Investor confidence in South Africa has received yet another boost with Johnson Controls International (JCI) announcement of an investment of R380 million into the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) Automotive Supplier Park.
The announcement was made on Wednesday, 19 March 2013 by Mr Marco vom Wege, the company’s South Africa Vice President and General Manager, at a media conference that was held jointly in East London with Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies and Eastern Cape MEC for Economic Development, Mcebisi Jonas.
The announcement by JCI is the third investment to be officiated by Minister Davies within a week. Last week Tuesday Tellmut, an electronics manufacturer announced a R25 million investment in Atlantis, Cape Town with an assistant amount of almost R11 million from the dti through Manufacturing Incentive Programme and the IDC Preferential Loan.
The investment has created more than 100 jobs and strengthened the electronic manufacturing capability. This has enabled Tellmut to manufacture 370 000 LCD and LED television sets for a number of world renowned brands such as Sony, Hisense, as well as Lewis.
On Friday Procter and Gamble Company’s (P&G) announced an investment of more than R1.6 billion in a Green Field Manufacturing facility. This investment expansion is expected to create over 500 additional jobs at P&G. Currently the company has an existing investment of R500 million in a manufacturing plant for Pampers nappies in Johannesburg.
Built in 2009, the Pampers plant attracted a further R6.6 million of investment from suppliers and created hundreds of jobs in South Africa. The total incentives that P&G received from the dti for the Pampers nappies plant amount to R36 230 159.
The R380 million investment that was announced by the Johnson Controls International (JCI) is an expansion of its current plant at the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) and will create 180 new jobs. The plant currently supplies Mercedes Benz South Africa (MBSA) with cockpits for the W204.
The company has now been awarded a contract to further supply the new generation C-Class W205 with overhead systems, instrument panels, headliners, door panels and cockpits.
‘The new C-Class is a global programme and will be produced on four continents. The ability to serve our customer, Daimler, on those four continents with the existing teams and infrastructure was part of the decision to award JCI globally with the W205,’ said JCI South Africa Vice President and General Manager, Marco vom Wege.
Vom Wege added that the decision to localise with the intended technology depth was very much influenced by the current discussions that the organisation was having with the government on extending the value chain and local content of the South Africa automotive sector.
Minister Davies says that these investments do not happen by accident “They happen because we build partnership between government and private sector. Also a number of investors are realising that they need to strengthen their involvement in the African continent and South Africa has a pivotal role to play in this regard,’ said Davies.
As part of Mercedes Benz commitment to increase localisation and through efforts to attract more suppliers, this investment is a result of those activities. Johnson Control South Africa was a participant at an international supplier day that was held in Germany in 2011. The event was jointly organised by the Department of Trade and Industry, the East London Industrial Development Zone, Daimler AG and Mercedes Benz South Africa (MBSA).
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe, Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
