 85 percent of ELB Engineering Limited (ELB Engineering Group) with the remaining 15 percent owned by the ELB Educational Trust established as the Group’s BEE partner promoting the education of historically disadvantaged South Africans, specifically in engineering disciplines.

Today ELB Engineering Services offers a full spectrum of engineered solutions to the mining, industrial and power sectors. Though its policy is to use locally designed and manufactured products wherever possible it prides itself on giving its clients access to the best of world class technological expertise, backed up by a centre of excellence based in Germany.

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The South African economy depends heavily on its natural resources, and over the coming decade mining is bound to grow in importance with the increase in world demand for the minerals in which it is so rich. The sector needs reliable and capable partners to operate with maximum efficiency, points out the CEO of ELB Engineering Services Dr Stephen Meijers.

Already a household name in southern Africa it has made a policy of associating itself with the most trusted names in the field of mining.

These include FAM Materials Handling of Germany, Cyclonaire, Cemtec, Claudius Peters, Thor and the Seram Group. “The ability to double-brand benefits everyone, as it allows for us to be a much larger one stop shop than ELB can be on its own. It allows us to be a world class innovative solutions provider,” Meijers says. As an example, the FAM linkup allows ELB to offer turnkey packages, from run of mine ‘tip to ship’ loading including all conveyor options, to stockyard equipment and simulation modelling.

In 2009 ELB entered into an alliance with PBA Projects of Cape Town, a builder and supplier of modular process plants in the gold, chrome and coal sectors. Since the partnership’s formation in December 2008 it has undertaken in excess of R300 million of work. The joint venture named EPE landed its first EPCM (engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance) contract with Coal of Africa (CoAL) for Mooiplaats, CoAL’s initial thermal coal project in South Africa. The Mooiplaats colliery plans to ramp production up to 2.4 million tonnes by 2013, and based on the work it did for Mooiplaats, EPE was awarded an additional contract at one of CoAL’s coking coal projects in Limpopo, where it is undertaking the full EPCM contract in addition to supplying the modular process plant. The follow up business was obtained based on ELB’s ability to fast track a cost effective solution for this client.

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As Meijers puts it: “We are successful because of our ability to deliver a good product!”

South Africa’s mining industry cannot afford to stand still. The country will continue to rely on coal for many years to provide it with its energy needs.

Nevertheless the entire sector was affected when investors became hesitant following the global banking crisis. ELB Engineering Services however performed well throughout this period of uncertainty, thanks to its unique ability to put together solutions from a wide range of resources and also through having its interests spread both sectorally and geographically.

One of the most important projects in which it has become involved outside of South African has been the Terminal de Carvão de Matola (TCM) at Maputo, capital of Mozambique. TCM is owned and operated

by Grindrod. Investment in Maputo and Matola Ports rose to $ 225 million over the last eight years and cargo handled has increased from 5 million tons in 2003 to predicted volumes of 12.6 million tons for 2011.

ELB Engineering Services was commissioned in 2009 to reinstate, refurbish, upgrade and construct from scratch many parts of the terminal. In the initial project the main challenges were the reinstatement of the centre conveyor line and the combination bucket wheel stacker-reclaimer, says Meijers. “The Matola project was complicated by the fact there were minimal drawings and basic data available.

ELB Group: Engineering Services The terminal had suffered from civil war, change of ownership, loss and damage to key equipment and floods, including the loss in a storm during the 1980s of a ship loader. In any case, the terminal was originally designed for iron ore in the 1960s, but later switched to magnetite and coal.”

Aside from its partnership philosophy that gives it a very powerful intellectual property base to work off, Meijers gives two other reasons for ELB’s ability to win contracts. Firstly, the company is not rigid in its approach to contracting and can put together a contractual and commercial scheme suited to the specific project.

Secondly, as Meijers puts it, “We are successful because we add value to the client’s investment at a commercially and financially acceptable rate. Basically we do good engineering and project management,” he says.

ELB is very well placed in the bulk materials

handling field, he adds. It has technology partnerships to handle fine powders, and make the best use of pneumatic technology.

It has double branded itself with world class technologies and it has the expertise to put together the best arrangement to please the client. Over the history of the group, ELB has built a strong network of relationships with small independent engineering and consulting organisations whose knowhow it can tap into rapidly. Meijers believes ELB is in the right space. It is focused on materials handling, and thus its fate is not determined by that of any one specific commodity. “If the demand is not there today, it will be there in the future and we are creating the capacity to meet that demand.” www.elb.co.za BE

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conomic growth in any form can only be sustained if it is underpinned by a solid infrastructure and road transport is always a key element, especially in countries such as Pakistan with a relatively short coastline.

