International rationalisation as well as increased world demand for quality castings has led DaimlerChrysler Corporation's Atlantis Foundries plant to carry out a multimillion Euro production facility upgrade project, over a two-year period.
Market demand prompted the company to increase production capacity. DaimlerChrysler made a policy decision that has directly affected the quantity of products that Atlantis Foundries needs to deliver, which in turn has directly affected the foundry's electrical energy demands - from the original 21 000 kVA to 32 000 kVA.
Atlantis Foundries specialises in the manufacture of cylinder blocks for large diesel engines.
Says Theuns Wessels, Atlantis' manager: engineering: "At present we export 100% of our product to various countries in the world. These include DaimlerChrysler and MAN in Germany, CAT Perkins in the United Kingdom, Detroit Diesel in the United States, DaimlerChrysler Brazil and SsangYong in South Korea.
"Very few foundries around the world have the technology required to produce high quality cylinder blocks. It takes years of development and know-how to manufacture these castings.
"In 2000, when Atlantis Foundries was taken over by DaimlerChrysler, we sold 20 000 tons of product. We have now grown to exporting 49 000 tons in 2006. Around two and a half years ago, DaimlerChrysler decided to expand the plant to a capacity in excess of 80 000 tons. The planning process started in 2004 and the project became reality in May 2005 - and it is still in progress.
"A third induction melting furnace has been installed and plans include a third holding furnace by the end of the year. As part of the overall project, one of DaimlerChrysler's Mannheim mould lines has been transferred across to our foundry here - a significant project that has taken 105 containers to ship across.
"Critical to our expansion is the electricity supply. If we are unable to supply our customers, we bring their manufacturing lines to a halt - and even one minute is serious. Also, with foundries being recognised as a dangerous working environment - and a very harsh environment for electrical equipment, safety was a paramount factor. We have an outstanding safety record and we want to keep it that way!
"Our relationship with Technoserve Electrical Engineering goes back over 15 years, which is one of the reasons why they were commissioned to carry out this project. The Technoserve team has intimate knowledge and understanding of our requirements and we rely on their expertise to ensure that we are able to keep our business up and running.
"We expect a solution that is reliable, cost-effective and with service being a number one priority."
Technoserve's managing director, Francois Veldhuizen, comments: "Technoserve has been Atlantis Foundries' primary electrical contractor for many years and we felt very comfortable that we could meet their expansion requirements.
"As system integrators for Schneider Electric, we knew that we would have the right infrastructure behind us to support the programme. Atlantis Foundries is no stranger to Schneider equipment. The existing plant had Schneider's Merlin Gerin breakers, and now all the new equipment deployed in the plant is also Merlin Gerin - both low and medium voltage. Almost all motor control components are Telemecanique, which have over many years proved to be reliable in this harsh environment."
Whilst busy upgrading the electrical distribution network of the foundry, the unreliability of the Eskom supply in the Western Cape became a serious production problem, one that could ultimately bring the production lines of overseas customers to a halt.
Continues Veldhuizen: "Because it was critical to keep the foundry up and running, standby generators with a total synchronised capacity of 15 000 kVA were installed in a record time of 10 weeks from date of receiving an executive decision. This was very demanding for Technoserve as the installation had to take place on top of all the other projects.
"While just around the corner from the foundry, Eskom is installing new peak demand turbines, expected to deliver approximately 700 MW to help the grid of this country to supply peak demand power, given the nature of Atlantis Foundries' delivery requirements, standby power to keep the plants up is essential.
"In consultation with the Schneider Electric team, we chose equipment that we believe will address both Atlantis Foundries' short-term stay-up power requirements, as well as its longer-term expectations."
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