Metal fabrication, machining and assembly: Better together

May 25, 2023

Jovi Engineering and Red Hot Profiles feed off each other. Find growth in metalworking process diversity.

Go and visit nearly any metal fabricator and you’ll probably see some level of machining being done on the shopfloor. Many don't have much, perhaps a manual mill or lathe or maybe a vertical machining center (VMC). How much milling and turning a shop has depends largely on how the company was launched in the first place.

In many cases, the machining is there to support the metal fabrication, with machinists building custom tools and fixtures and perhaps creating small parts that go into larger sub-assemblies.

"The most recent addition to our equipment line-up is a 12kW Bodor fibre laser, installed earlier this year. The new Bodor P4020 fibre laser, supplied by Integral Machine Tools, has a table size of 4 000mm by 2 000mm and will provide the company with a significant boost in productivity and allow us to offer better laser cutting lead times. Every increase in power delivers a cleaner cut edge, especially on mild steel, which forms the majority of our throughput. We can now cut mild steel up to 30mm thick."

These days many fall somewhere in between the two extremes. They never expect machining to dominate the business, but their machinists do a little more than just support the primary metal fabrication operation. Trends are changing though. Metal fabrication companies are now increasing the size and the capabilities of their machining departments.

Most fabricating companies got into machining the same way a lot of custom fabricators did: Customers asked for it. As customers ramp up their demand for milling and turning, it makes sense to bring these processes in-house, for many reasons. Companies either build up the machining department by making their own equipment purchases or they acquire their supplier or similar machining business and end up with an ‘off-the-shelf’, ready to operate machine shop. This is normally the better strategic decision that eliminates many of the start-up stresses.

The biggest asset any company can have right now is experienced people, and your people are what's going to help you survive and make the future. So figuring out how to utilise everybody's skill levels and continuing to develop and enhance those skill levels is the biggest challenge. Anyone can buy equipment. Equipment is easy to buy. It's hard to get the skill level to run the equipment to the efficiency it's designed for. This is a challenge when starting from scratch in an area of metal processing that you are not familiar with.

Components cut on the new Bodor 12kW

Components from the Jovi Engineering machine shop

Amongst many other considerations that need to be taken into account are whether the machine shop is just going to do in-house work or is it also going to seek outside work.

However, you will still find many companies that only do metal fabrication and outsource their machining work. At the other end of the spectrum, some companies do sell themselves as being a true one-stop shop, with both extensive machining and fabricating capacity. Having a wide range of machines enables the company to work for a wide range of industries and meet most of its customers’ manufacturing needs. And having open capacity to quickly respond to customers ensures the company has the ability to take on new opportunities to drive growth. A harmonious marriage of CNC machining and sheet-metal fabricating equipment depends on identifying the right process and the right price for every part.

Adding metal fabricating to machining services Adding metal fabricating and assembly services to existing machining services is not a common occurrence from what I have seen while visiting metalworking engineering companies around South Africa. I have seen many companies that have added extra services and equipment to their existing machining or fabricating services but very few that have added the full service offering of the various processes required for metal fabrication.

That is until I visited Jovi Engineering and sister company Red Hot Profiles & Laser Services, based in Elsburg, Gauteng.

The Kafo VMC is the largest CNC machine in the Jovi Engineering machine shop

A plate being machined

Jovi Engineering was established in 1984 by two brothers, Victor and Jose Da Silva. Life for the Da Silva family started in Portugal before their Dad decided to immigrate to South Africa, first spending a few years in neighbouring Mozambique. Dad was also a mentor to the two boys before deciding to return to Portugal.

Jovi Engineering is your typical company that started off in a garage situation and through hard work and determination has grown into a respected company. Sometimes the business might be a dream of the owner/s or it is started through force of circumstances. Usually there will be one or even two clients if you are lucky. Victor is the driving force and leader of a company that will reach the 40-year milestone in 2024. Brother Jose left the company to run his own business some years back and only returned back to the family-orientated business two years ago.

Other family members include Victor's sons and daughter Richard, Jean-Paul and Sonia, nephew Tristan and fiancé Cindy. All play vital and supporting roles in the company.

Victor is a qualified fitter and turner and still has a hands-on attitude to the CNC machining side. While visiting he was measuring components, carrying out visual inspections, explaining processes to staff and of course delving into the CNC machines with the operators. No doubt operating the machines and setting up is also second nature to Victor. His vast knowledge of machining and things ‘machine shop’ and general engineering has seen Jovi Engineering grow from strength to strength.

The company also has three Takisawa lathes

Components either get refurbished or are manufactured new at Jovi Engineering

"Jovi Engineering is a vibrant mechanical engineering company operating in accordance with international quality management system standards. Over the years Jovi Engineering has progressed and grown dramatically, and is now considered to be one of the most respected engineering companies operating in the East Rand. This can be directly contributed to Jovi Engineering's use of innovation, technology and the need to continuously find better ways to improve the quality of Jovi Engineering's products and the services offered to our customers."

"Initially only specialising with pneumatics and general mechanical engineering, we now offer a wide variety of general engineering products including the manufacturing of pneumatic linear actuators, fabrication repairs to earth moving equipment, CNC machining, multi-surface machining, full 4-axis machining and manufacturing of moulds."

"Our customer base includes companies such as De Beers, Macsteel, Trident SA, as well as many other well-known and established organisations in the mining and other general engineering industries. Our products are used in both the local and international markets including areas such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana."

