The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, met with automotive social partners, labour and business representatives, to discuss challenges that have been confronting the automotive sector in the recent past.
In the discussions, all stakeholders agreed to work together towards ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the industry. This includes deepening the value chain, ensuring long-term stability of supply and productivity, the creation of decent work and the attractiveness of the industry for new investment.
As an indication of all stakeholders’ commitment to the development of the sector, a new initiative announced by the dti - the Automotive Supply Chain Competitiveness Initiative (ASCCI) - was endorsed by all parties in the meeting. ASCCI will focus specifically on inherently improving the levels of competitiveness in SA’s automotive supply chain, and in doing so increasing opportunities for increased production capacity, gainful employment and economic transformation within the sector.
In an industry-first for SA, a national strategy for competitiveness improvement will be led and implemented through a facilitated steering committee structure with committed participation from the major national industry representative stakeholders, NAAMSA, NAACAM and NUMSA, as well as with government representation through the dti.
The Automotive Production Development programme remains the flagship fiscal support programme for the sector, however fiscal support alone is not the only driver of long term industry growth and sustainability. This has to be complemented by continuous improvement and competitiveness gains in the domestic value chain, and to this effect the steering committee has already designed a co-ordinating and implementation blue print of activities to achieve this.
This initial set of activities is intended to run from now until 2017. Key focus areas include those of supplier operational capabilities, increasing levels of localisation and manufacturing value addition in SA and other strategic issues impacting on local supply chain competitiveness.
In conclusion, all stakeholders wish to publicly restate their commitment to working together to ensure the long-term growth and development of the industry.
Enquiries:
Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary
Cell: 073 157 6384
Nico Vermeulen, NAAMSA,
Tel: 012 323 2980
Cell: 083 656 7781
Sidwell Medupe, the dti
Cell: 079 492 1774
