Waterjet cutting service provider MAXJET will attend this year’s Manufacturing Indaba – to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg, on October 22 and 23 – to scout new technologies and network with relevant industry players.

It aims to engage with several of its current clients and suppliers, which will have stalls and products on display, as well as create awareness of its services and capabilities.

“The reality is that the survival or longevity of any business model relies heavily on evolving and adopting new available technological processes, and companies should embrace that,” says MAXJET director Preeshan Naidoo.

As with cellphones, engineering machinery has been designed to replace and improve older systems on a regular basis.

“These systems are continuously being redesigned to be more robust, but also to improve on the time it takes to produce components while becoming more energy efficient,” he adds.

In tune with embracing new technologies, MAXJET has recently added a 5-Axis cutting head to its works, which is a unique tool that adds several advantages to its cutting portfolio.

“Since adding the 5-Axis cutting head, we have been able to easily make interlocking pieces, while using a dovetail fitting without taper, which reduces the need for secondary machining,” he explains, adding that this function assists in adding or removing taper from 6-mm- to 50-mm-thick sheets of stainless steel.

The company’s market includes industries such as aerospace, mining, power-generation, automotive, petrochemicals and general engineering. More recently, it has also targeted the architectural industry, introducing more “exclusive products” for the high-end “shop-fitting” market.

“We use our design capabilities to create products, starting with conceptual images all the way through to the manufacture of working products,” enthuses Naidoo.

Manufacturing Muddle

The local manufacturing sector has had to deal with increasingly competitive imports, rising labour costs, lack of reliable energy and dwindling water supply.

“These have generally been the key challenges in manufacturing for decades,” adds Naidoo.

However, MAXJET makes every effort to mitigate these challenges by supplying an efficient and prompt service that combats longer import deliverables. The company has also added backup energy and water supply to its manufacturing facility to counter the effects of ineffective or insufficient service delivery.

“This eliminates any manufacturing downtime and ensures that clients’ orders are met on time and to their exacting requirements.”

Although waterjet machines can be quite troublesome because they work under extremely high pressures of upwards of 4 500 bar, the method is MAXJET’s technology of choice “because we have mastered the various parameters needed for the range of materials being processed”, Naidoo adds.

This knowledge, coupled with many years of design experience, enables the company to produce numerous parts and components for countless industries, he says, noting that its service centre can progress from manufacturing small to large volumes of parts within a relatively short period.

Further, waterjet cutting is classed as a ‘green technology’, owing to its releasing little to no hazardous waste or emissions.

“It is our aim going forward to manufacture products for our clients more efficiently, accurately and in a greener manner,” concludes Naidoo.