C.I.S Industrial Structures was formed in 2019 as a separate division of C.I.S Engineering to focus on the fabrication of industrial structures for the building, mining, mineral beneficiation, petrochemical, chemical and water industries.
Christo Marais, managing director of C.I.S Engineering, says that the creation of this focused division has been extremely successful and has already resulted in the completion of several major projects. The division specialises in steel structures in the following broad categories: Building structures: C.I.S Industrial Structures has successfully manufactured a variety of building structures, which include:
- wide-span large warehousing
- factory buildings and extensions, including crane support structures.
Process support structures: Mining and chemical process plants inevitably require steel supporting structures. The division has successfully completed several such projects recently, including a covering structure installed at a vanadium mine, depicted below.
Process vats and tanks: The division has successfully manufactured welded steel tanks and bins for the mineral beneficiation industry. It recently completed a megaproject together with Turnmill Proquip Engineering for the manufacturing of four leach vats for a vanadium mine. The leaching vats each weigh 220 t, measure 39 m in length, 7 m in height and 7.6 m in width, presenting some challenges with workshop handling, transport and site erection.
Each module consisted of a structural steel ‘ribcage’ and was manufactured and supplied by steel products manufacturer C.I.S Engineering. These individual modules could easily be steered by workshop overhead cranes. The special cut and formed plates were then fitted into the ‘ribcage’ and were welded together to form a module. Each vat consists of four modules.
Full shop fabrication of the Vats onto a steel jig that simulates the site steelwork benefited to shop accessibility and control. Having the modules assembled on trestles that represent site civils aids with the ease of installation on site. Owing to the size, only one unit could be assembled at a time.
The vertical and overhead welding to join these modules were done with all-positional Flux-Core welding. Due to the size of these structures, manipulation for a more favourable welding position becomes impossible. The four vats, totalling 880 t, took approximately nine months to complete, from raw material to the final complete painted product – all taking place under the roof at C.I.S Engineering and Turnmill Proquip Engineering respectively. Mechanical equipment structures: C.I.S Industrial Structures manufactures a variety of mechanical equipment structures such as crane beams, sieves and shaker structures, and conveyor structures. Depicted below is the steel structure of a shaker used in the mining industry.
Piping and ducting: The division has successfully manufactured non-pressurised, large c-diameter piping and ducting to typical high welding requirements such as AWS D1.1.
The C.I.S Engineering site
The division operates under the C.I.S Engineering Quality system, which is certified to ISO 9001:2015. It is housed in the C.I.S Engineering complex, which consists of 10 000 m2 of factory space under the roof and crane, lay down and despatch areas of some 15 000 m2 as well as administration and engineering offices. The plant houses modern automated and semi-automated steel processing equipment, and the division has full access to laser and plasma cutting facilities of sister company Structa Profile, which is housed in the same complex. The division can offer a full complement of associated design services, which include draughting, CAD modelling and structural analysis. “We can truly offer smooth product development from sketch to product,” concludes Marais.
