From Refractory Anchors to Global Expertise: The Journey of Shevon Engineering
Miles Simpson, the Managing Director of Shevon Engineering (est. 2022), began his career in 1985 with a large refractory company that specialized in sales, manufacturing, and installation of refractory anchors. After 34 years in the business, Miles moved to Antec, Sydney Australia to manage a refractory anchor production plant for a few years before returning to found Shevon Engineering in Johannesburg.
Refractory anchors play a critical role in various smelter applications, including those in steel and stainless-steel plants, aluminum production, glass manufacturing, petrochemical plants, cement and lime production, as well as platinum and copper smelters. The anchors are either hand welded or stud welded (some are a bolted type). Stud welding includes many thousands of studs in boilers and anchors in furnaces.
A History of Innovation in Manufacturing
The first company Miles helped had successfully produced refractory anchors made from various grades of stainless steel imported from world-renowned suppliers. Initially, they manufactured anchors using eccentric presses. Later, the company invested in its first CNC wire bender from France, capable of forming anchors in diameters ranging from 5mm to 12mm. Eight years after that, the company added a second CNC machine imported from the USA.
Purchasing wire for CNC-manufactured anchors requires special consideration, as it differs from the standard pressed material. At the company’s peak, they consumed around 20 tonnes of stainless steel every four months.
The company in Sydney operated 3 CNC machines and multiple presses, consuming around 10 tons of stainless steel per month, and sold the Koco range of stud welding equipment from Germany.
Expanding in South Africa
Miles secured the South African agency for Taylor stud welding from the UK in 1995, which included a range of various stud welding machines for a vast range of stud welding applications outside the normal refractory anchoring, this included the following industries: Shipbuilding, vehicle manufacturing, transformers, enclosures in the sheet-metal industry, sign manufacturing, defense industry, and general engineering. In the mining industry, wear studs and ferrules are supplied for wear protection on earth-moving equipment.
After returning to South Africa, Miles secured the Taylor stud welding agency for Africa.
The range of equipment includes Capacitor Discharge (CD), Drawn-Arc (DA), and Short Cycle (SC), later introduced Heinz Soyer Stud Welding from Germany and supplied Inverter-type machines with SRM technology for Radial Magnetic-field stud welding.
Most companies are now producing the inverter type stud welding equipment, and moving away from the transformer drive machines. Some clients requested equipment from China, which is imported and supported to suit the client’s requirements. Refractory anchors can be supplied in the following material grades from various manufacturers globally: 304, 316, 310 stainless steel, 253ma, and Inconel 601.
Most CD studs are imported and over the years sold millions of the CD studs, DA studs are produced locally in South Africa. Ceramic ferrules used in Drawn-Arc stud welding are mostly imported along with aluminum flux balls. Other products supplied include the Encapsulated Speed-clips and Insulation Pins.
Over the years, Miles has gained experience in the stud welding field, working on many projects on the African continent, Jakarta, Indonesia, Sydney, Perth, New Caledonia, and Sao Luis Brazil.