Manufacturing

Manufacturers are investing in new plants and offices.

Three has become one in Centurion, where Montego Pet Nutrition has consolidated its Gauteng operations.

With its main plant located in the Eastern Cape town of Graaff-Reinet, Montego has become one of South Africa’s most successful brands and expects that its R30-million facility at Knoppieslaagte in Centurion will allow it to double production and there is room for the current staffing complement of 147 to grow. The company’s new 21 600m² complex includes a dry-food factory, a warehouse, a testing laboratory and an administration block. The production focus will be on Montego’s Monty & Me Essential range, as well as manufacturing for contract clients.

Ford South Africa’s goal of reaching production capacity of 200 000 vehicles per year is a step closer, thanks to an investment in automation at its Silverton Assembly Plant in Tshwane.

An amount of R15.8-billion has been invested in a range of new facilities, including a 44 000m2 Body Shop, a supporting warehouse and a Stamping Plant. The Ford Ranger is produced at the plant in a wide variety of configurations including single cab, supercab and double cab, as well as left-hand drive and right-hand drive models. Welding is done by robots, as are many of the other functions on the production line that features 493 robots.

In response to Ford’s investment, auto component and battery manufacturer Metair will establish a new logistics facility at Silverton. Several Metair subsidiaries, including Hesto Harnesses, Unitrade, Automould and Lumotech, have signed agreements to supply Ford with a wide range of products.

All of Gauteng’s large automobile manufacturers are investing in new model production. Nissan is spending R3-billion on production of the Navara pick-up vehicle. Other major investments include R6.1-billion by BMW at Rosslyn and R260-million by BMW on an expanded campus at Midrand. UD Trucks, a part of the Volvo group, will assemble the Croner heavy commercial vehicle at Rosslyn.

Gauteng is also home to a strong automotive components industry, together with several bus and truck assembly plants. These include Scania, TFM Industries and MAN Truck and Bus South Africa, as well as the Chinese truck manufacturer FAW, which owns an assembly plant in Isando.

Beijing Automotive Works (BAW) assembles taxis at Springs. Armoured cars are produced by the Paramount Group. DCD Protected Mobility manufactures armoured cars in Boksburg, which are branded as Vehicle Mounted Mine Detectors. In nearby Benoni, BAE Systems OMC designs and manufactures protected vehicles.

Manufacturing contributes 14% to Gauteng’s real economy output and provides 40% of South Africa’s manufacturing overall. Manufacturing related to the historically important mining industry still plays a key role in the Gauteng economy.

Employer organisations like the Manufacturing Circle and government at national and provincial levels are engaging in initiatives to grow the sector, including incentives such as the Manufacturing and Competitiveness Enhancement Programme (MCEP) of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic).

Sectors that have received support include plastics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, metal fabrication, transport equipment and agri-processing. The Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII), run by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on behalf of the dtic, promotes technology development.

More than half of the companies operating in the food and beverage sector in South Africa are in Gauteng, including Nestlé, Tiger Brands, Pioneer Foods, RCL, AVI and Astral. There are approximately 4 000 food processing companies in the province, employing more than 100 000 people.

Although there are more than 200 pharmaceutical firms in the country, large companies dominate the field, with Aspen Pharmacare (34%) and Adcock Ingram (25%) the two key players, followed by Sanofi, Pharmaplan and Cipla Medpro. Among the other big international brands active in Gauteng are Merck, which has a 55 000m² plant at Modderfontein, and Pfizer SA, which runs a laboratory in Sandton among its facilities in South Africa.

The Eastern Corridor of Gauteng, centred on the metropole of Ekurhuleni, is consolidating its position in manufacturing by leveraging the advantages of hosting the OR Tambo International Airport and related Special Economic Zones and industrial parks. Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has the greatest concentration of manufacturing enterprises, especially between Wadeville and Alrode, south-west of Alberton. Germiston is the country’s biggest rail junction and Transnet Engineering has invested hundreds of millions of rands in new equipment at its facility there. Aeroton is the site of SEWEURODRIVE’s new head office and factory which will bring

Online Resources

Centre for Advanced Manufacturing: www.cfam.co.za

Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association: www.caia.co.za

Gauteng Department of Economic Development: www.ecodev.gpg.gov.za

Manufacturing Circle: www.manufacturingcircle.co.za under one roof several of the company’s activities which were previously in different parts of the country.

Packaging company

Nampak has metals, plastic, paper and glass operations at various locations. It is the market leader in beverage cans.

In 2022 Ardagh Group bought Consol Glass, South Africa’s biggest glass producer and now controls that company through Ardagh Glass Packaging. Production facilities are located in Clayville, Wadeville and Nigel.

Household products manufacturer Unilever represents an example of the lighter industrial capacity of the East Rand.

The southern portion of Gauteng around Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging is synonymous with steel production. Flat iron is made at the ArcelorMittal plant. Scaw Metals has a chainmaking factory in Vereeniging.

There are 35 aluminium processing firms in Gauteng, involved in both secondary processing to produce foils, cans, bars, rods and sheets, with final fabrication in the form of die-casting and sheet metal work. Within Gauteng, the automotive and packaging industries are the chief consumers of these products. ■