Pakistan has almost a hundred thousand kilometres of secondary provincial roads, but the 11,000 kilometres of established national highways and motorways are the country’s literal lifeline. Although they represent only about three per cent of all roads in the country, their importance is immense. These are the main arteries that hold the key to the national economy because they carry almost 80 per cent of the total commercial traffic in Pakistan.

The most important of all is the 1760-km long N-5 highway, which alone carries over 55 per cent of the country’s intra-city traffic. Other important national highways include the N-55 (Indus Highway), N-25, N-65, N-45, N-50, N-70 and the famous N-35 Karakoram Highway. The Karakoram Highway is by far the highest paved international road in the world, connecting China’s Xinjiang region with Pakistan’s Northern Areas through the Khunjerab Pass, at a breath-taking altitude of 4,693 metres.

This critical road network is controlled by the National Highway Authority (NHA) under the oversight of Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan of the Federal Ministry of Communications. The NHA was created in 1991 by an Act of Parliament to control all areas of the network from maintenance to construction and planning with a focus on providing a safe, modern and efficient transportation system for the future.

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National Highway Authority Pakistan Despite a total budget during the last fiscal year of Rs44.6 billion, NHA has a daunting task ahead. Almost two-thirds of the network is in poor condition and in urgent need of maintenance and repair. Moreover, the growing trend to overload vehicles and the shift from rail to road transport has led to a further rapid and premature deterioration of the road network. In short, the infrastructure cannot sustain present levels of traffic, much less those envisaged for the future.

In Pakistan, the Government has acknowledged that improvements to the network of roads and highways are fundamental to the future growth of the economy. Ambitious targets are in place, but in a time of global privation, where is the funding to come from for an aggressive road development portfolio?

The Government of Pakistan and NHA have come up with an innovative solution. The improvements are deemed to be an absolute priority and so the Government has pledged fiscal budget allocations that will meet the cost of almost 50 per cent of target demands. The balance is to come from off-budget financing through Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

One of the most important tasks for NHA is making this happen on the ground. The organization has been empowered to initiate, operate and award projects through private sector financing and as PPP is an integral component of the overall development strategy, many facilitation initiatives have been carried out.

NHA has created a dedicated Private Sector Cell to give a single focal point for all private sector partnerships and to identify potential partners. It has also been instrumental in the development of the policy and legal frameworks that are required to give private investors the safeguards they need. Processes have been developed to monitor project development and implementation at all stages, in particular the standardization of all documentation and evaluation criteria.

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The road infrastructure cannot sustain present levels of traffic, much less those envisaged for the future

A number of projects have already been completed and many more are in the implementation, development or planning phases. In particular, NHA is in close talks with Iranian counterparts to open several additional international crossing points with Iran, at Pishin and Reemdan on the Iranian side and Mand and Gabd on the Pakistani side, in order to promote trade and commerce between the two countries. At present, there is just one international crossing point between them.

Both Governments believe road infrastructure improvements would have a dramatic effect on boosting their trade relations which at present are minimal despite excellent political relations between the two countries.

Pakistan would also benefit from closer trade ties with Turkey and also access to Central Asian markets.

Completion of upgrades to the Quetta to Taftan road is now a priority to both governments. NHA has already spent Rs2 billion on the 605km project with the strong support of the Iranian Government. NHA is also investing in rest areas and other facilities to

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make the highway more pleasant for road users.

To facilitate the movement of goods along the highway, Iran has just announced it would make efforts to push through its ratification of the International Road Transport Agreement with Pakistan – a process which should be completed by the end of summer 2011. Pakistan, meanwhile, has already ratified the document. Both sides have also agreed to coordinate efforts to curb human trafficking and travel on fake passports.

Security in such a sensitive area will be a big consideration, especially after the damage to the Kalpani Bridge on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1) in June in a terrorist bomb blast.

NHA, which is coordinating the clean-up, expects

repair work to the bridge to cost in the region of Rs12 million and has ordered engineers to work round the clock so as to minimize public inconvenience. In response, Pakistan’s Motorway Police are also collaborating with NHA on a series of new check points on the M-1 and other motorways.

Pakistan’s Motorway Police now have 1492 kilometres of motorway under their jurisdiction and it is one of the fastest growing police departments in Asia. Travellers can rest assured they will be in safe hands because Transparency International rated the force last year among just a handful of corruption-free departments in the world. www.nha.gov.pk BE

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Consol Glass has been part of South Africa anything but old-fashioned. Priding itself o local community, the company pursues suc 258 July 2011

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hile Consol was officially incorporated as Consolidated Glass Works Limited in 1946, it has effectively been in business since 1944 when financiers Anglovaal acquired glass manufacturer Pretoria Glass. Pretoria Glass was innovative but small, however through clever investment and clear business insight, Consol has grown to be the largest glass manufacturer in South Africa. Although it is a local business, it prides itself on delivering world-class service to all its customers. In total the company employs over 1,400 people over its four sites.

