Specialist manufacturer of engineering products and components, Saudi Mechanical Industries Company (SMI) is making a mark in the global bronze casting market.

The company, already well known for products from its iron and steel foundries and machining centre, has made advances in bronze casting – both as regards continuous casting and sand casting - within a decade of diversifying into that sector.

“In 2000, SMI made a dramatic and strategic move to launch in-house bronze casting operations,” recalls operations manager Ahmed Khraishi.

“The decision was a step in the right direction, since such vertical integration allowed SMI to maximise the utilisation of material resources through efficient recycling of bronze turnings generated within the company machining centre,” said Khraishi.

SMI’s first-hand experience with foundries started officially in 2003 after the successful commissioning of its continuous cast bronze foundry with annual capacity of 5,000 tonnes. “Our main objective was to satisfy our own requirements of continuously cast bronze bars to manufacture bronze engineered components,” said Khraishi. Today SMI produces bronze bars in more than 20 different brass and bronze alloys and in various sizes and shapes. “Our continuous cast bars and mechanically machined bronze components have reached so far 23 different countries on six continents. We cater to a wide range of industries such as pumps, valves, marine, oil and gas, automotive, steel, construction and power generation” said the official.

Some of the bronze products

“We are proud of the high quality of our bronze products. Since Day One of the bronze operations we established a full-proof quality control system utilisng the latest technologies of metal chemical analysis and mechanical testing in accordance with international standards ASTM B505 and BS1400.”

Range of alloys
The range of bronze and brass alloys produced at SMI includes: aluminum bronzes, nickel aluminum bronzes, tin bronzes, lead-free bronzes, manganese bronzes, red brass and silicon brass.

In 2006 SMI decided to expand its bronze foundry operations by introducing a bronze sand casting foundry. Steve Bastin, SMI chief metallurgist, joined the company to manage this project. With his 40 years’ experience in major bronze foundries in the UK, Bastin spent the first six months at SMI working with his team on putting together the bronze foundry lay-out and choosing production line equipment.

“We went with the best available induction melting furnaces and moulding lines suitable for our products,” he said. In less than 18 months the foundry was commissioned with annual capacity of 3,000 tonnes in the first stage.

“In 2008 the owners of SMI gave us the task to proceed with Stage Two of the foundry involving the addition of 2,000 tonnes of capacity and introducing new non-ferrous alloys for use in products such as valve bodies,” recalled Bastin.

“We observed that one of the biggest advantages of running such a foundry in Saudi Arabia was the availability of locally generated scrap,” added Bastin.

Inside the SMI plant

Copper scrap resources in Saudi are readily available giving the foundry an advantage of easy access to raw material. However the cost is the same as buying scrap copper anywhere in the world since the price followed international commodities markets, mainly LME for copper.

High quality of bronze castings
SMI foundries are capable of producing high-quality bronze castings “just like any world-class foundry in the world,” commented Bastin.  “We are very thorough and systematic in controlling all processes in the foundry from the receipt of raw material to the dispatch of final product.”  

Bastin also said that the company could provide its customers full traceability of their castings with heat numbers and mill test certificate with actual test results of both chemical and mechanical properties.

SMI bronze foundries have been operating successfully for more than 7 years now and are supported by in-house and fully equipped pattern design and manufacturing facilities as well as a modern CNC machining facility equipped with two-, three- and five-axis machines capable of machining various mechanical and industrial components out of continuously casts bars or special bronze sand cast products.

Having received quality certifications ISO 9000 and API TS29001 since 1999, SMI assures its local and global customers that their quality requirements and expectations will be met and exceeded “the first time and every time.”