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CEO Message

As you all know, this year marks our 120th year celebrations. This is a key milestone in ACTOM’s history. The group, through its divisional portfolio of manufactured products and after-market repairs and services, has done incredibly well in navigating through various economic cycles. We are all...

Feature

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in the land of Philadelphia, a scientist, famous only as an author at the time, experimented with a kite, a key, and a thunderstorm. The rest, as they say, is history. Benjamin Franklin may not have been the first to theorise about the potential of harnessing electricity. Still, his famous experiment is generally accepted as the catalyst for our journey...

Corporate

Two years ago Static Power decided to extend its operations to cater to the growing trend by industrial and commercial businesses in South Africa to establish solar power generation systems of their own to offset both the unreliability of power supply from the national grid resulting from the ever...

John Thompson was yet again the top achieving division in ACTOM in the past year.  As in the previous year – and on many other occasions – it has won the Chairman’s Award for 2022/23. John Thompson ticked all the right boxes in, firstly, achieving earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)...

Development

According to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 27% of students who have attended school for six years cannot read. After five years of school, only about half can do basic mathematics. Only 37% of children starting school in grade 1 go on to pass the matriculation exam, and just 4% earn a degree. The South African Government Gazette recently published a list of 142 critical skills needed in the country, all related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. As experienced during the response to COVID-19, technology is a powerful...

Power

Abstract This article explores the utilisation of power plant simulator & designer software (PPSD) in modelling power islands, with a specific focus on biomass-based power plants. The article showcases the modelling procedure with respect to full plant simulation through the use of a case...

Abstract This paper presents four ways of increasing the efficiency of an industrial watertube boiler by means of small modifications to the boiler plant. It covers the efficiency gain of a double tube plate airheater, controlled superheater with attemperator, sealing of air leaks to prevent air...

MV Switchgear

MV Switchgear recently completed the establishment of an automated vacuum interrupter (VI) testing facility in the VI manufacturing plant at its Knights, Germiston, factory. The automated test facility, which was completed in September this year and commenced operation at the beginning of October, has been established to test the VI’s that are being manufactured by the division for a US switchgear company that has launched the new product into the US market. MV Switchgear undertook in the partnership agreement, signed in early-2020, to expand the production capacity and develop the...

Reid & Mitchell

Ansie van den Berg, Safety Manager of Reid & Mitchell (R&M), is not only very passionate about safety in the workplace, but she has a lively, innovative approach to it. She believes all staff-members from top to bottom need to be actively involved to minimise risks of injury to ensure...

ACTOM Energy Namibia (AEN) has been awarded a R100-million contract by Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) to design, manufacture, supply, install and commission specialised switchgear and substation protection and automation systems for a new indoor 132/66/33kV substation the utility is to...

Marthinusen & Coutts

Marthinusen & Coutts (M&C) recently successfully met an extremely tight deadline it had been set as a contract condition for the repair of a 94t 4736kW DC mine winder motor that had failed at Northam Platinum’s Zondereinde mine near Thabazimbi in Limpopo Province in July this year. The motor had driven the man-winder hoist serving the mine’s No.1 shaft.

ACTOM Turbo Machines

ACTOM Turbo Machines accepted an extremely difficult challenge when it agreed to perform an emergency repair of a broken portion of a large counter roll from a pulp mill that had been damaged during operation. Danie Bloem, ACTOM Turbo’s Project Manager responsible for the contract, said the roll was found to be cracked beyond repair, with a long crack right through the 200mm thick outer shell. “What made the task difficult was that we were asked by the client to perform a cold repair, instead of the usual hot repair that is done in such cases, which is a relatively simple job,” he...

Metalplus

Metalplus has successfully devised an innovative welding technique in which it has applied two welding systems to operate together in a seamless process. In the latest project the robotic arm that forms part of Metalplus’ cold metal transfer (CMT) welding system was used to operate a combination of low temperature CMT welding and high current pulse multi-control (PMC) electric arc welding in a single process to achieve the required result.

Electrical Equipment

Satchwell, ACTOM’s Paarl-based manufacturer and supplier of domestic and industrial products and components, has entered the solar power generation market by offering system components to contractors, as well as providing turnkey solutions on a select and small-scale basis.

Genlux Lighting has acquired its own specialised light testing equipment and has set up a laboratory at its Triangle, Germiston, office premises to test its lighting products and designs. “We are now able to conduct a much greater variety of tests than we were able to do previously, when we were...

Our People

ACTOM was among a number of Electrical Sector companies that participated in two trade exhibitions staged in Gauteng in October. Daniel de Bruyn (centre), High Voltage Equipment’s Business...

Phillip Dukashe has been appointed Group Operations Executive with effect from August 21, 2023.   Fahmida Campbell has been appointed Group Audit & Compliance Manager with...

After deciding towards the end of 2022 to “adopt” the struggling parents-funded private primary school Educational Programme Centre in Denver, Johannesburg, LH Marthinusen (LHM) focussed its...

With Heritage Day (September 24) falling on a Sunday this year, Monday was declared a public holiday, giving South Africans a long week-end to look forward to and enjoy celebrating their various...

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