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 e mployees. 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

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. ■