Throughout its history, Consol has manufactured glass containers for drinks for international giants such as Diageo and Appletiser, as well as glass tableware. However, recently it has seen an increasing demand for glass food containers, which has led to steady growth in sales in a very competitive market. The firm now produces containers for everything from baby food to fresh salads and, of course, traditionally glass packaged products such as jams, chutneys and honey. This area of business has also attracted big name brands including NestlĂŠ, Dickon Hall Foods and Mullins Food.

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Consol Glass An additional trend that the company has seen is in the drinks containers arena. Innovative design has long been a feature of the alcoholic beverages market, but manufacturers of soft drinks, fruit juices and mineral waters have also shown increasing interest in this area. The primary reason for this

MSC & SGCC MSC & SGCC provide inspection solutions for glass containers. MSC & SGCC work together every day to retrieve the very best of their long knowledge about hollow glass production. MSC & SGCC means: a strong worldwide presence across five continents in more than 75 countries with local partners; more than 85 per cent of export sales and 50 per cent outside of the EU; a network of skilled and multilingual partners, agents and engineers, closer to you; and MSC know-how in optical solutions combined with SGCC mastering of mechanical multi-inspection systems to obtain an optimized range of products. www.msc-sgcc.com

change in demand is for these producers to be able to differentiate themselves from their competition – companies want eye-catching and recognisable containers to use as part of their marketing strategy.

Not only will this allow consumers to identify their product at a distance, but also attractive designs draw in new customers who may not otherwise have chosen to pick up the product. In this way, by working together with its clients, Consol is able to increase its own productivity through increasing the demand for their clients’ drinks.

Consol has four factories located in Pretoria West, Bellville, Clayville and Wadeville, with the latter also serving as head office. Across these facilities, the company produces over 3 million units per day, predominantly for the food, drinks and tableware industries. The Pretoria West site, however, is focused on the production of speciality glass and produces containers for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, as well as the core business of food, drink and tableware containers.

While demand for glass containers is increasing at an industry level, Consol is not sitting back and waiting for business to walk in the door. In early 2011, Consol launched its consumer-focused “Choose Health” campaign, which is being promoted through a television advert and social media. Through these

media, the company encourages people to make healthier choices in general, while impressing upon them that glass is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Key message points are that as glass is inert, the product will be uncontaminated by the packaging. Additionally, the company points out that glass is made from all natural materials – sand, limestone and soda ash, and is also the only packaging that does not require extra layers to protect its contents.

Finally, it notes the 3000-year history of the use of glass as a container, as well as the fact that it is the only packaging material “generally recognized as safe” by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The televised element of the campaign has been recognised internationally for its effectiveness and excellence. In May it was nominated as one of the finalists in the New York Festivals World’s Best Advertising awards.

Aside from the personal health message, through the Choose Health campaign the company also highlights the recyclability of glass. Environmental responsibility is very important to Consol and is a key part of its corporate social responsibility strategy. The

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business is an active member on the board of The Glass Recycling Company, which was established through a partnership between national government, glass manufacturers, fillers and recyclers. The Glass Recycling Company is a national organisation that is supported by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and is responsible for facilitating the recovery of waste glass for recycling. As part of this initiative, Consol has its own recycling facilities at two of its factories – Bellville and Clayville.

Recycling is by no means the only element in the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy. Each of the four factories takes responsibility for different activities under this umbrella. The speciality glass site in Pretoria West is heavily involved in projects aimed at the development of children and raising their prospects. Pretoria School for Cerebral Palsied, Physically and Learning Disabled Learners provides specialist support for disabled children, as well as assessment for babies. This factory is also involved in initiatives with the Early Learning Centres in Atterdigeville and Pretoria Society For The Aged. Additionally, through

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its Belleville facility, Consol is also involved in the Bellville South Environmental Forum (Belsef). This organisation has brought together local industries and community organisations with the aim of addressing environmental concerns and reducing pollution. The company is also ranked as a level three BBBEE contributor.

Consol’s primary focus for the future is organic growth. The increasing demand for glass containers in the food industry, as well as procurement of new business with both new and existing customers in its other markets have led to the need for expansion.

