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Tooling Programme

SA toolmakers size-up competition

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:17

The Gauteng Tooling Initiative (GTI) and the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) have signed a funding agreement of R1.6 million that will enable a number of Gauteng tooling companies to participate in a benchmarking and re-engineering programme, aimed at enhancing their international competitiveness.

Henk Snyman, CEO of GTI, says the benchmarking and intervention programme is being conducted and supported by the German Fraunhofer Institute and the University of Aachen. Participating tooling companies in South Africa will benefit significantly from inclusion in this international tooling company benchmarking database.

The Toolmaking Association of SA (TASA) is currently incubating a cluster of toolmaking companies to service the tooling requirements of the automotive sector. “The toolmaking requirement in the automotive sector is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of rands per year”, Snyman says. “The companies participating in this program will therefore position themselves to participate and become credible and respected players in this huge toolmaking market as part of the Automotive Tooling Cluster”.

The total company intervention and development exercise is to be conducted in phases. The programme starts with benchmarking against similar international companies, a gap analysis, and developing a strategy and business plan for each participating entity. This will be followed by an intervention plan for each company that will include assistance to access the various support grants, loans and recapitalisation programmes currently available.

Snyman extended an open invitation to the toolmaking fraternity to grab this opportunity to participate in the programme and to share in the huge tool supply market opening up in South Africa, especially in the automotive sector.