As much as 50% of cylinders sold by Festo South Africa today are locally manufactured, due mainly to fast delivery times and the flexibility allowed by the company's custom-design capabilities.
A combination of purpose-built manufacturing equipment and experienced staff is making the production facility increasingly popular with local industry, as the demand for application-specific components grows in South Africa.
"Our ability to design and produce just about any cylinder with a diameter of between 8 and 250 mm to world class quality standards means that clients can now design machinery according to the task in mind, and not according to the components available," explains workshop manager, Ronan Schulz. "This has resulted in an increase in sales of in-house manufactured cylinders to the point where 50% of Festo's cylinder sales are met from local manufacture, despite our extensive stockholding of ready-made imported cylinders."
Another important factor behind the manufacturing facility's glowing success is fast turnaround times. Emergency requirements are usually catered for within one shift, and of the standard orders, more than 60% are satisfied within one day, while over 80% are met in two days and 95% within three days.
"This is primarily due to quick machine set-up times, scheduling techniques, effective logistics and the fact that our staff have worked here for an average of 15 years each," Schulz enthuses, pointing out that this not only translates into experience and continuity, but that it is an indication of work satisfaction, which in turn means quality workmanship shining through in the end product.
Imported raw material, ranging from end caps to seals and pistons, is kept at a relatively high safety-stock level to ensure availability, while locally sourced variable parts such as rods and tubes are also held in strategic quantities. Aluminium extrusions, for instance, are imported out of necessity, as the volume required makes local manufacture impractical. Festo's technically advanced equipment is matched by a logistics system that allows online ordering and tracking of raw materials from several sources worldwide, as part of an advanced stock-management system. Working together, these factors have allowed the company to surpass international benchmarks in terms of accommodating all customer requirements at exceptionally short delivery times - and all this while maintaining global quality standards.
In Festo's case, having the right equipment at hand means at least two large machines had to be custom-built for the facility's specific requirements. This includes a saw that revolves while cutting aluminium profiles to ensure that exact lengths are achieved without the need for further machining. Another such specialised tool comes in the form of a dual 4-head spin-roll screwdriver that completes final cylinder assembly in a single stage by simultaneously screwing on both end caps. Two CNC machines each hold the pre-programmed settings for any cylinder manufactured by Festo to date, allowing for rapid set-up of new tasks. As soon as a first-time project is designed, the new set of parameters gets loaded into the machines.
"We actually have two different assembly lines, one for disposable cylinders and one for cylinders suitable for refurbishment," Schulz reports. "The three main types of cylinders we manufacture are DSN, DSW and DNC. The balance is made up out of DNU, ADVU, DGO, DNG, DGP and sub-variants.
"The main reasons for our success can be summed up as follows - our flexibility in terms of design, and the speed at which we can deliver a very comprehensive range of quality cylinders," he concludes.
For more information contact Richard Teagle, managing director, Festo, 011 971 5500, [email protected], www.festo.com
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