Construction began on a new factory in Nigel in June 2010 and is ongoing. This project increased glass container production by 25 per cent, or 220,000 tons, bringing total glass production over 4 billion glass containers per annum.

This new factory will also form part of Consol’s CSR initiative, with a R250,000 investment into education in the Nigel area announced at the soil turning event.

The facility is also designed to be as energy efficient as possible and to minimise the company’s overall environmental impact. With such a focused vision of the future, both in terms of business and its interaction with the local community, it is clear that Consol will remain a major player in the African container industry for many years to come. www.consol.co.za BE

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he name Bombardier is synonymous with world class transportation systems, with manufacturing, engineering and services facilities in 23 countries and a global network of service and support operations.

Bombardier Transportation, a global leader in rail technology, offers one of the broadest portfolios in the rail industry and delivers innovative products and services that set new standards in sustainable mobility.

Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Bombardier Transportation, a subsidiary of its Canadian parent Bombardier Inc, has an installed base of over 100,000 vehicles worldwide.

Bombardier Transportation India has been serving India’s rail transport network for over 35 years. Anticipating the country’s economic growth and the consequent need to improve its transportation infrastructure, Bombardier built its first factory there in 1997 in Vadodara, Gujarat, for the production of propulsion systems and components. A software engineering pool for the development and delivery of rail control solutions soon followed, also in Vadodara.

Expansion continued and in 2003 Bombardier Transportation India opened a railway vehicle engineering centre at Infotech, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. These sites have since delivered propulsion systems for India Railways’ WAP5 and WAG9 electric locomotives and two traffic management systems for Mumbai’s Western and Central Railways—one of the world’s busiest rail operations with over 2,400 train services daily.

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Faiveley Transport India Limited Faiveley Transport India Limited (FTIL) is the leading supplier of subsystems like brakes, couplers, HVAC, automatic doors, pantographs and platform screen doors for Indian Railways as well as Metro projects. FTIL has successfully achieved

large-scale

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subsystems for use on Bombardier trains for Delhi Metro, maintaining quality and reliability levels well above targets over two years on a fleet size close to 500 cars.

FTIL was instrumental in enabling BT to deliver the Metro cars to DMRC well ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. FTIL accords utmost importance to on-site customer support, ensuring high levels of availability. The HVAC system and brakes supplied by FTIL have also received great acclaim in terms of comfort and safety from the general public. FTIL is working closely with Bombardier for several upcoming Metro and mega projects of Indian Railways/urban infrastructure. Close association with Bombardier has given FTIL a cutting edge in meeting evergrowing demand in India.

Whether anyone at Bombardier could have foreseen the rate of growth and change in India’s rail transportation system is hard to guess, but when it took off, Bombardier was already there to take advantage of it.

Indian Railways has traditionally been a highly vertically integrated company, and largely decentralised. Before the arrival of Bombardier, it produced almost everything itself, from locomotives to bogies, leaving the commercial sector to fight over the scraps. Indian Railways still produces much of its own infrastructure, but Bombardier now supports it with services, spares and replacement parts as well as supplying signalling and electromechanical equipment that it does not make itself.

As attitudes change, and technology moves on, more opportunities are likely to arise.

The major growth opportunity came in 2007, however, with the award of a contract from the Delhi Metro Corporation to supply MOVIA metro cars. As a result of that order, Bombardier decided in July 2007 to build a brand new facility in Savli, Gujarat.

The state-of-the-art facility was built in a record 18 months, opening in November 2008, and has boosted the local economy by creating hundreds of new direct jobs and thousands through the local supplier network.

The first metro car emerged from the plant in June 2009. At ₏33 million, Savli represents Bombardier’s largest investment anywhere in Asia and gives the company the honour of becoming the first foreign multinational to set up a wholly-owned railway manufacturing

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Bombardier Transportation India Ltd plant in India for the production and final assembly of bogies and car bodies.

Savli now has a railway vehicle manufacturing site, a propulsion systems manufacturing facility and a software development centre for signalling and traction applications in India, and for other Bombardier Transportation projects around the world.

The Delhi Metro is now in its Phase II expansion, and more cars have been ordered, bringing the total ordered up to 538 units. The Phase II expansion extends the existing network to a total of 165 kilometres, covering all major destinations in the East-West and North-South corridors of the city, which is occupied by approximately 16 million people.

When all the cars are in service, the Delhi Metro is expected to carry 2.5 million passengers every day, reducing their journey time and alleviating the heavy traffic congestion and pollution prevalent in the city.

The success of the Delhi Metro, even before its expansion, is making other cities look at improving their own infrastructure with a modern rail system. Cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad are now interested in installing a similar system. With populations between four and twenty million people they need to update their infrastructure to cope with the sheer weight of numbers, and the obvious solution is an underground or elevated metro rail system.

