Every business owner understands the need to diversify. Many metalworking engineering businesses originated as a small, one-man show operating from a home garage to save on costs, making just a few parts for a single customer but following a dream of wanting to own and operate a business. Building a thriving business from such a small foundation certainly can be a matter of pride. However, continuing to rely too heavily on a single customer or a single industry is not part of a sound business plan.
Profile Cutting Services’ owners Derick and Pierre Botha
Derick Botha knows a thing or two about diversifying a business. He started Profile Cutting Services in 2001, with his brother Pierre. They started with two profile machines and a bending press, and before long they realised that they had to diversify the services that they offered, in particular on the cutting side. This is when they added plasma cutting machines to their capabilities.
Pierre and Derick Botha know a thing or two about diversifying a business. Pierre started Profile Cutting Services in 2001, with his brother Derick. They started with two profile machines and a bending press, and before long they realised that they had to diversify the services that they offered, in particular on the cutting side. This is when they added laser cutting machines to their capabilities.
While it sounds like he runs a diversified business, Botha isn’t content with the status quo. As successful business owners, they pay more than just lip service to the concept of diversification. A recent investment shows that they don’t just talk the talk – they walk the walk.
Profile Cutting Services offers both shaping and forming services
The company works across a wide spectrum of industries but mining is a big contributor
“The company started off in a small factory before moving to the Knights industrial area of Germiston, Gauteng. We were a small jobbing shop and initially occupied about 1 000m2 of factory space in Knights. Soon we extended that to another factory of similar size when we added the laser cutting machines. And then we started with fabrication and assembly. This required renting another factory in the same area. It was like running three different businesses but it gave us the diversification that we were wanting.”
“But more pressure came and we had to add plasma cutting to our capabilities. This would also give us capacity in this area. We were one of the early adopters of CO2 laser cutting when we purchased our first machine – a Trumpf 4kW machine with a bed size of 3m by 1.5m. We subsequently purchased a larger Trumpf machine that had a 5kW power source and a bed size of 4m by 2m. They have served us well but we are phasing them out now because of the cost of CO2 cutting as compared to fibre laser cutting.”
“My background is in CNC machining. I worked for West Engineering for eight years before joining my brother. That was an inspiration to me and really created the seed to run my own business.”
Another interesting product that Profile Cutting Services manufactures and supplies for the mining and chemical industries are mixers and agitators
The company processes material up to 300mm thick
“This gave us the idea to open our own business but with a difference. We had the forming and profiling experience and we had the shaping experience having worked on the CNC machines. But we knew that if we wanted to stand out we would have to offer more hence the diversification into offering as many metal processing services as possible without crossing the line into finishing – yet.”
“We lasted in Knights up until just before the pandemic emerged. We had got into an organised mess that was hard to control. Operating from a number of factories that were not next to each other meant there was plenty of wasted time and added costs of moving material between the various factories even though they were in close proximity.”
“We had two forklifts constantly on the move and our people were exposed to the elements when moving between factories as well as going through a number of security measures.”
“But the biggest influencer was the safety of our staff. The area deteriorated considerably in terms of crime and we were not prepared to wait for some disaster to happen.”
“We found this 12 000m2 in Labore, Brakpan and moved here at the end of 2019 and it took us about four months to move everything and get settled. The previous owner also ran a fabrication shop here and all his equipment was part of the sale but there was nothing worth keeping so we had that extra task of selling it all before moving in.”
Profile Cutting Services offers laser cutting, bending, rolling, guillotining, profile and plasma cutting, welding, fabrication and assembly
The machine shop
“An added advantage of the current location is it’s far easier for the majority of our staff to get to work as they all live in the surrounding areas. No more of that wasted time sitting in the traffic while trying to get to Knights.”
“Having all this space has also allowed us to move material between processes more efficiently and cost effectively.”
Manufacturing support
The company is relatively big, and it is capable. Staff numbers sit at 130 and the company offers laser cutting, bending, rolling, guillotining, profile and plasma cutting, welding, light and heavy duty fabrication and assembly.
The equipment includes the two Trumpf CO2 lasers. A third Trumpf laser has recently been replaced by a 3kW HSG fibre laser and a JFY fibre laser has recently been installed by Puma Machine Tools.
The JFY TFC 6025 S was installed earlier this year and is a 6kW fibre laser with a bed size of 6 000mm by 2 500mm and can cut mild steel up to 25mm, stainless steel up to 25mm and aluminium up to 20mm.
Among the press brakes is a Dener with 600 ton force, another 500 ton press brake and a 400 ton press brake, three Haco press brakes with various widths and forces. There are also 6 Burny profile machines, three Haco rolling machines and three Haco guillotines and two high-definition plasma machines.
The company bought another press brake to replace an older one that cannot be fixed by the supplier anymore and the new machine has been installed.
