Building your design – OR Industries finds growth in metalworking process diversity.
Many in the metal fabrication industry are moving away from the term service centre and general machine shop, mainly because it doesn’t illustrate the full breadth of capabilities behind the relationship of two complementary services for a metalworking business.
Many successful shops have the financial stability of a well-diversified customer mix that demands a range of services, and often do not want to work with someone who shops out for other processes to be done, or worse still, they have to transport their components/products to other businesses to get a job completed. Many productive hours could be lost doing it this way. They also want to simplify their supply chains and reduce their vendor count, though not at the expense of excessive risk.
Inside the new Hugong HG Laser 4020 6kW fiber laser cutting machine
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 center (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.
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 subassemblies. 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.
There’s a value to being a one-stop shop. Now, you can have a salesperson go out and say, ‘We can fabricate, machine, weld, powder coat, and do everything you need before final assembly. We can even do that for you if you want us to – we have the capabilities.’
Production Manager Kyle Lombard, owner Mark O’Reilly and Admin Manager Jenny Muniah
OR Industries started in 1993 as Shear Pressings and in 1995 the shareholding and name changed to O Reilly industries. The company originally had its focus in tool making and design along with metal pressings. The company grew slowly but steadily and started focusing more on engineering design and CNC manufacturing. This was the beginning of the versatility of the company.
In the early 21st century OR Industries invested in high-definition plasma cutting and 4-axis machining. Additionally, they upgraded their design office to accommodate full 3D design software with stress analysis. The company’s production side runs with VJS (visual job shop) software and all production is barcoded for recording purposes. They have also progressed to a 6-axis welding robot and have a 4-axis bending machine. In March 2024 they purchased their first fiber laser.
Owner Mark O’Reilly qualified as a tool and die maker while living in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal and working for Bell Equipment. Later he furthered his education in engineering by studying at Durban Technikon before establishing the company. 2025 will mark 30 years of the company’s existence.
O’Reilly was also a partner with his father and another partner in a business manufacturing components and springs for and assembling axles. But the business suffered when there was an influx of springs and axles from China. Fortunately, he had OR Industries to fall back on and concentrated all his efforts on it.
Valve guards are among the components and products that the company machines, fabricates and assembles
OR Industries makes use of a Fanuc robot welding system that was setup by Robotic Innovations. All the components that have to be welded on the valve guards are done with the Fanuc
OR Industries’ client base is wide and varied – from the gas business to windscreen manufacturers. Pallets, flanges, pinch valves and valve guards are among the components and products that the company machines, fabricates and assembles.
“There is no clearcut time when we moved from machining to include fabrication as we have had both processes from the beginning. Maybe not to the extent as some other companies but the mix of clients dictates what you end up doing and what equipment you purchase. My strength, because of my training, is in metal shaping but through experience I am equally adept at metal forming.”
“Our diversification in metal processing has not grown because one client has had certain requests. Rather we have developed components and products with clients and that has been instrumental in our decision as to what piece of equipment we buy. Just recently we put in two DN Solutions machines, one a Doosan DNM 650 II vertical machining center and the other a Doosan Puma GT2100B turning center, both from Puma Machine Tools.”
“And then last year due to work load and looking for efficiencies it became necessary for us to purchase our first laser – a Hugong HG 4020 6kW fiber laser cutting machine that can cut materials from 0.5mm to 25mm thick. It has a bed size of 4 000mm by 2 000mm, supplied by TRM Supplies.”
“The majority of the cutting that we do on the laser is mild steel. We have done stainless as well and there has been no call for aluminium yet. The range we are cutting predominantly is between 3mm and 6mm.”
The company manufactures pallets for the cylinder industry
Components cut on the Hugong laser
“I love designing and indirectly this has led to the equipment purchases. We use Autodesk Inventor and I am very happy with it. One of our more successful designs has been that of valve guards for the cylinder industry.”
“A development from this business is the metal pallets that are used to transport the cylinders. We manufacture and offer design assistance to customer specifications and requirements.”
“We also make the pallets for the windscreen manufacturers, these are generally vehicle specific.