The MOVIA metro car is already popular with operators around the world, with some 4,000 or so in operation in cities like New York, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, London, Berlin, Bucharest, Stockholm, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and many others.

The vehicles integrate the world’s most advanced technologies in metro vehicle manufacturing, such as stainless steel car bodies and the reliable MITRAC propulsion and control system. They are developed from a standardized platform, ensuring a high degree of reliability, safety and maintainability, while providing low life-cycle cost.

On 14 July 2011, shortly before this article went to press, Bombardier Transportation announced

the appointment of Benoit Cattin Martel as president and managing director, to succeed Rajeev Jyoti, who has now left the company.

Cattin Martel has held a number of senior management roles within Bombardier and has an in-depth knowledge of the Asian market.

“I am honoured to represent Bombardier in India, a country to which we have a strategic long-term commitment and where we are willing to expand further,” he said on his appointment. “For more than three

decades, this company has invested in India. Those investments have come in the form of manufacturing facilities, state-ofthe-art technologies and, most importantly, the people of India. In that time, we have established a significant presence in the market, and today we have several manufacturing sites that offer world class rail products and solutions made in India.”

As the Indian economy continues to open up and grow, companies with foresight at the forefront of technology will enjoy unprecedented opportunities. As one of the world’s leading train manufacturers, Bombardier is well positioned to take advantage of the current phase of commuter rail expansion. www.bombardier.com BE

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The power

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Based on 30 years of experience in India, Ta as it takes on some of the country’s largest looking at the opportunities thrown up by th 274 July 2011

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ata Projects Limited (TPL) is in growth mode infrastructure projects, at the same time he energy boom in the Middle East

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ata Projects is an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting company. Established in 1979, it is one of very few Indian construction companies to acquire the triple certification of ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001. Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, the company has regional offices in Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, UAE, as well as inspection offices in the major Indian centres of population.

Though it has been around for more than 30 years, TPL has achieved remarkable levels of growth since 2005. Its turnover went up five times to hit $600 million in the financial years 2009/10; its manpower increased threefold over the same period to over 2,000 (on the books, that is, not counting sub-contract labour); and the number of active project sites grew from 20 to more than 80 over the period. As A K Misra, executive director and chief operating officer, says: “TPL would not have reached today’s position without the dedication and commitment of its employees.” No surprise then that on October 19 2010 in the presence of India’s most influential infrastructure leaders, top technocrats and industrial magnates, TPL was recognised by Construction World as the third fastest growing construction company in India by the governor of Maharashtra.

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TPL is organised into seven business units, each of them having powerful synergies within the Tata organisation. Six cover the major segments of infrastructure, and define the core competencies of TPL: power generation; transmission and distribution; water and waste water; railways; metals and minerals (basically the steel industry, the core international activity of Tata); and oil, gas and hydrocarbon. The seventh business unit covers quality and inspection services across the spectrum of all these activities.

Naturally enough the bulk of TPL’s work is still carried out in India, where it is involved in a large number of megaprojects in different locations. Among the most significant of its current commitments is the EPC stage of what is so far India’s largest balance of plant (BoP) contract in the Indian power sector. Awarded by Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company Limited (APPDCL) in 2009, for its 1,600MW super critical coal-fired Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah power station near Krishnapatnam in the Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh, this project is worth a massive $633 million and is due for completion in 2012. It involves the basic and detailed design, engineering, manufacture, procurement, supply, construction, erection, testing and commissioning of all the BoP systems and associated equipment.

More recently, in December 2010, TPL was awarded a $450 million contract for the construction of a 1,000MW power plant addition for Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MAHAGENCO) at Bhusawal. This is an extension of the existing 478MW coal fired power station and will involve EPC inspection, testing, commissioning and performance guarantee tests in the BoP package, including the complete civil works and infrastructure facilities.

While these projects convey a sense of the scale and vitality of the Indian energy sector and TPL’s engagement with it, at a time when similar projects are being shelved elsewhere in the world, they only represent a single part of the company’s overall activity. It is finding plenty of opportunities elsewhere in the home market—for example last year TPL signed a $278 million contract with NMDC for the turnkey supply of a 4,060 cubic metre blast furnace for expansion of a steel plant at Rourkela.

As Misra commented: “The Rourkela blast furnace will be one of the biggest, most modern and sophisticated blast furnaces ever commissioned in India.”

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TPL’s portfolio reflects its well-diversified business segments, and this has helped it to mitigate the impact of slowdown in any one line of business.

