Second Hugong HGLB 6015 fiber laser recently installed and a new Yangli 1 000 ton four column hydraulic press is just about ready to be shipped.
You could probably count less than the number of fingers on one hand to represent the number of tandem press brake setups in South Africa. If you aren’t aware of what a tandem press brake is, it is typically two of the same size press brakes placed right next to each other but configured so that they can be used as one bending machine. When not needed to bend long workpieces, the press brakes can then be used individually.
But who might want this type of press brake setup? A trailer manufacturing shop that produces many long workpieces for especially long trailers is a good example. Another example is a company that manufactures masts, towers and utility poles for the electrical, communications and lighting industries. Manufacturing the towers for lighting at a cricket ground that meets international standards needs the equipment that matches these standards and of course has the capability. Or providing the communication antenna support structures that we see in generally difficult to get to terrain. One such company is Structa Technology (Pty) Ltd.
Meyerton, Gauteng-based Structa Technology is a fully owned subsidiary of the Structa Group, a privately owned South African company, which started operations in 2002. The company was formed through the acquisition of the business of Dorbyl Structural Products and the merging of Structacom (Pty) Ltd, which was founded in 1998 as an engineering design and consulting firm.
Structa Technology has upgraded its bending division with a Yangli 14 metre tandem press brake supplied by TRM Supplies
Structa Technology is ably assisted by other Group companies such as Structa Profile, a profile cutting and material processing company and Structa Konsult, a design, analysis and testing service company.
Within Structa Technology there are five divisions which are also the brand names of the relevant products that the company manufactures. These brand names – Bowmast, Electrotower, Commast, Presstank and Circotank – offer products, installation and traditional project management services for the communication, electrification and water storage industries. Some of the well-established brands date back some 40+ years.
The Bowmast product range offers a range of lighting masts which includes street light poles (single and double arm), midbow lighting masts (mid-hinged masts), hydromax hydraulically liftable masts, standard high masts, stadium masts and full ‘ready to erect’ mast kits, that includes the mast, electrical requirements, lights and pre-cast foundations.
The Electrotower product range offers a variety of distribution towers and poles which include single and double circuit monopoles for 11-220kV distribution lines. The range includes the industry standard free standing and/or guyed suspension and strain poles and are designed to SANS and/or IEC specifications and requirements and the standard product range have all been proof tested by the Eskom-testing facility.
Within Structa Technology there are five divisions. The Electrotower product range offers a variety of distribution towers and poles which include single and double circuit monopoles for 11-220kV distribution lines
The Commast product range offers a range of antenna support structures for the telecommunication industry. This includes three and four-legged angle steel lattice towers from 10m to 72m heights, complete with platforms and antenna attachments, monopoles from 10m to 55m, complete with platforms and antenna attachments, rooftop structures up to 15m height including support platforms and the ASTRA-QDB, a compact quick roll-out base transmission station that is fully mechanically assembled and requires no concrete.
Presstank offers sectional pressed steel water storage tanks for the commercial and private sectors with capacities from 1 500 litres to 4.2 million litres.
Circotank offers two ranges of aluzinc segmented water storage tanks with liners for rural and industrial application. The Maxi range comprises large capacity tanks ranging from 100kL to 1 500kL and the Midi range is an easily transportable, quick erecting tank with capacities from 1 000 litres up to 20 000 litres.
“Our products end up with high-profile companies and government entities and in highly visible areas of life and industry. For example, we have been supplying Eskom with product for electrical distribution for many years. We have also supplied many municipalities with street light poles and continue to do so. We might not supply them directly but many of our products end up in the infrastructure requirements for the mobile network operators. Another good example is the towering floodlight masts at the Wanderers cricket ground. Our product is a major contributor to the recent upgrade of the towers,” explained Hercu Rossouw, who is the Managing Director of Structa Technology.
The company manufactures masts, towers and utility poles for the electrical, communications and lighting industries
“For this very reason we cannot afford to have any delay in the fabrication and supply of product. You have to continuously invest in new and advanced technology in the fields of automated processing and structural design capabilities. But at the same time, you need to look at your people, processes and technology to get the most of out of your equipment and systems. There is a new generation of technological advances that are continuously being developed and reshaping processing and fabrication. You can turn these shifts into growth opportunities but as the industry continues to move toward a digital future, be sure to reinforce the core fundamentals right alongside it.”
New Yangli tandem press brake setup
“We have recently invested in two Yangli 700 ton 7 metre press brakes that have been placed alongside each other to operate in unison. It’s not your everyday fabrication business that invests in a tandem press brake setup, because it’s very application-based.”
“While tandem press brakes are designed to operate as one press brake, they still remain two distinct machines. That’s important to remember because you don’t get double the tonnage when you get two similarly sized brakes operating in unison.”
