Plastic piping solutions provider Marley Pipe Systems, a member of global plastic fluid handling systems manufacturer and distributor Aliaxis Group, invested in excess of R100-million to upgrade and rehabilitate operations at its Rosslyn manufacturing facility, in Tshwane.

In February 2013, Marley Pipe Systems acquired the assets of defunct pipe systems producer Petzetakis Africa, including the company’s 41 596 m2 Rosslyn facility.

New equipment that was supplied to the facility, by various European equipment manufacturers, included extruders for the manufacture of pipes, materials handling and cooling systems.

The facility’s plants and warehouses were refloored to ensure that below-ground services, such as wiring, was raised to above-ground, thereby easing maintenance services, “making it comply with world-class manufacturing practices”.

Marley Pipe Systems polyethylene (PE) solutions sales and marketing manager Pranesh Maniraj tells Engineering News that the company officially took over the management of the facility in January 2014.

He explains that the facility had been lying dormant since Petzetakis Africa closed down in 2010.

“The facility employs about 200 employees and can manufacture more than 2 000 t/m of pipes using three production facilities,” says Maniraj.

Marley Pipe Systems has also over the past two years consolidated and integrated its operations by closing its Port Shepstone PE facility, in KwaZulu-Natal, in December 2013.

“Most of the Port Shepstone plant’s equipment was transferred to the Rosslyn facility,” notes Maniraj.

Prior to the acquisition of the facility, the company could only produce 630-mm-diameter-wide PE pipes; however, the Rosslyn facility allows it to produce pipes of up to 1 000 mm in diameter.

Maniraj adds that the new machinery has the capacity to produce pipes as large as 1 200 mm in diameter.

“We intend to start manufacturing these larger-sized pipes during this quarter,” he states.

Moreover, Maniraj says that over the next five to ten years, the company aims to further upgrade the Rosslyn facility by adding new technologies, such as ultrasonic testing systems for automatic wall thickness scanners.

“These technologies will allow for the full automation of our operations, thereby increasing productivity and efficiency levels,” he emphasises.

Meanwhile, Maniraj says that Petzetakis Africa was a major player in the PE piping and fittings sectors and Marley Pipe Systems has benefited by adding a range of PE piping solutions to its offering.

The Rosslyn facility forms part of Marley Pipe Systems mining and industrial division.

The division also incorporates civil projects, which includes bulk-water lines and water rehabilitation projects.

He says that many municipalities that previously used steel in their water projects have shifted to using PE systems, owing to the cost effectiveness and superior quality that PE solutions offer.

Maniraj stresses that one of the core construction challenges in the Tshwane region is dolomite.

“Welded PE pipe systems prevent any leakage of water into the soil with the result that no dolomitic erosion occurs. This is fundamental in preventing the formation of sinkholes in the affected areas.”

However, the Rosslyn facility manufactures the Weholite structured wall PE pipe system of pipes, which are weldable. Therefore, if or when a sinkhole occurs, the pipes need to maintain its services intact until such time as the sinkhole can be repaired.

Maniraj highlights that most alternative PE systems do not transfer load in tensile as effectively, which, therefore, often results in the failure of pipe services.

“Weholite pipes can be manufactured in large sizes of up to 3 500 mm in diameter,” he points out.

The Rosslyn facility also manufactures the MegaTuff co-extruded flame retardant high- density polyethylene (HDPE) and ventilation pipes for underground mining and the MegaFlex polyvinyl chloride (PVC) hose products.

“The Weholite, MegaTuff and Megaflex ranges were previously manufactured by Petzetakis Africa,” notes Maniraj.

Therefore, Marley Pipe Systems is the sole Southern Africa manufacturer and supplier of MegaFlex hoses and MegaTuff PE pipes.

Moreover, he highlights that these piping systems have low toxicity levels, which is particularly important from a health and safety perspective for underground mineworkers.

“If a fire occurs, underground workers will not be significantly impacted on by toxic fumes, such as carbon hydrogen, hexene, butane and chlorine gas that are created by the burning of regular PVC and PE pipes,” states Maniraj.

He explains that chlorine gas is a major concern for underground operations, as it is not only toxic, but also has the ability to corrode steel, thereby, potentially causing the collapse of mine pillars and walls.

Additionally, Maniraj says that the Rosslyn facility also manufactures the Petroplas pipe range, made of fluorinated ethylene and, “owing to its flexibility, high resistance to chemical attack and optical transparency is suited to highly corrosive processes”.

He notes that Petroplas pipes are widely used at petrol stations for the transfer of fuel through the facility’s pumpstations.

“The growth in the number of new petrol stations and the rehabilitation of older petrol stations are ensuring that sales of the Petroplas range continue to grow,” Maniraj states.

Marley Pipe Systems will open a training facility at the Rosslyn plant, in February to assist the training of new staff members as well as clients’ staff on how to efficiently work with PE piping systems.

“A primary focus of the training centre will be the electrofusion welding technique of piping systems,” he says.