Misra feels this has been a big factor in seeing it though the vagaries of the world economy in recent years. Prudence has been another factor: “We have strategised our customer groups and market segments such that the greater part of our order book is from government-funded projects, where the investment commitments are more robust.”

Now TPL is taking these policies and applying them aggressively outside of India in a series of acquisitions and joint ventures—especially in the Middle East.

TPL acquired a 75 per cent controlling stake in Artson Engineering Limited (AEL) in January 2008.

AEL, though loss making at the time of acquisition,

was one of the leading design, engineering, procurement and construction companies in petroleum storage and handling systems.

The company has been successfully turned round, aggressively pitching for contacts in India including the construction of four crude oil storage tanks at Shri Guru Gobind Singh Refinery; and it is currently constructing a major oil terminal for Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) at Fujairah.

While the acquisition gave TPL an entrée into the Middle East markets, its engagement was strengthened when it established a joint venture company with Al-Mashrik Contracting Company of Saudi Arabia, an established contracting agency in the power, infrastructure and industrial markets. TPL holds 30 per cent of the equity in the joint venture—the AlTawleed Energy & Power Company—which in April 2007 signed its first contract with Siemens Power Generation Group for the installation of the electrical, mechanical and C&I work for the 900MW independent water and power plant at Shuaibah, 110 kilometres south of Jeddah, which includes an 800,000 cubic metres per day water desalination plant.

Another joint venture, Teil Projects, formed in conjunction with Engineers India Ltd in 2007, has successfully bid for processing and refinery work as well as small scale industrial power generation up to 60MW. It is engaged in a project for RAK GAS, which sources gas from the Bukha and West Bukha fields in Oman in which it is revamping the control system of the gas processing train.

At $4 million, this is not one of TPL’s larger commitments—but when taken with the Fujairah project and a distribution network and metering station for a power plant at Al Jazirah in Ras Al Khaima Emirate, Misra believes it shows an ability to deliver projects in the competitive environment of the Middle East. www.tataprojects.com BE

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raft Foods is renowned across every continent as the powerhouse that punches with the tastiest and best-loved snacks. Forty of the 100 or so brands that Kraft holds in its global portfolio have been in existence for over a century and the company now ranks as the second largest food company in the world. Through a clutch of iconic brands that include Cadbury, Jacobs, Oreo, Oscar Mayer and Philadelphia, not forgetting Kraft itself of course, the company markets an eclectic mix of biscuits, confectionery, beverages, cheese, grocery products and convenient meals in over 170 countries.

Last year, Kraft had revenues of $49.2 billion, more than half of which was earned outside North America. As disposable incomes rise across the developing world and instantly impact on food budgets, emerging markets are a priority and the company is eyeing the African continent with a new zeal.

Southern Africa, in keeping with its economic status, has the most keenly developed appetite of all for snack foods. The region has been added to the roster of 10 priority developing markets that will receive disproportionate investment from the company.

In a visit to Africa earlier this year, Kraft’s president of Developing Markets, Sanjay Khosla, outlined his ‘Winning through Focus’ strategy for the company’s $13 billion Developing Markets business, which he highlighted as Kraft’s growth engine for the future. The strategy has already succeeded in tripling the company’s developing markets net revenues from 2006 to 2010. It is centered around three pillars: focus, people and what Kraft has termed ‘glocal’—or adapting the lessons learned from global best practice to realities on the ground.

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For Khosla, focus means understanding what you do well and then pursuing the opportunity singlemindedly, rather than using the company’s sheer weight and size to bombard the market with multiple brands in multiple categories. “We focus on just five categories, 10 power brands and 10 priority markets.

South Africa is a priority market for us and we focus on power brands like Cadbury chocolate,” he explained.

People represent the central pillar of the strategy and Khosla is committed to investing in the development of local talent and nurturing future leaders who will have the opportunity to gain experience not only in South

Africa, but around the world. “South Africa is a great source of global talent. Regional and international mobility is a phenomenal development opportunity for our people and South Africa’s diversity is a major competitive advantage,” he said.

Kraft is keen to leverage its global might, but there is clear recognition that each local market has its own unique characteristics.

“We encourage independent thinking and entrepreneurship among local leaders who understand the local market, while

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taking full advantage of our worldwide strengths in areas like technology, sales and marketing,� he added.

He has announced that Kraft is set to invest US$150 million into local manufacturing operations in Africa over the next three years, targeting the operations that manufacture high profile brands such as Stimorol chewing gum and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate. The company is also investing in increased capabilities and capacity for its research and development facilities in Johannesburg, which will serve as a centre of excellence throughout Africa.

