Diab Secures More Tonnage for its Workshop with a Zeman

ESTABLISHED IN 1970, DIAB ENGINEERING PROVIDES INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE, FABRICATION AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES TO THE MINING INDUSTRY AND HAS A PROVEN TRACK RECORD IN SAFE, QUALITY EXECUTION OF MAJOR PROJECTS IN REMOTE AND DIFFICULT TERRAINS ON TIME AND ON BUDGET.

DIAB'S GERALDTON FACILITY HAS ALMOST 9,000M² OF WORKSHOP SPACE AND IS THE LARGEST, MOST EQUIPPED MODERN FACILITY IN THE MID-WEST REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. STRATEGICALLY LOCATED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE NORTH WEST AND MIDWEST MINING AREAS, THEIR WORKSHOP PROVIDES A 'ONE-STOP' ENGINEERING AND FABRICATION FACILITY THAT CATERS FOR PRACTICALLY ANY PURPOSE A MINE SITE REQUIRES.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Diab had sold their fabrication workshop capacity for the seven months ahead. According to Glen Payne (CEO, Diab Engineering), "At the outbreak of the pandemic, several mining companies reshored metalworking packages from low labour cost countries because they were concerned with supply and schedule issues; it was clear there would be delivery risks when purchasing products from overseas. Our workshop capacity was already workshop to the mine sites on which the company works is 1,500km. As Payne explained, in the mining industry, if rework has to be undertaken on-site there is a general rule of thumb for costing. Correcting mistakes costs $1 in drafting, $10 in the workshop, and $100 on a mine site. It's not surprising then that onsite rework is avoided at all costs; the Zeman SBA helps mitigate this risk.

sold out for seven months ahead, and we knew there had to be a better way in a cost constrained and labour competitive market," said Payne.

And so, Diab ordered the Zeman Compact Steel Beam Assembly Machine (SBA), which is ideal for structural steel robotic automation in fabrication and welding.

With international borders closed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Diab team was unable to travel to view any installations of similar high-value machinery. "We did a fair bit of due diligence through references supplied by Specialist Machinery Sales, and had a few calls with Zeman. Once Zeman explained their company background that was similar ours—a family business that had grown significantly—we were comfortable," said Payne.

"Due to the pandemic, we were unable to have a Zeman technician on-site for installation and commissioning. But, with the machine already delivered and in the country, we wanted to use it. So, we worked with Zeman virtually to get the machine up and running. Given our guys install a lot of technical equipment, it wasn’t a difficult process, but couldn’t have done it without the support of Zeman."

"The Zeman offers us two distinct advantages: it can basically fabricate by itself without any mistakes; and it increases our fabrication capacity."

The average distance from Diab's "The Zeman has definitely reduced our overall cost per tonne. The Zeman doesn't make errors. It really helps from an accuracy and rework perspective," said Payne. "This year, we will start the largest fabrication project we’ve ever done: 2,000 tonnes in three months. This would not have been possible without the Zeman—we would not have even tendered for the project."

"You can increase throughput by about 10% if you increase your labour—but you have to be able to find that labour first. In such a constrained employment market, it's almost impossible to find welders and boilermakers at the moment."

"With the Zeman, we can increase throughput by 30% to 40%. But, it's important to remember that technology is not about less people— it's about more throughput. It's not about having less staff—it's about securing more throughput at a lower cost per tonne to fabricate," said Payne.

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