Profile Cutting Services have fabricated products that could weigh up to 18 tons once assembled
Components cut on the lasers
“We had a very good year last year and we were busy with some big projects. However, I saw the guys were struggling with the drilling work and the punching. So I purchased a cropper and they can punch quicker. Likewise, we had a lot of angle iron work to do and we were sending the work out but the outsourcing was taking too long. So I purchased a machine and all the rolling of our angle irons is now done in-house.”
The company processes material up to 300mm thick.
14 years ago the company introduced CNC machining.
Walk into nearly any custom metal fabricator and you’ll probably see some level of machining. Many don’t have much, perhaps a manual mill or lathe, maybe a vertical machining centre (VMC). How much milling and turning a shop has depends largely on how the shop launched in the first place. Some fabricators began as stampers with a tool and die department, and that machining capability never left.
Last year Profile Cutting Services installed a relatively small HSG laser
The company still has two of its Trumpf CO2 lasers working
In many cases, the machining is there to support the metal fabrication, with machinists building custom tools and fixtures and perhaps creating small parts that go into larger sub-assemblies. At the other end of the spectrum, some companies do sell themselves as being a true one-stop shop, with both extensive machining and fabricating capacity.
These days many fall somewhere in between the two extremes. They never expect machining to dominate the business, but their machinists do a little more than just support the primary metal fabrication operation. Put another way, fabrication shops are stepping their machining departments up a notch these days.
“My background is machining and for a short while before starting this company I was involved in a machine shop so I have a great attachment and soft spot to machining. Besides, the type of work we take on requires lathe and milling work to be done. We have one lathe and three milling machines on the CNC side and also a pedestal drill. Two of the CNC machines have through coolant with one having BT40 tooling and the other BT50 tooling.”
The company also has most of the well-known software programmes but mainly operates on a system of processing the drawings supplied with very little design work being done.
The company works across a wide spectrum of industries but mining is a big contributor.
“We have approximately 200 clients at the moment and although not dominating, mining is important to us. We have fabricated products that could weigh up to 18 tons once assembled at the mine. We take on turnkey projects for mines. Besides supplying the many different components, we will also do the fabrication work. We do some work for the power stations as well.”
The most recent purchase earlier this year has been a JFY TFC 6025 6kW fibre laser with a bed size of 6 000mm by 2 500mm and can cut mild steel up to 25mm, stainless steel up to 25mm and aluminium up to 20mm. The machine was supplied by Puma Machine Tools
Among the press brakes is a Dener 6000 x 16 with a 600 ton force, another 600 ton press brake and a 500 ton press brake, three Haco press brakes with various widths and forces. There are also 6 Burny profile machines, three Haco rolling machines and three Haco guillotines and two high-definition plasma machines
“Another interesting product that we supply for the mining and chemical industries are the mixers and agitators. The stainless steel blades have to be welded onto shafts for use in blending, dissolution of solids, gas dispersion, crystallisation, precipitation, heat transfer, solids suspension, high viscosity agitation and more. The chemical and process industries present the most varied and difficult mixer problems that require precise mixing technology such as blending, heat transfer and high shear emulsification.”
“For the same client we also supply impellers.”
“We also manufacture the components for a lock that is used on man hole covers. In the past these covers were manufactured in metal, mainly by lock companies. But because of the metal theft they are now made in a plastic composition. The locks are also used by the banks and other high security companies. This company assembles the locks, which includes the electronics, and they can monitor them 24 hours a day. The lock also has an alarm system included.”
Everybody has a laser
“The cost of a fibre laser machine has come down drastically in recent years. This is because of the Chinese influence and of course fibre lasers are more cost effective than CO2 besides the technology improvements. As a result, many more engineering companies are investing in their own fibre laser machines and as a result this has put pressure on companies that have offered laser cutting services for years. They are losing clients and volumes.”
The company has also invested in a C-Series press brake for bending smaller parts
Profile Cutting Services makes use of a number of bending machines
The press brake department. A new press brake will be installed later this year
“There also those companies that are price cutting. We are not prepared to get into this type of business and it is the very reason that we increased our metal process options and diversified to the point where we now offer a fully-fledged fabrication solution.”
“But it is not just industry that has to cope. Everybody has been struggling with deferred decisions because of the elections as well as load shedding. At home I am completely off-grid and pay a minimum to keep connected to Eskom.”
“We now have three generators to keep us running when there is no power. Clients are not interested in your problems, especially late deliveries. My monthly bill for diesel used to be R80 000.00 per month. That covered all the sales people’s cars and the delivery trucks. But now we are up to R300 000.00 per month. International people do not realise what stress and costs we have to endure to run a business here in South Africa.”
“We are now going to put in solar here but it is going to cost me R18 million. We will also have to change shift options so many will be affected. But to keep the business going we have to come up with solutions. At least this way I will have back-up batteries to maybe run 4 to 5 hours during the day.”
“Depending how you look at it we are not a complete fabrication shop but at least it gives us the opportunity to plan and implement more solutions for our clients.”
For further details contact Profile Cutting Services on TEL 010 010 6412 or visit www.profilecut.co.za
