Steel Industry Marking
Currently, the stainless-steel industry employs 114,000 people and is worth around R40bn to the South African economy from the primary production of stainless steel through to finished products, handling 500,000 tons per annum (tpa) in steel sheets, plates, and coils. South Africa imports a further 40,000 tpa of which 150,000 tpa is consumed, and 390,000 tpa exported. The global stainless-steel market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% between 2018-2022, some of the key emerging trends driving the growth of the segments within the steel industry include an increase in the use of GFRP rebars, increasing production of secondary steel, and growing demand for steel and stainless-steel scrap.
Labeling or identification of steel products is an absolute necessity in today’s global steel market. But when, where, and how, that occurs can vary from product to product. The specific product (shape), purpose of the identification (in-house vs. customer specifications), stage in the manufacturing process (i.e., hot vs. cold), and what the labeling is subjected to downstream all have to be considered.
Note that marking or labelling methods can include: traditional labels (paper/plastic/vinyl); stenciling (ink/paint); stamping (die punch/dot-peen); RFID (radio frequency tags); direct part mark (etching/laser) as well as other technologies. And the generic term “label” includes identification via color-coding, man-readable text, barcodes and logos.
We can assist with the direct part marking, or supply solutions and various tracking systems which can track their items through various processes which include: Galvanising, Shot-Blasting, Paint Processes, Red-Oxide, etc. In addition to this, we can assist and supply various tracking systems – allowing the clients to have real time production feedback. In addition to this we can provide labels, which can be printed internal by means of a label printer as well as laser engrave tamper evident labels in house.
Once we have done a site visit to identify the customers’ traceability needs throughout their manufacturing process, we will ensure that the most suitable solution will be provided. Marking or Labelling as well as attentive RFID are being used to track materials through the production processes. The labels or markings (2D) are printed once all materials have been captured or allocated to a specific job. This Label or 2D code can then be scanned, tracking this through the various processes. Alternatively, the markings could be used for general I.D. – or once received on site, used to meet drawing numbers, allocations or positioning, etc.
Traceability Solutions offer various tagging systems, we have Tag solutions that cover various areas of industry, these include: Annealing processes, Galvanising, Asset I.D., High / Low Temperature environments, and more.
Our systems have been tried and tested within various sectors of the industry, even through the harshest environments with successful results. Having the biggest global network and brands ensures that we stay ahead of the market, introducing new products and solutions no matter the application.
