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Milestone for East London plant as millionth car rolls off production line

12th June 2015

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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The Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) plant, in East London, in May saw its one-millionth passenger car, a white C200 C-Class model, roll off the assembly line.

The first Mercedes-Benz passenger car produced in South Africa was a W121 Nap Vista Blue Mercedes-Benz 190, assembled in January 1958.

Reaching the milestone of the next million pas- senger cars will take “a lot less than a decade”, should demand and manufacturing conditions remain stable, says MBSA CEO and manufac- turing executive director Arno van der Merwe.

He adds that robust global demand for the new C-Class has seen the plant increase capacity by 10% since June 2014, when production of the model started in East London.

Van der Merwe says MBSA is taking steps to increase capacity by another 10% to 15% by the end of the year.

Base capacity at the plant for the new C-Class is 100 000 units.

The plant is currently “operating at full capacity, plus some”, says Van der Merwe.

Capacity increases are being executed largely by removing bottlenecks in the current manufacturing process, he notes, rather than a large capital injection.

A number of jobs, not yet quantified, will be added to the MBSA workforce.

MBSA will also start exporting the new C-Class to the US by the end of the year, adding to a long list of export destinations.

While the US has a C-Class plant, this facility is tied up producing vehicles for a growing Mercedes-Benz sports-utility-vehicle market.

Most of the increased capacity at the East London plant will be targeted at the global market, with the local market “flat”, says Van der Merwe.

Looking ahead, he notes that it is possible to have either an attitude of survival or of achievement within the local marketplace.

“Playing to win is an important part of [MBSA’s] philosophy.”

The myth of “a difficult, unproductive” South African workforce “has to be removed” from the narrative, as it is leadership’s task to “bring excellence and commitment to the workplace”.

It is also necessary for the workforce and management to have a common understanding of the world economy and what South Africa has to do to compete effectively.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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