“Those not familiar with the concept of tandem press brakes might think that two machines in tandem doubles the tonnage regardless of where the bend takes place. That’s not the case. A press brake can deliver the tonnage that it was designed to deliver, not more, even in a tandem setup. Tandem press brakes aren’t widely found in shops, but they serve vital roles for those metal fabricators with special applications, like ourselves.”
“In today’s modern metal fabrication business, a lot of bending programming is done offline in the name of efficiency. With jobs being created in the front office away from the press brakes, technicians can focus on forming parts, not spending time working the control.”
The Presstank division offers sectional pressed steel water storage tanks for the commercial and private sectors with capacities from 1 500 litres to 4.2 million litres
“Likewise with the operational side of the machine. You want to try and eliminate as much of the manual input as possible. In many cases you can incorporate robotic handling. But we have started before that stage. Our optional requirements have seen custom designed heads incorporated on each machine and the back stop function has been automated.”
“We want the machines to perform specialised metal-forming tasks continuously in a single stroke without the delay of manual intervention. These requirements have been incorporated and we can see a noticeable difference in productivity and processing time.”
“We can now process bends up to 14m with a plate thickness of 3mm to 12mm and plate width of 1.2m.”
“The Yangli tandem press brake setup replaced the existing tandem setup of two Pearson 350 ton press brakes that could perform 12.5m bends. As we had experience in tandem press brake operation the new Yangli investment has seamlessly fitted in.”
The company has two 6kW fiber laser cutting machines, each with a 6m x 1.5m bed and are capable of cutting sheet thicknesses of 1mm to 20mm. The most recent addition is a new Hugong HGLB 6015 fiber laser supplied by TRM Supplies
New Hugong HGLB 6015 fiber laser
“Shortly before the Yangli tandem setup arrived we installed our second Hugong HGLB 6015, an industrial enclosed-type fiber laser cutting machine manufactured by Shanghai Hugong. It features a large 6 000mm x 1 500mm effective cutting area, an automatic shuttle/exchange pallet table system, and a laser power source of 6kW.”
“We can process sheet with gauges between 1mm and 20mm on these machines.”
“Both the Yangli machines and the Hugong lasers have been supplied by TRM Supplies.”
Other equipment
A significant percentage of Structa Technology’s manufacturing capabilities is processing and fabricating tubular structures such as masts and poles and in particular for the power industry lattice towers and monopoles in steel. Steel structures have two main advantages. First, they last much longer than wood, occasionally exceeding 100 years. Second, because steel lends itself well to making structures that are stronger and taller than their wooden counterparts, power utilities can use a smaller number of structures over a given distance.
One of the more sizeable pieces of equipment on the floor is a 1 300 ton SMG hydraulic press that is used for the processing of sheet metal for the water tanks. However, like the thinking behind the investment in the Yangli tandem press brake setup, Structa Technology have decided to invest in a new Yangli 1 000 ton four column hydraulic press, also supplied by TRM Supplies
Tubular monopole structures have particular advantages over lattice structures such as smaller footprints, speed of erection, lower maintenance and theft resistance.
However, to manufacture these tubular structures Structa Technology needs more than press brakes and fiber laser cutters.
Other equipment includes a 5kW Taylor true hole plasma cutter with a 6m x 2m bed that can cut plate thickness of between 2mm and 16mm, semi-automatic long seam welders, NC beam drilling and angle workers and Geka universal ironworkers.
New Yangli 1 000 ton four column hydraulic press
One of the more sizeable pieces of equipment on the floor is a 1 300 ton SMG hydraulic press that is used for the processing of sheet metal for the water tanks.
However, like the thinking behind the investment in the Yangli tandem press brake setup, Structa Technology have decided to invest in a new Yangli 1 000 ton four column hydraulic press, also supplied by TRM Supplies.
“The press is still being manufactured in China but is nearing completion and should be ready for shipping not too long from now. It will be a great addition to our fabricating. It will also offer us assurance that if one press has a mechanical failure or needs maintenance done then we will have a backup to process material as we do with the Yangli press brakes.”
“The machine will be set with 3m below ground level and 7m above. That gives you a perspective of the size of it.”
Structa Technologies also makes use of a Geka ironworker
“Structa Group has also installed an Acme 20kW beam tube laser with a 15 metre input bed and a 15 metre output bed in a dedicated facility. Normally the standard is 13 metres either side so this gives us an advantage. It is the first of its kind in South Africa. We are looking at processing some exciting projects on this machine. But it is the efficiencies and time saving that are the real benefits. Currently we are only processing in-house requirements on it.”
Structa Technology operates from a 36 000m² property which includes an office area of 1 000m², an undercover workshop area of 10 000m² and an open stacking area of 25 000m². They are also ISO 9001:2015 certified.
For further details contact Structa Technology on TEL: 016 362 9100 or visit www.structatech.co.za
