Manufacturing precision components for the fire engineering and fire suppression industry requires the best equipment and machinery not only to simply produce these components but because you are dealing with life and death situations. Often this equipment is needed in far off places and even underground where help is a long way away. You simply cannot afford for your equipment to fail when it is needed and it needs to be manufactured to the highest of safety standards.
Greg Barnard, proud owner of Condere Laser and Engineering
Originally founded in 2001 by the late Lawrence Barnard, Condere Laser and Engineering has since established itself as a leading player in the fire suppression industry.
Barnard’s son, Greg Barnard, is now the Managing Director and heads up the operation from the company’s premises in Bredell, Kempton Park, Gauteng.
Condere Laser and Engineering manufacture a number of custom components
Condere Laser and Engineering specialise in the machining of brass components
“We essentially mainly manufacture components and systems used for vehicle fire suppression for the mining industry. These can include various pressure vessels and nozzles, but we do everything top to bottom for these products. We don’t ourselves do the installations of these products, but for example, one of our biggest clients who we supply, Advanced Fire Suppression, does these kinds of specialised installations,” explains Barnard.
“There are some castings that we machine, but the majority of our components are machined from billet and bar. Brass, stainless steel, aluminium and plastics make up these materials, with the majority of the components being brass. We manufacture roughly 600 different components in total.”
“The business was originally started by my father in 2001 and from about 2011 when he retired, I had the vision that I wanted to grow the business and since then we have grown about three to four times in size.”
In all, around 600 different components are manufactured on site using the various CNCs
The DN Solutions DNM series is one of the most popular and adaptable choices of vertical machining centers
“For me, the idea was that if you wanted money then you had to go out and work for it. I started at the bottom, straight out of school, with the most mundane work like grinding. I slowly started to make my way up by starting to work on the lathes, eventually learning how to operate the CNCs as we acquired them. This progressed to getting to know how the office worked and so I was ready to take over from my dad when he retired. Sadly, he died in 2017, but fortunately he got to enjoy some of his retirement in a place called Cinsta East, north of East London in the Eastern Cape.”
“So, once I took over, the idea was to be a bit more of a jobbing shop, to expand beyond the fire suppression equipment that we were already manufacturing. It was going out and finding clients and finding out what they required so that we could start making components for them. We make everything from locking mechanisms, we do all the milling on the gates for various knife gate valves, we build towers and we have done some weird and wonderful machining work over the years.”
Condere Laser and Engineering specialises in the manufacture of custom pressure vessels used for vehicle fire suppression, mainly for mining operations
“We have even done some pressure vessels for fire engines and we have built diesel tanks and also do a lot of foam storage tanks.”
Brass components make up the majority of Condere’s machined material
“Most of our clients are in the Gauteng area and we now employ 70 staff. We have an in-house quality inspection area setup and we comply to ISO 3834 standards. We are also proudly SABS 1739-2013 approved for our range of pressure vessels. In addition to this our vessels are also certified under the PD 5500 code which means they meet the requirements for the design, manufacture, inspection and testing of unfired pressure vessels.”
“We have a number of machines and CNCs on the shop floor and this now includes three milling machines, six lathes a DNE 6kW fiber laser with a work area of 4m x 2m, as well as a Bystonic Xpress 160 ton press brake and 50 ton press brake of the same make. The new machines we have just purchased and installed are a DN Solutions Puma DNT 2100B horizontal turning machine and a DN Solutions Puma DNM 5700 vertical machining center,” says Barnard.
Condere Laser and Engineering has an in-house quality inspection area setup and comply to ISO 3834 standards
Condere Laser and Engineering are SABS 1739-2013 approved for their range of pressure vessels
When it comes to vehicle fire suppression, components need to be manufactured and assembled to the tightest tolerances
“Essentially, we had been outsourcing a lot of work – to the value of about R500 000 a month – that we could do internally and thus save money and further expand our services. So, we had a need to purchase the new machines. We have had the laser for about a year and a half and I can’t fault it at all.”
“For our rolling, we do this in-house but on the larger vessels we outsource this as our rolling machine is not big enough. Our machining side is still the biggest part of the business and makes up 70% of our business. We get our brass castings which we machine from Copalcor.”
“I am actually also a pastor and have been for the last four years. I am the pastor at our church right here on site so I call it a combination of market place and ministry at the same time. We have been able to grow a pretty strong congregation already and are actually running out of space.”
The DNE 6kW fiber laser with a work area of 4m x 2m
“We have had the laser for about a year and a half and I can’t fault it at all.”
The DNE 6kW fiber laser affords the ability to cut a number of different materials in various thicknesses
New DN Solutions machines
“As I mentioned, we have recently purchased and installed a new DN Solutions milling machine and a new DN Solutions lathe, supplied by Puma Machine Tools. The DNM 5700 high productivity vertical machining center has a table size of 1 300mm by 570mm and is able to accommodate a workpiece of 1 000kg and is equipped with a Fanuc I-Plus controller. The lathe gives us best-in-class spindle and machining area and is a really impressive machine. It is also equipped with a Fanuc I-Plus controller.”
“We needed these new machines to help with the expansion of the business and the higher volumes of components that we needed to process. Obviously with new machines with the latest technology comes the ability to better service client needs.”
A Bystonic Xpress 160 ton press brake
The Bystonic Xpress 50 ton press brake
The DN Solutions DNM 5700 is equipped with a Fanuc I-Plus controller
Services
“We have even done some pressure vessels for fire engines and we have built diesel tanks and also do a lot of foam storage tanks – these can be 5 000 and 10 000 litre tanks. Our CNC and laser capabilities are for high volume manufacturing and production. We even customise roller gate wheels from all grades of steel or plastic.”
“Essentially, we offer precision milling and turning, laser cutting, CNC bending, plasma cutting, guillotining, fabrication, rolling, and tig, mig and arc welding. On the plate rolling side, the plate roller can accommodate thicknesses from 1.5mm to 6mm depending on the required lengths of material. The laser side of the business can service a multitude of industries that include the petrochemical, automotive, butchery, and catering industries. Typically materials cut are aluminium, 3CR12, 304, 316L, and all sorts of mild steel.”
The new DN Solutions Puma DNT 2100B horizontal turning machine, also equipped with a Fanuc I-Plus controller
Condere Laser and Engineering is able to machine components from a number of different materials
A view of the shop floor that encompasses a number of CNCs, neatly arranged to create a seamless workflow
“The machining department also uses state-of-the-art Haas machines to get the most out of our production capabilities, with all our CNC machining, milling, and drilling done in-house.”
“We are able to offer all types of prototyping and custom components, using Autodesk Inventor 3D design software, we can ensure your concept becomes a reality with the least amount of cost input.”
For further details contact Condere Laser and Engineering on TEL: 012 001 1327 or visit www.conderesa.co.za
