Owing to its diversification in design, from concept stage to manufacturing finished products at its factory in Wadeville, Gauteng, motion control technologies and systems manufacturer Germiston Hydraulics believes it can cater for the varying demands in the hydraulics and pneumatics market in South Africa.

“The quality of the hydraulics and pneumatics industry in South Africa varies, owing to the abundance of suppliers.This has led us to diversify our product offering to cater for a wider spectrum of industries and maintain a good quality standard,” says Germiston Hydraulics GM Paul Sherratt.

Consequently, Germiston Hydraulics designs manifold blocks for industries (and applications), ranging from the steel industry to the mining, automotive, plastics and paper, and plastics recycling industries.

“Our biggest projects thus far have been in the steel production, concrete pumping and recycling industries,” Sherratt tells Engineering News.

He adds that the company’s process of designing custom manifolds comprises schematic design, two dimensional design and three- dimensional modelling before entering the manufacturing phase.

“All the products are manufactured using three-axis computer-numerical control milling machines. The engineering and customer approval processes completed before manufacturing and assembly, as well as testing, are done at our facility,” Sherratt points out.

The manifold blocks – used as the central control of a hydraulic system – receive inputs from switches or electronic feedback systems. The manifolds blocks are also designed and integrated into hydraulic circuits to customer requirements.

The hydraulic circuit, or system, employs enclosed fluid to transfer energy from one source to another and, subsequently, creates rotary motion, linear motion or force.

Germiston Hydraulics is also involved in the design, installation and manufacturing of power packs for all major industries from automotive and steel to recycling and manufacturing.

Power packs deliver power through a control valve or manifold block, which runs the machine to which it is connected. They are equipped with a variety of valve connections, which enables them to power a variety of machines using the appropriate valves and design.

Should any products be faulty, Germiston Hydraulics has a field service division that deals with fault finding and repairs on site.

The company also services other sectors, such as the beverage, rubber, motor, steel and chemicals industries.