Process engineering project house, Bateman Engineering has recently undergone a group restructure, allowing the company to work more cohesively under a single, consistent global brand
By Ian Armitage
Bateman Engineering (Bateman) is a technologically-driven enterprise serving the minerals and metals industries, globally. Providing a comprehensive range of services from conceptual development through finance and commercial facilitation to design, process engineering, supply of niche technologies and construction and project management, the company has recently undergone a group restructure, which is allowing it to perform more consistently, globally, under a single operating identity.
“We have a new structure that is allowing us to better utilise our in-house resources and technologies,” explains Bateman’s Pieter du Plessis, suggesting that the restructure will help Bateman expand its footprint into mining areas which it believes to possess what he terms “growth opportunities”.
As a result of the new structure, and with Group CEO Eddie du Rand at the helm, Bateman now comprises three strategic business units – Bateman Engineering Projects (BEP), of which Du Plessis is CEO, and which provides process engineering and project management and execution services; Bateman Mineral Recovery (BMR), which is concerned, primarily, with recovery from slag dumps and other waste streams; and Bateman Engineered Technologies (BET ), which focuses on the supply of niche equipment and services to the mineral processing and general industrial sectors.
“We used to provide process engineering and project management and execution services through a number of regional businesses, which tended to operate largely independently of one another. These business units have now been pulled under one umbrella,” continues Du Plessis.
Du Plessis, who was previously CFO of the Bateman Engineering Group, has been with Bateman for almost 20 years, during which time he has held key operational, financial and commercial positions. He has a good understanding of the dynamics of the business and is seen as the ideal candidate to take the new strategic business unit
forward. “I have a good understanding of the process engineering, project and construction industry,” he admits.
His experience is much needed, and appreciated, as Bateman enters a new era.
A new era
As part of the refocus, says Du Plessis, Bateman’s technology and process know-how, which it considers to be a key strength, will now be managed, and made available globally to all Bateman projects, in what he calls “centres of excellence”. He also
explained that while the company will retain the various business units across the globe, their major focus, working under BEP, will be on the execution of projects in their regions.
“In the last few years, the group has grown pretty fast. This rapid growth has been slightly
problematic with some of our business units, which include Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia & South-East Asia, CIS and India, starting to develop a silo mentality,” he explains, stating that he believed this was “hindering” co-operation between the divisions and the achievement of optimal performance.
“It was preventing us from working optimally, so we addressed the situation.”
Du Plessis says this re-organisation has already helped the company balance its workload and better manage its skills resources, with knowledge now moving more freely between projects.
“The worldwide footprint of BEP will be centrally co-ordinated, but each MD will still be
accountable for his own unit,” Du Plessis explains. “With the new structure established and in place, BEP is well positioned to focus on new growth areas.”
Growth potential
So what are the new focus areas? Well, according to Du Plessis, South East Asia and the CIS countries like Russia or Uzbekistan, still have great potential. He says Bateman would like to take advantage of fantastic opportunities in China and India, where the demand for coal and nuclear energy are major drivers.
“There is a growing need for resources in those regions, which is driven by its rapid urbanisation and increased demand for energy, mainly nuclear,” he explains.
“Fortunately Bateman already has an established footprint in these regions and we have had a long involvement with the CIS countries, having done studies and projects for many of the major players in the mining industry in that region.
“I’d be surprised if you can find a mineral we haven’t worked on in our history, so we have a lot to bring to the table,” he continues. “Also, we have the flexibility to move between the commodities.
Some commodities are still doing well despite the credit crunch and, in fact, gold has probably benefited from it.
“Uranium still has life – there are a number of nuclear plants being built and there is still a demand for uranium and we have been focusing on uranium for quite some time.”
On top of that, Du Plessis considers pyrotechnology to be one of Bateman’s most strategic technologies at present, and believes the potential for this technology is vast in Russia, where plants are old and inefficient.
“Efficiency will be the new order and focusing on technology, therefore, will be imperative,” he explains.
Technology focus
Bateman’s technology and knowledge is vast and considered by the company, and Du Plessis, to be a key element of its success. “We have never built or designed a process plant that didn’t work,” he says. “This fact coupled with our years of accumulated
experience and expertise makes us an attractive option indeed.
“Technology is going to become more important than ever and achieving optimal plant
efficiency is top of the agenda these days,” he continues. “Those which offer the most cost-effective processes will thrive in this new economy.”
Du Plessis went onto explain that over its life, Bateman has been involved in both lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) and engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) projects - having carried out both successfully – and that there seems to have been a paradigm shift in the industry that now sees EPCM contracts prevail.
“We are moving away from LSTK projects and opting for more EPCM contracts, which prevent the engineering contractor from solely carrying all the monetary risks involved,” he explains. “While LSTK work is potentially more profitable, it also carries much higher risks, something that contractors have felt in the past few years.
“A number of the junior miners were reliant on LSTK - the banks wanted to know the project was guaranteed and I guess that won us a certain amount of work. But apart from the fact that we were worried about the risk in the high inflationary environment, the credit crunch has seen a number of the juniors disappear. I think for the next year or two most of the projects going ahead will be from the major mining houses, not reliant on funding and, as a rule, they tend to work on an ECPM basis.”
The company’s track record in EPCM projects includes work on Skorpion Zinc in Namibia, Sepon Copper in Laos, and more recently, Letseng Diamonds in Lesotho; the company is also entering into hybrid-type contracts, such as the Ambatovy sulphuric acid project in Madagascar.
“Over the last three to four years, we have focused more on LSTK work, but this strategy has also been reconsidered along with the re-structuring,” explains Du Plessis. “We are excited by the future, and, with our knowledge and skill, we are optimistic of future success.
“We can solve problems and work in very difficult remote areas and we have built plants literally all over the world. “We will not try to become a general contractor - that is not our game. We are process orientated. Over the next five years we will focus on developing more in house patented technology,” he adds.
Thinking further ahead, he concludes: “Those engineering companies that do not have the flexibility to work across borders, both geographic and in terms of new business environments, will eventually disappear. Longer term we have to focus on bringing
down cost cycles and that will ultimately lead to doing more work in low cost/high value areas, and the leveraging of resources that come out of those areas much better than we do now.”
View Digital Corporate Profile of Bateman in Construction Digital June 2009