Qhubeka bicycle components
“Another interesting project that we have been involved in is the Qhubeka bicycles. Qhubeka is a South African non-profit social mobility charitable organisation. Qhubeka is dedicated to providing access to independence and livelihood through The Power of Bicycles. Qhubeka has been instrumental in bringing bicycle mobility to communities who have limited access to transport and have to walk long distances to reach jobs, education, healthcare and community services. Here the bicycle is used as a tool of change, to uplift communities and change lives.”
Qhubeka is a Nguni word that means “to carry on”, “to progress”, “to move forward”. Qhubeka helps people move forward and progress. Having a bicycle changes lives by increasing the distance people can travel, what they can carry, where they can go and how fast they can get there. Some might remember the 2018 Le Tour de France. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka was Africa’s first ever UCI World Tour team.
In the press brake department OR Industries has a Durma AD-R 30320 4-axis CNC bending machine that has a 320 ton force and 3 050mm bending length
The company makes use of a Victor CNC lathe in the machine shop
According to the Qhubeka website more than 54 000 bicycles have been distributed by Qhubeka since 2005, a child’s commute time to school is reduced by up to 75% with a bicycle and a bicycle increases a person’s carrying capacity by five times.”
“We manufacture certain components as required by the client.”
Robotic welding
“We have also invested in a Fanuc robotic welding system that was setup by Robotic Innovations. All the components that have to be welded on the valve guards are done with the Fanuc. Additionally, we make gratings on there for the pallets. Once cut and punched they are then put in a jig and the Fanuc then does the welding. Possibly going forward we will use it for the bicycle components.”
“The Fanuc welding robot is a 6-axis 120i/c with a 2m extension, a full rotation torch axis and a Lincoln water-cooled welding machine.”
Machine shop
“The machine shop is very versatile and is doing work for outside customers but a large percentage of the machining done is for components needed on the fabrication side. I would say the mix of the company is probably 70% fabrication – that includes cutting, bending, punching and welding – and 30% is machining. But it could vary. For example, towards the end of last year we got a big machining order and our efforts were focussed on it.”
“Besides the DN Solutions machines we also have a Victor CNC lathe, a Quicktec 6-axis lathe with bar feeder, a 4-axis CNC milling machine, a 3-axis CNC lathe, manual turning lathes up to 3m long, a surface grinder and ISO x 5 morse drilling and tapping machines.”
Numerous different components are machined on CNC lathes and VMCs
“We are very experienced at tool design and manufacturing for metal pressings and deep drawings. We will do project design with full manufacturing support and the Autodesk Inventor allows us to do stress analyses, and VJS barcoded manufacturing process control.”
“The machining department may help make fixturing for the company’s welding and assembly areas, but it does not double as a toolmaking operation, especially for complex work. We’re not going to perform complex tool and die work, because by doing that, we’d tie up our machining capacity.”
“Don’t get me wrong. It is machining fairly complex components. What I mean is we will not make a mould for a plastic injection machine, for example.”
“However, we are very experienced at tool design and manufacturing for metal pressings and deep drawings.”
“We will do project design with full manufacturing support and the Autodesk Inventor allows us to do stress analyses, and VJS barcoded manufacturing process control.”
Fabrication department
In the fabrication department, metal pressings and drawn parts are done up to 400 ton capacity. This includes mechanical presses with 60t, 120t, 160t, and 250t capacities, a hydraulic press of 1m by 1m by 260ton, 2.5m by 1.2m by 400 ton and 800mm by 800mm by 500 ton.
One of the more recent CNC machines to be installed is a DN Solutions Puma 2100B
A view of the machine shop and fabrication area
“We also have a Durma 3.2m x 320 ton 4-axis CNC bending machine, a Caliburn 4.5m x 2.5m x 275 amp high-definition plasma cutter, four welding stations and automatic and semi-automatic cut off and band saws. This is over and above the new fiber laser.”
“We purchased this building in Wadeville, Gauteng about 8 years ago having previously been in the next industrial area Alrode. We have got 2 000m² under roof and we will be extending it by 300m². And we have a solar system that cuts our monthly bill by 30%.”
“Besides the clients in the gas and windscreen industries we have clients in railways and automotive. I have also just visited the mill in Richards Bay. We are manufacturing an extraction screw for them.”
For further details contact OR Industries on TEL: 864 1503 or visit www.orind.co.za
