Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies South Africa’s Engineered Systems & Services division has relocated from Isando to a new manufacturing and administration facility in Sebenza, east of Johannesburg. The move has effectively created space for the company’s Chemicals & Consumables division – which has remained in Isando – to grow and hold more stock, while improving the company’s modular plant delivery capability.

“Both divisions have experienced significant market growth in the last seven years, and this reshuffle will allow us to continue this trend and keep up with our customers’ growing needs,” says Wayne Taljaard, General Manager at Veolia’s Engineered Systems & Services division. “We now have four times the workshop space and about double the storage area, which means we can handle more projects simultaneously and improve plant delivery time.”

The new facility allows for improved process flow through the workshop, from beginning to end of the manufacturing process. This flow leads to improved production efficiency – a result of the ability to effectively manage progress within each process area, as well a controlled environment for work tasks. Improved efficiencies as a result of the structured approach to manufacturing will allow the workshop to increase throughput without straining resources.

The chemicals division wasted no time reshuffling its floor plans to accommodate a larger stock holding. “Once we had the facility to ourselves, we worked 12-hour shifts for an entire month to grow our stock holding,” says Hein van Niekerk, General Manager at Veolia’s local Chemicals & Consumables division.

The division has also optimised its delivery and dispatch zones to achieve greater flow throughout the facility, enabling an increased production capacity of 120 tons per month. “Thanks to the extra space, we can now service 90% of our customers’ needs within a three-day lead time, and keep a consistent stock holding of up to ten days’ supply – which is nearly double the volume we could accommodate previously,” he says.

The chemicals facility has also installed a new gas scrubber, which has significantly improved working conditions by reducing the presence of chemical gases and improving compliances.

Before Engineered Systems could move in, the division built additional double open plan offices which were completed in May, 2013. Veolia will further install a new testing station that’s capable of verifying complete plants before handover to customers.