Media Center

Investing R25m in Securing our Future

16 July 2009

View PDF

Trellidor, the South African brand that is a household name in security, opened its new powder coating plant in February, more than doubling its capacity. "We now house one of the most modern powder coating plants in South Africa at our Durban factory," said Managing Director Andrew Thomas. "The technology used to coat our steel and aluminium products is comparable to the best in similar plants around the world." Trellidor's demand driven expansion project includes seven new roll forming machines in addition to the paint plant, representing a total investment of R25 million.

"This investment has given us the opportunity to build a manufacturing plant for the future," said Thomas. "We partnered with Henkel Technologies for the surface treatments, utilising a pre-treatment product called Bonderite NT to give our security barriers a substantially enhanced corrosion protection layer. The advantage to the consumers in high corrosion areas is obvious."

Environment friendly technology

Henkel's Bonderite NT results in no effluent, making it an environment friendly product. Trellidor's new Nordson powder application equipment is also ‘green' in that it is material-efficient, using an automatic recycling method that keeps scrap to a minimum. "We're saving power too, as we've converted the powder coating plant from electricity to gas," noted Trellidor Operations Director Chris Wright. "This significantly reduces our power requirements at a critical time for our country and will help us to combat the effect of Eskom's load shedding programme. Gas is also quick to start up and cost efficient."

First in the southern hemisphere

Ron Thomas, M.D. of ACT (Applied Coating Technologies), the South African company that installed the powder coating booth, was very excited about the project. "Some of the technology we've utilised, such as the Prodigy system used to transfer powder from hoppers to the spray guns, is being used for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere," he said. "It is also much healthier for the operator as temperatures are controlled at a comfortable level, there is less physical contact with the powder and less opportunity for accidents."

The plant has been designed for high line speeds, using innovations such as a Power and Free triplex conveyor system that is unique in South Africa to move steel components through the powder coating system. "The industry average for South African plants similar to Trellidor's is 2.5 meters a minute," said Ron Thomas. "Trellidor's capacity is now 4.7 meters a minute, comparable to speeds in the automotive industry."

The installation of the new equipment was timed for the annual December shut-down period, but inevitable delays due, amongst other reasons, to consistent power cuts, lead to the late commissioning of the plant. "We apologise to any customers who were inconvenienced, but the upside is that we are now running at full capacity again and will be looking to reduce lead times to historical lows later this year by accessing our increased capacity ," said Thomas. "The changes to our factory will better our service and delivery levels to franchisees, distributors and customers the world-over."

Trellidor is part of the Trellicor Group, which includes Roll-Up Serranda and Coroma. They manufacture roller shutters and garage and industrial doors respectively, using predominantly roll formed steel and aluminium. The Group had a combined turnover of approximately R350 million in its 2007 financial year and employs over 700 people countrywide. Over 50 franchisees and distributors throughout South Africa, the rest of the African continent, Australia, Israel, Europe and the Indian Ocean Islands distribute the Group's barrier security and access control products.

 Contact Us

View PDF