The company now has three CNC milling machines, all with 4-axis capabilities, and three CNC lathes. All sorts of components are machined on them including plates, bushes, shafts, slides, barrels and valve bodies.

Base plates that have been cut at Red Hot Profiles & Laser Services and then machined and welded at Jovi Engineering

Components ready to be assembled

"One of the main products we produce for a client are the pneumatic linear actuators that are used in mining operations and not limited to one raw material that is excavated or mined. We manufacture all the components for this product that range from a 100ml actuator to a 550ml size. This includes the pedestals and cleavers. The only component used on the product that we buy in is a fibre glass sleeve. We have a dedicated assembly area for this product and a large storeroom so that we can supply the customer off-the-shelf."

"The actuator does comprise of a top and bottom plate and the lengthy delivery time of these plates from suppliers was an influencing factor in us starting up our metal fabricating business."

New company offering metal fabrication servicesEstablished in July 2005 Red Hot Profiles & Laser Services is a business offering laser cutting, profile cutting, high-definition plasma cutting, guillotine cutting, press brake bending and fabrication services. Sister company to Jovi Engineering and located on the same factory site the company was established not only to create the opportunity to seek new clients and increase turnover but also to take the frustration out of long delivery times of plate components needed for its pneumatic linear actuators.

Pedestals cut, machined and welded between the two companies

"One of the main products we produce for a client are the pneumatic linear actuators that are used in mining operations and not limited to one raw material that is excavated or mined. We manufacture all the components for this product that range from a 100ml actuator to a 550ml size. This includes the pedestals and cleavers. The only component used on the product that we buy in is a fibre glass sleeve. We have a dedicated assembly area for this product and a large storeroom so that we can supply the customer off-the-shelf."

"You soon get a bad name if you cannot deliver as promised. The top and bottom plates would be profile cut and then drilled and chamfered on our CNC machines before assembly. Our first metal fabrication machine that we purchased was therefore a profile cutter. The Burney CNC controlled machine can cut metal thicknesses between 6mm and 300mm and the bed can accommodate plates of 11 000mm by 2 300mm," explained Richard Da Silva, Victor Da Silva's eldest son and who is responsible for running the metal fabrication business.

"I joined the company in 1999 shortly after leaving school and Dad has been my mentor. Initially I was a ‘helper’ in the CNC machine shop but as time progressed I learned to operate and programme the CNC machines," continued Richard.

"Our decision to go into metal fabrication was exciting but also stressful for all of us. We had metalworking experience but none on the fabrication side. The learning curve was big but if we look at where we are today it was a wise decision."

"Equally decisive in our decision making has been that we have covered all the main processes needed for metal fabrication and not limited ourselves to profiling or laser cutting, for example. We now have equipment that covers cutting, bending, profiling, guillotining and rolling. We have also invested in a Fanuc robot welder. The time that this robotic welder saves us on the fabrication of the pedestals needed for the actuators, is amazing. But it is not only doing this work. It welds other fixtures and housings that we require."

The company has also invested in a Fanuc robot welder

Profile and plasma cutting is also offered by Red Hot Profiles & Laser

"It is also remarkable to note how many fabrication orders also require machining and welding processes as well. A weldment frequently requires precision machining for critical features. The two businesses synergise more than they are separate, and this is seen most clearly during a walk through the CNC machining shop."

"After the installation of the profile cutter we then invested in a Trumpf CO2 laser and a press brake followed by an Amada 4kW CO2 laser and then a Bystronic laser. We now have two further Durma press brakes and the working range is from 80 tons up to 220 tons and a width of up to 3 200mm."

"Our high-definition plasma cutting covers material thicknesses from 2mm up to 75mm and guillotining is 1mm to 12mm up to lengths of 2 500mm. We also have CO2, TIG, ARC and spot welding machines so we are very well equipped."

Two of the older laser machines

Press brakes and the working range is from 80 tons up to 220 tons and a width of up to 3 200mm

New 12kW Bodor fibre laser"The most recent addition to our equipment line-up is a 12kW Bodor fibre laser, installed earlier this year. The new Bodor P4020 fibre laser, supplied by Integral Machine Tools, has a table size of 4 000mm by 2 000mm and will provide the company with a significant boost in productivity and allow us to offer better laser cutting lead times. Every increase in power delivers a cleaner cut edge, especially on mild steel, which forms the majority of our throughput. We can now cut mild steel up to 30mm thick."

"We cut all the different materials but mild steel is by far our biggest metal type that we cut. Approximately half of the mild steel tonnage is stainless steel. We should be increasing our monthly tonnage with the introduction of the Bodor. An added advantage, because of the advanced technology used in fibre lasers these days as compared to more than 10 years ago when we purchased our first CO2 laser, is that we can now laser cut thicker material faster. This will also shorten our delivery times."

The Da Silva family

However, what truly sets this company apart cannot be found in the equipment itself. Diversification and expansion of machining and fabricating capabilities have been driven in part by adhering to one central idea. Whether you work as a job shop service centre, custom fabricator or OEM, your business grows and shrinks within the market it represents. It is therefore all important to spread the portfolio of clients and the industries that they operate in. This lessens the burden or risk of relying on one industry or client.

For further details contact Jovi Engineering / Red Hot Profiles & Laser Services onTEL: 011 824-0439 or visit https://www.redhotlaser-jovieng.co.za