Welded steel pipe manu- facturer Hall-Longmore, a wholly owned Murray & Roberts company, has invested about R245-million to increase production capacity at its Wadeville, Germiston, and Duncanville, Vereeniging, pipe manufacturing facilities.

        Forming part of an ongoing upgrade and capacity-building programme, which started more than a decade ago, the latest upgrade will increase manufacturing capacity by about 250%. This will entrench Hall-Longmore’s position as the largest specialist manufacturer of large-bore welded steel pipes, coatings, and linings on the African continent.

        The company has also announced the outright purchase of the Duncan-ville land, which was previously leased. Motivating factors driving the decision to buy include being closely located to raw material suppliers, being located on a gateway to major freeways, and having access to an excellent and experienced local workforce.

        A significant portion of the capital investment has been apportioned to the streamlining of the company’s Wadeville plant, in order to achieve a yearly throughput of some 200 000 t of electric resistance welded pipe (ERW). The entire process, which includes a new three-layer (trilaminate) protective coating application, is synchronised from start to finish. This ensures a smooth flow throughout the manufacturing cycle – from pipe milling to the final three-layer coating.

       In addition, the ERW plant upgrade makes it possible to manufacture pipe up to 610 mm in diameter, which was previously only available using the submerged arc welding (SAW) process. The ERW process offers enhanced economies of scale (one 18-m length of pipe a minute), when compared with the production of SAW pipe. Tooling for this stage of the upgrade is expected to be completed during the first half of 2008, and commissioning is scheduled for July 2008. The ability to manu-facture 610-mm-diameter ERW pipe now positions Hall-Longmore among a handful of leading inter-national pipe manufacturers.

       The Duncanville plant upgrade is focused on the modification to its Sintakote (medium-density polyethy- lene) coating facility. This is being done to accommodate 18-m SAW pipe lengths – to supply part of the 120-km Vaal River Eastern Subway Augmentation Project.

       The recently planned upgrade and increased capacity initiative by Hall-Longmore coincides with growing local and global demand for oil and gas piping products. Coupled to this, development of South Africa’s water resources and growth of its mining industry position Hall-Longmore favourably as a strategic partner in the growth of the country’s economy.

        Hall-Longmore carries two internationally recognised steel pipe manufacturing accreditations, namely the American Petroleum Institute accreditation and the South African National Standards accredi- tation.

        In addition, Hall-Longmore’s quality management systems comply with ISO 9001- 2000. It is through these endorsements and service excellence that Hall-Longmore has enjoyed sustained success with supplying pipe pro-ducts to a number of large inter- national projects.

        These attributes and its reputation have positioned the company as a truly global player in terms of standards, and Hall-Longmore is recognised as such by its customers.

        Committed to remaining a leading producer of high-quality piping systems into the civil engineering, petrochemicals, and construction industries, Hall-Longmore commits to delivering world class fulfilment in all that it does.