Tailor-Made upgarde for AH Marais

Dolphin Bay recently designed and installed a tailor-made plant upgrade for client AH Marais and Sons, enabling the company to increase production and satisfy the rising demand for its treated timber.

AH Marais is a family business that started in 1924 and has grown steadily over the years. It now has timber outlets in Robertson, Worcester and Struisbaai, and a treatment plant in Robertson.

The company’s director, Heindrie Marais, approached Dolphin Bay to assist because he has “faith in the quality of our service, and knows we have undertaken several other successful upgrades,” he told the Dolphin Bay Brief.

Heindrie and our sales representative Braam Rust discussed all aspects of the upgrade, considering which elements AH Marais could do themselves, and those with which Dolphin Bay would assist.

Braam organised and managed the upgrade, calling on senior technical advisor Gareth Jantjies, who has engineering expertise, to draw up the designs and assist with the implementation. The installation took one week and operations were halted for two weeks altogether to accommodate the civil construction.

"We installed a wider cylinder, which could take higher volumes of wood, and bigger tanks to contain the higher volumes of Permacure CCA,” explained Braam. “We also redesigned the trolleys so they could carry the maximum bundle size of timber, which eliminated the need to destack and rebundle the wood. These measures significantly reduced the handling time, which constituted a large part of the savings AH Marais is now experiencing."

The upgrade also included: a different plant lay-out; building new walls around the plant; installing a new roof; realigning the piping, and adjusting the electrical installations to fit the new set-up.

“We are very happy with the upgrade, and the process was quick because Dolphin Bay had a precise understanding of our needs,” said Heindrie.

“Thank you for a job well done!”

“Visiting the plant, we are now seeing that higher volumes are being treated,” added Braam. “We are delighted that our customer is satisfied.”

Source: Dolphin Bay Chemicals