Today, Kraft has a headcount of 2,400 employees in

Southern Africa and operations are guided by a head office situated in Johannesburg, South Africa, with manufacturing plants in Port Elizabeth, Swaziland, Botswana, Kenya, Johannesburg and Namibia.

Kraft’s presence in Southern Africa received a major boost through its recent amalgamation with Cadbury. The Cadbury brand became part of Kraft in February 2010, with both companies already having an established presence in Southern Africa.

The integration of the two companies into a

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Kraft Foods Southern Africa single legal entity—Kraft Foods South Africa—was formally completed on March 1, 2011.

Cadbury had the larger presence and the move dramatically and instantly gave Kraft a much more sizeable footprint in the region, particularly in confectionary markets. The company now manufactures and markets candy, chewing gum, biscuits, coffee and groceries.

New Zealand-born Sean Murphy has recently been appointed managing director of Kraft Foods Southern Africa and is tasked with overseeing the integration.

He admits it is a major undertaking to bring the two companies together in one culture but believes that his extensive experience within the Kraft group in the Middle East, South East Asia and New Zealand has equipped him well for the task in hand.

The biggest benefit for the Cadbury workforce, he believes, is Kraft Foods’ commitment to people development and the opportunity for career growth, either within the local organisation or within the company’s extensive international footprint. “My priority is doing the right thing for the people and the business and I won’t compromise on that,” he stated, adding that the company is currently combining the ‘best of both’ from each company to ensure that the best resources are in place to carry the business forward.

Kraft is gearing up to double turnover in just five years, despite the increasingly competitive snacks and groceries market. Murphy is convinced that focusing on people development within the company’s operations is the key to meeting this ambitious target, by ensuring maximum output from investment in new technologies and manufacturing processes.

A pilot programme has already been initiated at the company’s Cadbury Botswana sugar-free gum manufacturing plant in Gaborone. Investment worth R160 million—aimed at increasing volumes and transforming the plant into a world-class African operation—has been made into the former familyowned business.

Johan van Zyl is manufacturing director for Kraft Foods’ sub-Saharan Africa region, comprising Southern

Woodlands Dairy Woodlands Dairy is the manufacturer of First Choice dairy products and is also the co-packer for many blue-chip companies in South Africa.

The production plant is situated in Humansdorp which is right in the heart of South Africa’s thriving dairy region. Partner with Woodlands Dairy and become a part of the most admired dairy company in Africa.

Afripack Afripack Consumer Flexibles has a long standing relationship with Kraft Foods SA through its packaging

of

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Crunchie, Tumbles, Choc Eclairs and Hall’s. The company recently installed Gravure printing technology as further commitment to supplying both Kraft Foods and the African market with top end flexible packaging. For more information, please see our ad and visit our website.

Africa, Central East Africa and West Africa, across which nine wholly-owned operations are located. He too is convinced that employee competency and capability must underpin the improved manufacturing infrastructure.

“We’re marrying the hardware and software—that is, the physical assets with the people and skills—to create a sustainable operation,” he said, adding that staff at the Botswana plant had increased the plant’s competency level from nine per cent to 52 per cent over a period of just nine months. At the same time output on the existing technology platform had increased by 40 per cent.

“This has proved that there is a strong correlation between competence and capability development and operational performance,” he said of the gum manufacturing operation which, with good margins and growth rates, is a strategically important category within Kraft.

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The people development concept at Cadbury Botswana utilises internal assessors to evaluate competence against job standards through formally defined job outputs, roles and responsibilities, as well as learning aids and objectives. “It is a move from acquired competence to applied competence,” said van Zyl of the training programme.

The Botswana model, which typifies the growth potential that Kraft sees in its sub-Saharan network of operations, is to be rolled out at other plants where significant investment is being made in transformation programmes. These include South Africa’s Port Elizabeth chocolate manufacturing plant, site of a R750 million investment in capacity and capability technology. Meanwhile, Cadbury Nigeria is investing in a new Bournvita (a fortified chocolate beverage food drink)

manufacturing facility at a cost of R350 million which is being constructed just outside Lagos.

According to van Zyl, investments like these are proof of the company’s confidence in the African market. “Kraft Foods South Africa is committed to creating locally-led sustainable operations that comply with the global company’s rigorous safety and manufacturing practices. We believe that our Botswana competence development programme is an indication of what we can achieve at our other regional operations.

We are demonstrating on the ground that Africa has the potential to produce worldclass facilities that can compete in the global marketplace.” www.kraftfoods.com BE

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Shining

light

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Con

Jeff Daniels looks at yet another example of h

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Dark

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how South Africa is setting the pace of change

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R

ecent political developments around the Middle East have highlighted the difficulty many governments are having struggling with the transition from some sort of oligarchy and tribal rule to a form of democratic one, able to offer opportunities to every citizen.

