A simple but powerful idiom was all it took to convince Daniël Lategan that it was time to start his own business and take a leap of faith that 12 years later is paying dividends in the form of success both personally as well as professionally for TDL Engineering, based in Triangle Farm, Cape Town. That phrase was that if your dreams don’t scare you, then they aren’t big enough.
Having spent over two decades in various roles as a Production Manager in various parts of Gauteng before starting his own business, Lategan had gained plenty of experience in the general engineering field, and specifically in the mill-turn side of the fabricating industry.
Taking time to learn from his mentors along the way, Lategan would go on to implement various business practices he had observed into his own business.
One of TDL Engineering’s latest purchases is a DN Solutions Puma DNT 2100M CNC lathe with XY travels of 230mm by 580mm, maximum swing diameter of 650mm, maximum turning diameter of 320mm and a maximum turning length of 513mm. The machine was supplied by Puma Machine Tools
TDL Engineering has been a long supporter of DN Solutions machines and they currently have six CNC machines on the shop floor – five lathes and one milling machine
“I started at Siemens in 1987 where I also did my trade. I was there for five years before going to the army. After that I worked for Baisch Engineering in Johannesburg where I was the Production Manager for the shop floor. Amongst other things we manufactured various components for some of the large automotive manufacturers. I was with Baisch for about 10 years and while with them I visited Germany a number of times to help with the acquisitions and collections of various machines.”
“This is where I began to really get my knowledge of machines and it was thanks to this experience that Hans Baisch himself afforded me at Baisch Engineering that I began to realise that you don’t just have to stay as a fitter and turner. It’s not often that a fitter and turner ventures out to own their own machine shop.”
“After leaving Baisch, I went on to work for Peter Bahlig at World Power Products. I would consider him to have been another role model in my life. One example I can think of is when say on a Saturday morning, I would be standing behind a machine and Peter would ask me: “What do I think could be done to improve production on the shop floor?” Now I knew that everything is fully automated and production is working as well as it could be. But I respond that another machine could help. Peter then got on the phone and another machine arrived that next Monday morning. And that summed his character up, he would listen to you.”
TDL Engineering also has a FANUC Robodrill on the shop floor
Owners Daniël and Eleanor Lategan
“I think that one of his winning recipes was that he always made sure he had stock of raw materials so that when a quote came in, we were able to respond to it quickly, and because he had the five factories, he was able to ensure that the work could be delivered upon ahead of what the competition were going to be able to do in terms of lead times. Another part of that winning recipe was buying that raw material stock at good prices and then just keeping it stored – he knew the work would come. This made a lot of sense to me.”
“After that, my wife Eleanor was offered a job in Cape Town. She had been working for one of the big banks for many years and I had said to her that if the opportunity of moving to the Cape ever came up, she must take it. I will find a job there when we get there. And so that happened and my first job in the Cape was as a Production Manager at Swift Engineering. Through my years of experience, I had gained a lot of knowledge about CNC programming and this helped me immensely. Just a few tweaks here and there that could say, save three seconds on the manufacture of a component, can make a huge difference to the number of components you can manufacture in a shorter period.”
“My relationship with Retecon had developed many years prior to all of this when I was still working at Baisch Engineering and I got to know some of the machines that they still sell today – although there have been some name changes such as Daewoo is now DN Solutions. They would call on me for example if there was a second-hand machine that had been sold and it needed some work. Retecon knew they could rely on me to make sure all was in order with the machine before it went to its new owner.”
Component runs can be anywhere from 20 to 30 to into the hundreds
“We manufacture a wide variety of custom turn-mill components for industries such as the automotive, agriculture, electrical, construction, security, pool, water and leisure 4×4 or offroad and overlanding industries. We have skilled and qualified staff and are able to fabricate products in stainless steel, mild steel, brass, aluminium as well as nylon, enabling us to provide an array of components between 3mm and 400mm in diameter and up to 1.5m in length. Some of these components include bushes, pulleys, shafts, flanges, various custom nuts and bolts, hubs, rollers pins and knobs. But we are not limited to this. Our machines are capable of machining up to 0.003mm tolerances, and roundness within 3 microns.”
“Well one thing led to another and I joined Retecon in 2008 in a technical sales and support role. I was with them for three years. During those years I was fortunate to visit many machine and fabrication shops in the Western Cape and it was the ideal opportunity for me because I really enjoyed the technical and support role, but didn’t really know much about sales. And that was how I learned about cold calling and knocking on doors. Herein lay another big lesson – the Western Cape is vastly diverse ¬– in some places it’s acceptable to speak English and others, well you better be able to speak good Afrikaans otherwise you are not getting past the front desk. During this time, I got to know about 300 different engineering companies – there are actually more – but the thing I realised is that not many of them own their own CNC machines. So why don’t I just start my own thing?”
“That was when I decided to buy my own machine, back in 2011. But just before this in 2010, my faith had grown substantially and I had gone to see Angus Buchan – he said to me that if my dreams didn’t scare me, then they weren’t big enough. So, I have to say this had a lot to do with me making my decision.”
“At the time, I had no work so this made the dream big enough. Fortunately, though, I knew some of the customers from my time in sales so through that I was able to get my first orders. Another thing I firmly believe in is that you need to have faith in your employees and the faith to invest in them. Especially your machine operators as they are such a valuable part of your business – qualified and experienced operators are key in a market that has such a shortage of skilled workers. Having done some time in sales I also learned the importance and value of good customer service and relationship management.”
“Eleanor eventually left the bank and joined me and so she runs that side of the business. My son has also spent some time in the factory but he has chosen a different path and is embarking on his Masters in Environmental Science.”
A general view of the shop floor
Components for the leisure 4×4 or offroad and overlanding industries
“TDL Engineering recently moved to this current factory space and we now have just under 500m2 of under roof area. Our previous factory was just under half this size so we are enjoying having the space and layout of the machines for operational purposes.”
“Currently we have six CNC machines on the shop floor – five lathes and one milling machine. The latest machine that we purchased in October 2023 is a DN Solutions mill-turn machine, supplied by Puma Machine Tools of course.”
“We manufacture a wide variety of custom turn-mill components for industries such as the automotive, agriculture, electrical, construction, security, pool, water and leisure 4×4 or offroad and overlanding industries. We have skilled and qualified staff and are able to fabricate products in stainless steel, mild steel, brass, aluminium as well as nylon, enabling us to provide an array of components between 3mm and 400mm in diameter and up to 1.5m in length. Some of these components include bushes, pulleys, shafts, flanges, various custom nuts and bolts, hubs, rollers pins and knobs. But we are not limited to this. Our machines are capable of machining up to 0.003mm tolerances, and roundness within 3 microns.”
TDL Engineering machines components for many different clients in many different industries
A display cabinet with components in metal and plastic that were machined by TDL Engineering
“Our component runs can be anywhere from 20 to 30 to into the hundreds and we manufacture a good few thousand components in a month.”
“Aside from precision, turn-mill engineering, we also offer CNC programming services, product development, design as well as manufacturing services. My many years of experience on the programming side of things has afforded me the knowledge of how to tweak something so as to improve whatever manufacturing process a specific CNC may be performing.”
“A recipe for success for me is that the company is staffed and equipped with the latest technology and know-how so as to enable us to provide competitive and cost effective professional engineering services.”
For further details contact TDL Engineering on TEL: 021 979 1333, email info@tdlengineering.co.za or visit www.tdlengineering.co.za
