OVERVIEW Manufacturing
OVERVIEW Manufacturing Glass group expansion creates 300 jobs. SECTOR INSIGHT Manufacturers are responding to global trends. Ardagh Group is a large multinational with 63 metal and glass-production facilities in 16 countries, with more than 20 000 employees. The group’s 2022 acquisition of Consol Glass created Ardagh Glass Packaging – Africa, and led to immediate investment in an expansion of the glass-container plant in Nigel, Gauteng. The two new furnaces that have been added to the facility, at a cost of R3-billion, are expected to create 300 new jobs and have made it the biggest of its kind in Africa. Other Gauteng facilities of the group are located at Wadeville and Clayville and there is a Western Cape factory in Bellville. The group’s other continental assets are in Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria. Another company to make an investment in Gauteng is TFG, with the opening of a clothing manufacturing facility in downtown Johannesburg. Workers at the Nugget Street factory are making T-shirts for the Jet brand and blankets and bags for various CSI projects. Up to 40 hearing-impaired students from the St Vincent School for the Deaf are being trained and employed at the factory. TFG, which counts Foschini, TotalSports and Markhams among its brands, has been buying up clothing factories for nearly a decade and is now in a position to respond more quickly to fashion trends than when it was more dependent on imports. Among TFG’s acquisitions were Prestige Clothing Maitland and Prestige Clothing Caledon. The group plans to increase the percentage of locally made clothing items from the current level of 35% to 55%. Two stockwatchers in the Financial Mail (FM) have referenced trends that are worth watching, and noted that certain companies are gearing up to respond. Marc Hasenfuss noted a “vibrant sprawl of niche packaging operations” in supporting Caxton, previously a company ONLINE RESOURCES Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association: www.caia.co.za Manufacturing Circle: www.manufacturingcircle.co.za South African Textile Federation: www.texfed.co.za associated with printing and publishing only, as a stock pick. Niches include flexible packaging (for wine bladders) and cups for takeaway drinks. The growing home delivery market post-Covid is driving the need for more containers. Another FM correspondent, Anthony Clark, praised Omnia Holdings for its focus on “future farming”, and predicted a good year for agriculture in 2024. Sappi has spent R7.7-billion on expanding its dissolving pulp plant in KwaZulu-Natal. The project aims to boost the annual production capacity of dissolving pulp (DP) at Saiccor Mill by an additional 110 000 tons annually, taking production to 890 000 tons a year and reinforcing the company’s position as the world leader in the manufacture of Lyocell, a cutting-edge material of the future. Lyocell is a form of rayon consisting of cellulose fibres made from dissolving pulp that is reconstituted by dry jet-wet spinning. The fully biodegradable and compostable fibre is used to make textiles. ■ SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2024 42 PHOTO: Ardagh Glass Packaging – Africa
OVERVIEW Manufacturing: automotive BMW celebrated 50 years of making cars in South Africa in 2023. During the celebrations around the 50th anniversary of making vehicles at its Rosslyn Plant in Tshwane, BMW Group announced that from 2024 the BMW X3 will be made as a plug-in hybrid for export. This will entail an investment of R4.2-billion in adapting the factory to electrical specifications. More than 300 employees will receive specialised training at the plant, which was BMW’s first-ever foreign facility. Since then, Plant Rosslyn has produced more than 1.6-million vehicles to date and exported them to more than 40 countries worldwide, including 14 African nations. Apart from BMW, Pretoria is also home to Nissan and Ford. The Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) is a project of the Gauteng Province, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and the City of Tshwane. Ford Motor Company has initiated discussions about the feasibility of developing a sophisticated rail corridor between Gauteng and the Eastern Cape because the company assembles diesel engines in Gqeberha, pictured. Ford wants to send parts to Pretoria and export cars through the Port of Gqeberha. Ford makes engines for the Ford Ranger pickup and Everest SUV at its Struandale plant and it has committed to invest R600-million for modernising and growing its local operations, which employ about 850 people. A further R5.2-billion will enable hybrid-electric Ranger bakkies to be built in Gauteng. The 520 963m² facility of Volkswagen South Africa in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage) is one of four plants worldwide that makes right-hand-drive Polos but the only one in the world that makes the Polo GTI. Both the Coega Special Economic Zone and the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) have areas dedicated to automotive and automotive components manufacture. Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s new C-Class project (W206) has sparked several other related investments, which collectively will create 2 078 new jobs over two years at the East London plant. Home-grown manufacturer of powertrain and catalytic converter assembly systems, Jendamark, exports to 18 countries from its facility in Gqeberha. Continental Tyre South Africa is producing a ONLINE RESOURCES Automotive Industry Development Centre: www.aidc.co.za Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council: www.naamsa.co.za National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers: www.naacam.org.za SECTOR INSIGHT Ford is investing R5.2-billion to build hybrid-electric Rangers. 19-inch tyre for the first time at its New Brighton facility in Port Elizabeth and Isuzu SA has completed its consolidation project, with truck and bakkie manufacturing now taking place at its new headquarters in nearby Struandale. The Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) has been extended to 2035, 15 years beyond its original expiry date. State support for the industry has helped it thrive, but manufacturers are expected to increase local content levels. The industry itself is looking to Africa for new markets and is urging national government to release policy guidelines on electric vehicles. ■ PHOTO: Ford Motor Company 43 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2024
