According to the latest figures available from the Statistics South Africa, more than 4,238 establishments are engaged in structural steel erection, generating an estimated R8 billion worth of business. Major uses of structural steel include
- office and industrial buildings;
- commercial buildings,
- including retail stores,
- restaurants, and service stations;
- apartment buildings,
- hotels, and motels;
- warehouses; and highways,
- bridges, tunnels, and
- other transportation facilities.
Single-family homes accounted for a very small percentage of the structural steel used in South Africa
The structural steel erection industry felt the effects of South African economic downturn more than other construction related industries because it relied so heavily on commercial and industrial construction, both which saw growth slow dramatically in the early 2000s. Spending on commercial construction declined 1.6 percent in 2001, while spending on industrial construction declined 3.2 percent. The lone bright spot in South African economy—residential construction—had little impact on the structural steel sector. Transportation spending had also been trimmed in various rounds of budget cutting during the early 2000s, although increased funding was expected to gain governmental approval in 2004.
APPLICATION OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES IN IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTION
Ngetich and Moll have portrayed industrial engineering (IE) as a discipline that is based on knowledge and information and built on five pillars: enterprise engineering, systems engineering, operations management, applied industrial engineering, and engineering management. Enterprise engineering focuses on engineering an enterprise holistically through the application of industrial engineering principles on every operational level of the organisation . Systems engineering is the systematic approach to developing and operating systems through the identification of system objectives, then aligning subcomponents’ goals with the main objective. Operations management focuses on systematically improving organisational operations such as supply chain management . Engineering management applies engineering techniques and coordinates the synergy of employees in business practice with the objective of accomplishing organisational goals and objectives .
This section focuses on the progressive application of IE techniques in the iron and steel industry in South Africa. A survey of publications by industrial engineers in the iron and steel industry was conducted through a search of the databases of the official promoter of industrial engineering research in South Africa, the South African Institute of Industrial Engineering (SAIIE). The databases include SAIIE conference proceedings from 2009 to 2016 and issues of the South African Journal of Industrial Engineering (SAJIE) from 1987 to 2016.
The study is aware that IE research into iron and steel production is not published only in the SAIIE or SAJIE databases; but the aim of the exercise is to survey databases that are predominantly related to IE. The period reviewed was divided into three phases: 1987-1996, 1997-2006, and 2007-2016.
From 1987 to 2016, only five research papers related to iron and steel production had been published by SAIIE publications. Despite the successful evolution of the iron and steel industry in South Africa, published research input from local IE researchers is lagging behind. This finding supports that of van Dyk on a review of South African IE, which found that few industrial engineers are employed in the South African iron and steel industry.
CONCLUSION
The successful transformation of South Africa’s iron and steel industry is attributed to the vision of its pioneers and supporting legislation. The passing of the Iron and Steel Industry Act in 1928 marked the beginning of a prosperous era for the South African iron and steel industry.
To date, key players in the South African iron and steel industry include AMSA, Scaw Metals Group, Cape Gate (Pty) Limited, Columbus Stainless (Pty) Limited, South Africa Steelworks, and Unica Iron and Steel (Pty) Limited. With stiff competition from external iron and steel producers, local iron and steel production has been rapidly decreasing since 2005, as shown by the trends in Figure 4. The contribution of industrial engineers to the South African iron and steel industry is also very limited, judging from the survey of publications produced by SAIIE and of SAJIE databases.
