LHL ENGINEERING was established in February 1969 as support for the German imported LHL axel as used in the logistics industry. LHL has established itself as a good brand boasting international quality ratings by working with ISO standards. The centrally located factory at New Germany, 15km from the Port of Durban, offers > 3000m² of production area and is ideally situated in close proximity to all major road links to the various regions of South Africa.
Over the years LHL Engineering has built up a solid reputation in terms of its management and the quality of both products manufactured as well as services rendered. LHL Engineering caters for all types of fabrication, using various grades of steel. This ranges from carbon through to 3CR12, 304SS, 316SS, titanium and other exotics.
Facilities include bending, cutting, and rolling with a 120 ton press, a 3 metre guillotine, and rolls able to handle 25mm plate. The workshop has a lifting capacity of 10 tons via its overhead cranes, which have a 5 metre under hook working clearance.
Major Customers
We specialise in the fabrication of stainless steel tanks, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, reactors and piping. Major customers are in the sugar, chemical, pharmaceutical, petro-chemical, wood and paper, water and sanitation, transport, food and allied industries.
The majority of our products are manufactured for the South African market and the international market is supplied on a project basis. Some of our international customers are Bayer, BASF, Buckman Laboratories, Coca Cola, Dow Corning, Tisand, Rohm and Haas, Sara Lee, Unilever, Degussa, Cray Valley Products, Hoechst, and Scott Bader.
We have successfully exported pressure vessels and other equipment including complete plants to Australia, the Far East, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Mauritius, Seychelles, the Comores Islands, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates.
Our Dedicated Team
Our manufacturing team consists of highly skilled employees who continually meet the high quality standards our company is committed to. Our products are manufactured by a dedicated team who specialise in structural steel fabrication. Our management team has more than 100 years combined experience in the industry and an open door, participative style is practiced. As a level 1 BBBEE contributor, our staff policy is to afford opportunities to employees who exhibit the commitment and skills with particular reference to addressing past inequalities. We have ongoing in-house and formal training, which is outsourced to internationally recognised training organisations. The well-trained, happy workforce ensures stability and continuity.
Design and Drawing Facilities
In-house, as well as outsourced design and drawing facilities, are offered, using the following computer programmes for vessel calculations:
Quality Control
The quality control department maintains strong Quality principles ensuring that stringent standards are maintained in accordance with ISO 9001-2015, ISO 3834-2, ASME VIII Div.1 Appendix 10 and client's requirements.
These systems are regularly audited ensuring compliance and mitigating any potential risks.
We have highly trained and experienced internal inspectors who promote a high standard of Quality and customer expectations whilst not compromising Safety to achieve it.
Where required, mandatory third party inspection authorities are used to represent client's inspection requirements.
New Opportunities
LHL Engineering started out in Manchester Road Pinetown in rented premises. Our rapid growth necessitated the purchase of larger premises and the company moved to their current position in Richmond Avenue. As our company continued to grow a second workshop bay was added and overhead cranes installed. In the early 90s LHL Engineering bought the premises in the name of Rich Steel Properties cc and continued to make improvements both to the property and market share.
The South African Government is pushing hard for increased local content in all components and equipment delivered in the country. This call has resulted in various companies looking towards LHL Engineering for assistance as their quality rating puts the company in a good position to take advantage of these new opportunities.
Consequently, LHL Engineering intends to increase the scope of the services offered by taking advantage of the existing facilities, which are currently underutilised. Plans include the introduction of structural and general steel fabrication as part of the LHL Engineering basket thus broadening the scope of work to heavy engineering. Some of the growth areas include: Transnet, ports, harbours, mining in Africa, water, infrastructure and spare components, with a greater emphasis on exports.
The new services will have a significant improvement in the number of people that are employed by LHL Engineering.