GlobalSupplier - Daimler

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South Africa News
Atlantis lands R95m deal
Atlantis Foundries, sister company of
DaimlerChrysler, has secured a lucrative
deal worth Euro 12,5 Million (R95-million)
to manufacture 400 first machine stage
raw M111 cylinder block castings a day for
the new Mercedes-Benz C-class 4-cylinder
engines for export to Stuttgart.
The independent company, situated in
Atlantis near Cape Town, specialises
in manufacturing cylinder blocks and
gearbox casting for mainly commercial
Manager for Human Resource Development in East London,
Alan Eyre (left) with Management Board Member for
Manufacturing, Günter Butschek, and DCAG’s Manager for
Training Projects Overseas, Federico Vollrath (right), in the
East London Training Centre’s new Mechatronics Centre.
SMH purchase
approved
The South African Competition Commission has given final
approval for DCSA’s purchase of 75% of the Sandown Motors
Holding (SMH), signed in June 2001.
SMH, which will be headed by Roy McAllister, will be
managed as an independent subsidiary of DCSA.
The SMH Board of Directors, consisting of Christoph Kopke
(Chairman) will obtain the DCSA management integration
into SMH, Roy McAllister, Rudi Borgenheimer, and Mike
Broom.
vehicles and has the capacity of 40 000
tonnes a year, making it the biggest
foundry in South Africa with the capacity
to compete with overseas operations.
Besides the 400 M111 cylinder block
castings manufactured a day, the company
will manufacture 10 000 S60 cylinder
blocks a year which are used in the engine
of the Detroit Diesel 6-cylinder in-line
engine. This figure will increase steadily to
40 000 units in 2003.
Managing Director, Gerry Klos, said: “We
are very excited by this deal and it shows
we can manufacture world-class products
in South Africa. The fact that some 40% of
our business is supplying DaimlerChrysler
with our product further strengthens the
quality of Atlantis Foundries’ products.”
R95m
Hi-tech training in East London
A new world-class Mechatronics Centre that will lead the way to the future in
high-technology automotive training has been opened at DaimlerChrysler South
Africa’s Technical Training Centre in East London.
The centre will train apprentices in the latest Programmable Logic Control (PLC)
systems used in modern production lines with the same facilities as in Bremen
and Sindelfingen.
DCAG’s Manager for Training Projects Overseas, Federico Vollrath, said the East
London centre provided the same standard of technical training as in Germany.
“There is no difference in the products (Mercedes-Benz C-class) produced in
Bremen and East London, so we need the training to be the same,” he said.
At any given moment, DaimlerChrysler worldwide is training 10 000 apprentices,
mostly in technical knowledge and skills. There are now 33 Training Centres
outside Germany.
Disabled challenge
DaimlerChrysler South Africa’s Chief Executive, Christoph
Köpke, praised accessory supplier, Fabkomp, as a shining
example that more South African companies should emulate.
Köpke was speaking at the provincial launch of national
disability month at the Fabkomp plant in King William’s Town.
A quarter of Fabkomp’s 125 permanent employees has physical
disabilities.
Fabkomp’s Chief Executive, Brian Harmse - a former DCSA
Commercial Vehicle engineer who managed the CV Flexibility
Hub in East London - said that although there was initial
scepticism at employing people with disabilities, this faded once
disabled employees proved their productivity.
Employees include people with impairments in hearing and
sight, polio and epilepsy, as well as people without limbs.
Fabkomp manufactures Mitsubishi Colt and commercial vehicle
parts for DaimlerChrysler. It is also involved in the supply of
parts in the multi-million rand Debis/Telkom contract. Debis is
DaimlerChrysler’s fleet management division.