Newsroom
Search:
News Article - Automotive
DCSA celebrates its new automotive body panel facility
Posted on: Thursday, 16 February 2006. Article source: Daily Dispatch
DaimlerChrysler South Africa celebrated the roof-wetting ceremony of the new R150 million East London body shop - an achievement which company management described as a vote of confidence in its workforce and Buffalo City.
Emerging from what was just a large tract of tarmac within its West Bank complex, the new 25000mē facility is fast nearing completion and is set to become the most advanced automotive body panel facility in South Africa.
At the ceremony, DCSA project leader Joachim Follman said the investment has been made to accommodate the production of the company's new W204 C-Class Mercedes-Benz cars which come into production next year.
The plant will use cutting-edge technology including highly specialised robotic equipment to take care of new technologies such as laser welding and brazing, as well as high-strength steel welding and structural glueing.
While more robots will be used in the new facility than in its current body shop, this will not affect staff numbers.
The company's 3200 workers at its East London plant support an estimated 14000 dependants.
While optimistic about the future, Follman warned that if the company was to achieve its full potential, issues affecting production costs, such as access and transportation costs, will need to be urgently reviewed.
He emphasised the need to improve facilities such as the port of East London, as well as rail and road links.
The company last year exported around 75 percent of its production - inclusive of components - for which it earned in excess of R3 billion.
Buffalo City's executive mayor Sindisile Maclean, who attended the event, pledged his administration's commitment to continue shaping the city into a progressive functional one that investors would be proud to call home.
He said the company's latest development came just days after the city's future search lekgotla where infrastructural growth and communication links were identified as priorities to growing the city's economy.
Maclean was confident that Buffalo City was set to grow its 23 percent contribution to the provincial economy as well as its 19 percent stake in the region's job market.
Emerging from what was just a large tract of tarmac within its West Bank complex, the new 25000mē facility is fast nearing completion and is set to become the most advanced automotive body panel facility in South Africa.
At the ceremony, DCSA project leader Joachim Follman said the investment has been made to accommodate the production of the company's new W204 C-Class Mercedes-Benz cars which come into production next year.
The plant will use cutting-edge technology including highly specialised robotic equipment to take care of new technologies such as laser welding and brazing, as well as high-strength steel welding and structural glueing.
While more robots will be used in the new facility than in its current body shop, this will not affect staff numbers.
The company's 3200 workers at its East London plant support an estimated 14000 dependants.
While optimistic about the future, Follman warned that if the company was to achieve its full potential, issues affecting production costs, such as access and transportation costs, will need to be urgently reviewed.
He emphasised the need to improve facilities such as the port of East London, as well as rail and road links.
The company last year exported around 75 percent of its production - inclusive of components - for which it earned in excess of R3 billion.
Buffalo City's executive mayor Sindisile Maclean, who attended the event, pledged his administration's commitment to continue shaping the city into a progressive functional one that investors would be proud to call home.
He said the company's latest development came just days after the city's future search lekgotla where infrastructural growth and communication links were identified as priorities to growing the city's economy.
Maclean was confident that Buffalo City was set to grow its 23 percent contribution to the provincial economy as well as its 19 percent stake in the region's job market.
Article Tags: No tags defined
Podcast
ECDC Xhosa Radio Ad
