Cast It wide … Jens Eichhoff with the halves of an aluminum mould at his company’s premises in Benoni. The moulds are first cast at a foundary ann then are machined, polished and assembled at the plant

Cast It Mould & Tool gets started

JENS Eichhoff has started Cast It Mould & Tool in Benoni, a business specialising in the production of cast aliminum moulds for the roto moulding sector.

The venture is basically a direct descendant of Castec, the company of the late Mike Herald who for close to 40 years set the standard in South Africa for production of cast alumium moulds for roto. Jens is himself a product of that unofficial ‘academy’, having worked at Castec for 14 years.

One of Mike Herald’s abilities had been his tendency to very actively debate the pros and cons of mould design work where he encouraged employees to explain and justify what they were doing, the result of which was that Eichhoff was upskilled quite rapidly; he had to a large extent been managing Castec over the past few years.

Now Jens has purchased much of the Castec plant (the business shut after Mike passed away), including grinding, polishing and other metalworking equipment, and set up on his own in Benoni, not far off the R21 passing through Kempton Park.

Jens had originally sailed with Herald, then spent an extended period in Namibia and had been working as a cabinet maker in Johannesburg prior to the commencement of his 14-year ‘apprenticeship’ at Castec.

Jens handles the design drawings and the mould blanks then go out to a nearby foundry for casting, following which the Cast It team manages the machining, polishing and assembly of the moulds. The main feature of aluminum moulds as used in the roto industry is that they achieve far finer detail, which can apply to either textured or smooth surface finishes and is also popular for logos and other signage. The alternative, production of roto moulds in mild steel, is less costly but achieving surface detail is limited.

With the increasing competition in the roto tank market in South Africa, several of the roto moulders are gravitating towards the non-tank product area, for the manufacture of a wide range of goods where improved surface finish is necessary for consumer acceptance, which is exactly the market that Cast It is now supplying.

Jens Eichhoff 082 390 1969