Page 21 - ITA Journal 3-2018

Market information
others require large amount of treated water in their production process. Governments are working to provide potable water to wider parts of the countries or private individuals as well.
Despite a shift towards plastic use, water projects are a direct demand driver for the steel industry. This demand lays in the requirements of steel pipelines and steel tubes to connect and distribute water to and from housing, farming and manufacturing entities.
Driving steel demand tomorrow: the automotive industry
Because of economic, political and demographic devel- opments, the demand in the automotive industry is rapidly increasing in the region. Growing incomes and better infrastructure are easing hindrances to mobility, driving rates of car ownership. More attractive credit from nancial institutions has equally helped to push demand for motor vehicles. Regionally the industry has its hotbeds in Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia, with Kenya being the leading country.
Presently, the automotive market in Kenya, as well as all other East African countries, still depends on vehicle imports to meet domestic demand.
About 85 % of imported vehicles are second hand. Kenya is one of the largest buyers of used private and commer- cial vehicles from Japan. However, more and more global OEMs have started to invest in local assembly plants across East Africa.
Earlier this year, the German car manufacturer Volkswa- gen made headlines when it announced a new car assembly plant in Rwanda – the rst ever automotive investment in the small East African country. The plant is projected to produce up to 5,000 units per year across three different models for local sale.
Kenya was already able to attract more diverse automo- tive assembly investments.
As buses are strongly in demand due to being commonly used as means of transport, they are already strongest affected by local production. Imports of fully built up buses have gone down to only 1 % of overall vehicle imports due to operational plants. Local steel demand already exists as Kenyan companies weld metal sheets together to produce vehicle bodies.
In the new vehicle segment, Isuzu and Toyota make up 50% of the total market. This strong presence is equally a result of their fruitful operational assembly plants in the country. ISUZU Trucks Kenya is the biggest assembly plant in the country. It has a total capacity of 6,000
PIPE ID 4.0: MONITORING PIPE PLANTS IN REAL TIME
SCHULER INTRODUCES COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM FOR THE MANUFACTURING OF LARGE PIPES INCLUDING PRODUCT DATA ACQUISITION.
For its spiral pipe plants, Schuler continuously develops optimizations aiming at similar objectives: creating a stable and safe process flow which offers high quality large pipes, low costs of operation and a high degree of automation. This is also true for the company’s latest innovation, Pipe ID 4.0 – a comprehensive process control system for the manufacturing of large pipes in real time featuring a track and trace system, overall equipment efficiency (OEE) monitoring, condition monitoring, smart diagnostics and power monitoring.
Schuler has already implemented machine monitoring in other production lines, e. g. for the manufacturing of railway wheels.