Ford increase production in South Africa
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa invested R3-billion into both Pretoria and Port Elizabeth production plants since 2017.
The growing export-driven business saw Ford announce an R3-billion investment in both their Vehicle Assembly Plant in Silverton, Pretoria and the Engine Plant in Struandale, Port Elizabeth. Now able to produce 168 000 Rangers and Everests per year, it is a 44 000 unit per year increase for the Silverton plant. Since 2009 until last year, R11-billion has been invested into the local production of the Ford Ranger line-up which is not only sold locally but exported to 148 markets around the world.
“Our Ranger programme has been extremely successful, and we produced our 500 000th unit in August last year, the global demand for the Ranger continues to grow, and the R3-billion additional investment in our local operations has enabled us to prepare for an even more exciting and dynamic period ahead, export-oriented business is absolutely crucial for the long-term sustainability of the automotive industry in South Africa, and we are delighted and encouraged by our ongoing expansion in the global Ford supply chain for the Ranger programme. It reaffirms our ability to compete with the best plants in the world in terms of production quality and efficiency,” Neale Hill, MD of Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa.
The expansion of the plants and increased production is creating multiple opportunities for residents and small and medium-sized businesses in local communities and South Africa in general. Every day the Silverton plant assemble more than 400 vehicles of which two-thirds are exported while the rest is sold through 133 dealers spread across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland. Keeping up with international demand, Ford has started using the Port Elizabeth vehicle terminal to avoid delays caused by congestion at the Durban port.
“The multi-port export strategy makes effective use of Transnet’s rail infrastructure to transport vehicles from our Silverton plant to the Port Elizabeth vehicle terminal, which is currently under-utilised, we are shipping approximately 1 000 Rangers a month via Port Elizabeth, which improves our efficiency and delivery timeframes to Europe where the Ranger is the top-selling pickup,” Neale Hill, MD of Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa.
In addition to utilizing two ports to meet international demand, Ford implemented a third shift at the Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria. The added shift will see an increase in the number of Ford Ranger, Ranger Raptor and Everest vehicles the plant produces and will peak at 720 units per day if it is required. The third shift which will be implemented from August 2019, is creating an additional 1 200 jobs at the Pretoria based plant which will take the total number of South Africans employed by Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa to 5 500. The increased production and expansion of operations will also present opportunities to 10 000 people within the companies Ford use as local suppliers of goods and services, thus Ford’s operations will support approximately 60 000 jobs within the value chain.
“The R3-billion investment in our South African plants, announced in 2017, is now coming to fruition with the addition of a third shift to increase our production output. The investment enabled extensive reworks at the Silverton Assembly Plant to expand our production capacity from 124 000 vehicles per year to 168 000 units, which is 58 000 vehicles more than our original capacity when the current Ranger programme commenced in 2011. The third shift will allow us to ramp up our production from the current 506 vehicles assembled per day to a peak of 720 units to satisfy the strong demand from customers in South Africa, as well as for our crucial exports to 148 markets around the world,” Ockert Berry, Vice President Operations, Ford Middle East and Africa.
The third shift will be implemented from Monday to Thursdays with Friday made available, should there be any shortfall. The Ford Struandale engine plant situated in Port Elizabeth is now also able to produce 120 000 new-generation 2.0-litre Bi-Turbo and Single Turbo engines per year while still machining the cylinder head, block and crankshaft, for the 2.2-litre and 3.2-litre Duratorq TDCi engine derivatives.
The increased production and export levels achieved by Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa after the total R11-billion investment since 2009 increased the domestic turnover to such an extent, it accounts for 1 per cent of South Africa’s GDP. This cements Ford’s importance in the local manufacturing sector and economy.
