ENSURING A QUALITY LEGACY FOR STEEL

Amanuel Gebremeskel, Chief Executive Officer at the SA Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC).

While the Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC) is closely monitoring seismic changes happening upstream, it has taken a strategic decision to focus on ensuring a steady supply of good quality steel for downstream steel businesses, says Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amanuel Gebremeskel. Part 1 of a two-part series.

Against a backdrop of economic and policy uncertainty and potential facility closures – albeit that, for now, these have been deferred – Gebremeskel says the SAISC will concentrate on supporting the steel supply chain rather than on the struggles of specific mills.

“While a steel mill might employ around 2 500 people, the downstream sector, which includes the automotive, construction, energy and mining sectors, is the far larger employer, supporting more than 600 000 jobs.

Therefore, the SAISC must prioritise building a dynamic sector similar to Canada’s, where downstream fabricators remain strong, despite the absence of large steel mills – rather than following Australia – where the closure of large mills has virtually incapacitated the downstream sector,” he explains.

Two streams of investment

As the custodian and sole representative of South Africa’s downstream steel industry, Gebremeskel says the SAISC is prioritising quality and availability: “We are most concerned about ensuring a steady supply and good diversity of steel in our market. This must be predicated on quality and not where steel comes from.”

He says the SAISC has identified two important areas for investment – the development of stringent quality standards through the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and the implementation of a sound quality regime.

“This includes the development of a SAISC ‘quality certification stamp’- signifying that companies with the stamp have voluntarily completed SAISC quality training. The quality regime will also include the development of a database by the SAISC’s technical committee, which will allow designers to understand – and design around – the particular products which fabricators can access.

He notes that the SAISC’s input into contributing to SABS standards and then providing supporting literature which explains these standards – and illustrates how companies can comply with them – necessitates a considerable investment of time, technical expertise and related resources.

Strengthening sustainability

Another pivotal area where both the upstream and downstream industry needs to improve is sustainability – both from a business and an environmental perspective. While steel may be one of the most widely used – as well as the ‘greenest’ and most widely recycled materials of construction – it has a rather poor environmental record:

“Older mills which rely on dated technology – known as legacy mills – cannot compete with new mills in Asia and Europe that rely on modern technology. These newer mills use more energy- efficient arc furnaces, as opposed to dated oxygen furnaces which require large amounts of coking coal.

Although many newer steel mills across the world have also invested in renewable and cleaner energy – in contrast to the carbon-intensive coal-fired energy used locally – such investments are yet to reach South Africa,” he advises.

Continued in Part 2…