On March 20th, 2024, ABICOR BINZEL celebrated a very special milestone: The reopening of the South African subsidiary, Kempton Park. ABICOR BINZEL has been active in South Africa for more than 35 years. With the brand-new location there are now even more opportunities to support the region economically and to supply it with welding technology from the world market leader in arc welding.
Among the high-ranking guests were representatives of the Industrie-Beteiligungs- Gesellschaft (IBG), Cologne, Germany. This is the holding company to which all ABICOR BINZEL subsidiaries and other brands in the fields of welding technology, tungsten components and construction chemicals belong. Ulrich Hocker, Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee of the IBG Group, spoke at the opening ceremony. Philip Röhrig, COO of the ABICOR GROUP, also welcomed guests from local distributors, sales companies and manufacturers from the heavy engineering sector like Alstom, Gibela, Afrit Trailers, WBHO, Steinmuller, AFROX, Babcock and TRANSNET. Alf Schmidt, IBG Group, and Simone Pohl, CEO of the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were also present.
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Expanded product portfolio and cutting-edge technology
After the initial speeches, the more than 75 guests were introduced to a wide range of products in the in-house Innovation and Technology Center (ITC), including welding torches, welding chemicals, fume extraction technology and power sources. For the first time in South Africa, new ABICOR BINZEL products were launched in the fields of fume extraction, automation and partial automation. Some of the latest innovations such as the ABICAR welding tractor and the new welding cobot, the iBOTone®, were presented. In the future, the ABIBUG® 300 orbital welding machine and the new iROB® power source series for robot welding will also be launched on the South African market.
The guests were particularly interested in the xFUME® FLEX welding fume extraction system used in the ITC. Thanks to its use, the guests were optimally protected from hazardous welding fumes during the demonstrations. ABICOR BINZEL's partner Yaskawa Southern Africa was also a great support during the event and provided a robot for demonstration.
Along with live welding, the guests were able to experience for themselves how quickly and easily the cobot can be programmed and weld. As in Germany, there is also a shortage of skilled welders in South Africa – especially in small and medium-sized companies – therefore collaborative robots like the iBOTone® are a useful investment to help manufacturing companies with welding tasks.
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The theme for the ITC is a green-based footprint, where aspects of the environment and sustainability were highlighted as these are often not directly associated with welding technology. ABICOR BINZEL focuses on long service life, resulting in long product life and lower investment costs. It also ensures that they are easy to repair. ABICOR BINZEL also markets the EWR 2 gas management system, which actively reduces shielding gas consumption during manual and automated welding and automatically guarantees ideal shielding gas coverage at all times.
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Close cooperation within the ABICOR GROUP
Since February 2024 ABICOR BINZEL is part of the new ABICOR GROUP – a cooperation of the brands of the IBG Group in the fields of cutting, welding, systems and components. At the opening ceremony in South Africa ABICOR BINZEL was supported by two strong brands of the ABICOR GROUP: Thermacut and HERR Industry System. Thermacut, represented by Co. Torch Tech Supplies, was also exhibiting a wide range of products. They showcased the EX-TRAFIRE® SD and EX-TRAFIRE® HD plasma cutting systems, as well as various torches, spare parts and consumables. Welding was performed with a HERR Industry System welding cell and table. HERR also presented a mobile extraction unit with two flexible extraction arms.
The reopening of the South African site gives ABICOR BINZEL the opportunity to make an important contribution to the economic growth of the region. With modern automated or semi-automated solutions ABICOR BINZEL wants to support the region with regard to the lack of skilled workers and offer first-class welding technology.