Contrast this with South Africa: the government has many critics and probably rightly so but by golly, they have moved fast in what is—in political terms—an amazingly short period of time.

The UK, for example, is one of the most open economies in the world; yet it had to wait for Mrs Thatcher before state-owned enterprises were deregulated and thrown open to competition. The South African government—in power for less than 20 years, and which could be forgiven for feeling its way slowly—has moved along at a much more cracking pace.

In the field of communications, South Africa had, until 2006, only one licensed provider of fixed-line services. Since then, with the freeing-up of the industry, it’s been a period of dramatic change. The combination of deregulation and the threeway convergence of technology (voice, video and data) has revolutionised the market and thrown out the old order. The future will bear no resemblance to the status quo that has existed for the past century.

The fact is that in the rush for market dominance it will take some years for the dust to settle and to see just how wise some of the investments turn out to be. Newly licensed operators have been commissioning their own network infrastructures but as these operators are all interested in the same high user density areas, there has inevitably been a high level of overlap. An unfortunate factor is that civil engineering infrastructure and ducting account for 70 to 80 per cent of the total construction cost of a fibre optic transmission network but deliver no strategic advantage to the operator.

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Sharing this cost with others is therefore a natural course of action. Over and above the economies involved, issues such as minimising disruption to other utilities justifies a coordinated effort to such extensive and potentially disruptive construction projects.

Step into the limelight Dark Fibre Africa (DFA)—a most wonderfully evocatively named company that is offering just such an alternative. DFA was established by Community Investment Ventures (a black economic empowerment investment vehicle), the venture finance provider Venfin and investment banker Absa Capital, to build a carrier-neutral, dark fibre infrastructure for the transmission of metro and long haul telecommunications traffic.

In the trade, dark fibre is the name for an optical fibre infrastructure which has been installed but is not being used. As fibre optic cable is a conduit through which data travels in the form of light, an unused network is said to be ‘unlit’, or in other words, ‘dark’.

As capacity within the network is leased by individual service providers, the dark fibre is progressively lit by new high-speed services customers are signing up to.

The advantage of dark fibre is that it affords telecommunications operators the choice of selecting their preferred technology, whether that be SDH, ATM, ethernet or fibre channel, without

having to incur the massive up-front capital expenditure of constructing the entire network infrastructure or having to rent an expensive managed service from an operator that may also be a competitor. Simply put, the main benefits of dark fibre lie in its relatively lower cost, capacity and speed of execution.

The very nature of the business means that from time to time, carriers will share or swap infrastructure with competitor networks. Users of DFA can rest assured that it is commercially neutral and does not compete with the users of its service.

In 2009 DFA launched its data and broadband services, including voice in collaboration with Cisco Systems. The launch marked a milestone for DFA, which is creating an open access dark fibre network in metropolitan areas, with over 800 kilometres of fibre optic cable laid in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town at a cost of R1.5 billion.

Having first installed its networks in the most important business centres, the latest stage of its development is to go longdistance with the installation of a fibre optic cable from Pretoria in Gauteng to Empangeni

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Dark Fibre Africa on the outskirts of Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal.

The route is a massive undertaking of 500 kilometres as the crow flies. On its journey the cable will cross numerous mountains and natural drainage ways.

The ducting work itself is being carried out by sister company Muvoni Weltex. Using a fleet of 15 trenching machines they work on a seven-day digand-repair cycle laying fibre ducting at a rate of up to 700 metres per day—significantly faster than the 50 metres per day achieved by manual trench digging.

To minimise disruption, as it travels along highways, ducting is being installed in the central reservation.

Physical and digital security is paramount. DFA uses state-of-the-art ducting that enables large users of communications capacity to enjoy logical separation and ownership of communications capability, while sharing the same physical right-ofway access routes with their customers.

Each trench generally has four ducts and 28

micro-ducts, providing capacity far in excess of current demand requirements. A fibrecontaining cable, which holds a series of colour-coded insulation wires through which the individual fibres run, is passed through these micro-ducts. The fibre cables are then blown through the micro-ducts on a cushion of air at a rate of up to three kilometres at a time. For security purposes, manholes are locked using an electronic key and can only be opened by the issue of a code to the key holder from the Johannesburg operations centre.

DFA is responsible for financing and constructing ducting infrastructure and is making this investment on a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy. So while Africa has been known as the Dark Continent for centuries, the southern part of it, at any rate, is rapidly becoming the lit continent. www.dfafrica.co.za BE

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