GlobalSupplier - Daimler

More documents

Recommendations

Info

18 South Africa Business SMA Engineering opens EL plant Pure piping AIRCONDITIONING and heating pipe manufacturers, SMA Engineering, have just opened a new plant in East London to supply their high-quality pipes for the Mercedes-Benz C-class, and scooped an additional bonus by winning an order for pipes for the new Mercedes-Benz E-class. SMA’s Managing Director, Walter Schick, said the company’s Backnang plant in Baden-Wurttemberg near Stuttgart supplied air-conditioning and heating pipes to Mercedes-Benz in Germany. When DaimlerChrysler decided to manufacture the W203 in South Africa, SMA was invited to South Africa to see if they could establish a plant in East London. The initial investment of R15,4-million to renovate an existing building, buy new equipment and train staff increased to R27-million in October 2000 when the company decided to build a custom-built plant. Of that amount, R12-million was spent on the site and the building, and R15-million on equipment. “I am pleased to announce that today we have received new orders to supply the new W211 E-class which we will be exporting from this plant,” he said. Indus investment. An international listed company, Indus, which bought a majority shareholding in SMA Automotive in Backnang last year, fully supported the partnership with DaimlerChrysler as well as the need to locate the plant in East London. Dr Winfried Kill, Chief Executive of Indus Holding AG, said he was deeply impressed with what had been achieved since January when the establishment of the plant was first discussed. “It is unbelievable what has been established in such a short period,” he said. Indus, based near Cologne, has an investment policy to buy majority shares of small and medium companies that produce capital goods. “At present we have majority shares in 35 companies, each one operating in a specialist field without any connection between them. Each maintains its own independence and flexibility”, said Dr Kill. “In 2001 we expect Indus Holding to turnover DM1,26-billion. The companies in our portfolio have 4 000 employees and in the last five years we have had an average compounded growth rate of 20%.” Highest quality. SMA has earned the highest quality standard available for the automobile industry - the new ISO/TS 16949, which brings together the standards of the European VDA6 system and the American Quality Standards system. Senior President: Audit of the German-based certifying authority, International Cert, Armin Obstbaum, said the certification was positive proof that South Africa could be a base for auto suppliers capable and competitive enough to be global players. “This is the result of good organisation and teamwork within the organisation at all levels,” Obstbaum said. He praised SMA’s General Manager, Stephen van
Guests at the opening of the new SMA Engineering plant in East London are shown around by the General Manager, Stephen van Niekerk. Niekerk, for proving to be an excellent coach. “Continuous improvement processes, a modern environment and way of thinking were important aspects that have been taken into account.” Example of Extended Enterprise. DCSA’s Manager for Non-Production Purchasing and Services, Jos van Dyk, said the announcement by Daimler- Chrysler that the Mercedes- Benz W203 C-class would be manufactured in East London for world markets was met with some doubts among major component manufacturers in Europe. “In this context, it was a surprise to receive a phone call from Mr Schick, clearly committed to supporting our programme. “He scheduled a short visit to find out for himself. At that stage he wasn’t sure if he should engage in a joint venture with another company or extend his German factory to Business East London,” Van Dyk said. Buying a house in a different country is not easy - starting a new factory on a different continent “is a different story”, is how he put it. Van Dyk took Schick on a tour of East London and Port Elizabeth, and a week later, Schick called saying he had bought premises, and was converting them into an SMA factory. The plant was started in February 2000 with seven employees to supply the W203 line. “Today he has a staff complement of 90. Not only has the staff grown, but the factory has been extended from a small beginning to this new 3000 square metres state of the art factory, which achieved the ISO 9001 certification in August. All manufacturing is done to DaimlerChrysler and international standards,” said Van Dyk. He added that SMA had shown itself to be committed, innovative and globally 19 competitive. “DCSA is proud to be associated with SMA and our partnership is a leading example of our Extended Enterprise philosophy. With the basics now in place, we see unlimited potential for SMA to market themselves to other Original Equipment Manufacturers in SA. DCSA will give its support whenever possible in the marketing process via the automotive cluster,” he said. SMA’s Managing Director, Walter Schick.
Page 1 and 2: South Africa Issue No. 4/ 2001 Glob
Page 3 and 4: Editorial Facing the New Year with
Page 5 and 6: was able to provide strong support
Page 7 and 8: Germany, US, Brazil, and South Afri
Page 9 and 10: Japan data will be entered for this
Page 11 and 12: failure parts per million or warran
Page 13 and 14: New MEP Structure January 2002 MEP/
Page 15 and 16: The Environment Wins with Innovativ
Page 17: � Web-enabled industrialization p
Page 21 and 22: Business Simon Egeler Guideman Mbin
Page 23 and 24: their fixed costs, and to share ben
Page 25 and 26: Awards DaimlerChrysler Natural Fibr
Page 27 and 28: Awards 27 DCSA wins President's awa
Page 29 and 30: Gerd Kopanski News Molan Pino The D
Page 31 and 32: News Freightliner has launched Smar

GlobalSupplier - Daimler

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?