2016 Sassda Columbus Stainless Steel Awards winners announced

Cees van der Burg, Welfit Oddy

This year’s Business Excellence Award, as well as the Overall Winner Award, went to Port Elizabeth-based tank container manufacturer Welfit Oddy. As the only manufacturer of tank containers in South Africa and the second largest tank container manufacturer globally, the company exports 95% of its local production.

Other significant winners were John Cluett, awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the local brewing industry and the development and use of stainless steel in various applications within the food and beverage industry, as well as Diego Sella, also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to Sassda and the stainless steel industry.

John Cluett celebrates winning the 2016 Sassda Columbus Stainless Steel Lifetime Achivement Award flanked by Sassda chairperson Charles Cammell and executive director John Tarboton.

Raising awareness of stainless steel

Looking at the enhanced stature of this year’s awards Sassda executive director John Tarboton says, “After the huge increase in the number of entries and winners, as well as the number of categories, we truly feel that the aim of the awards has been realised; namely to boost the growth and development of the local stainless steel sector. The hype created around the awards also means they’ve been invaluable in terms of raising awareness of stainless steel and its myriad uses and applications within the local and global economy.”

In tandem with the increased number of entries and winners the awards judging panel was doubled in size to 12 industry experts from the fabrication, architectural, environmental, catering and welding sectors among others.

Improvement in award entries

National Stainless Steel Centre customer relations manager Tholwana Mogowane, who was also a judge, comments, “I was interested to see that the mining entries revealed many operators upgrading from mild steel to 3CR12 stainless steel. This shows they now appreciate the long-term cost benefits of stainless steel as opposed to short-term savings on cheaper alternatives like mild steel that has to be replaced far more often.”

She adds that the award entries also revealed that people are no longer sticking to traditional plate or coil stainless steel formats as there’s obviously increasing awareness of the fact that stainless steel can be used in a variety of formats.

Overall, Tarboton comments, “Our aim was to boost the aspirational value of the awards by ensuring that participants saw the clear return on investment that their participation and winning provides. We’ve also embraced a more modern approach to championing stainless steel across the continent and the awards are the perfect embodiment of this,” concludes Tarboton.

2016 Sassda Columbus Stainless Steel Awards winners