Tshwane - Organisers have announced South Africa's 'Auto City', Tshwane, as the host for the 5th edition of South African Automotive Week will from October 11-13 this year.

This year The Week, which includes a Business to Business matching programme for buyers and suppliers, an Automotive Industry Seminar, Workshops, Networking Functions and Site tours will house over 10 000 sqm of trade-show space for the component manufacturing sector. A major addition to The Week this year in October, which is Transport Month, in South Africa, is TDM Africa, a trade-show dedicated to the Tool, Die and Mouldmaking sector. Director Andrew Binning said the focus of South African Automotive Week this year was on market access and the linking of buyers and suppliers across the supply chain.

"A key aspect of developing markets for manufacturers is The Week's ability to bring together manufacturers and their supply chain partners from the automotive sector but also from other sectors like defence, aviation, railways and mining.''
"As many manufacturer's growth is driven by volumes, supply within a single sector may not provide the kind of volumes that would spur desired levels of growth and this edition of The Week will facilitate inter sectoral component sourcing,'' Binning said.

Tooling Association of South Africa (TASA), Gauteng Chairman Vusi Mkhize said according to an MoU, with The Week, and which includes the Gauteng Tooling Initiative, South African Automotive Week (SAAW) would be TASA’s preferred promotion exhibition. A sizeable German delegation of toolmakers has already confirmed its participation, while over 200 international buyers from over 20 countries are expected to seek out opportunities during The Week. TASA will also join NAAMSA and the RMI as Official Partners in the hosting of The Week, which takes place every two years to grow investment, increase localisation, create market access and global insights for the automotive manufacturing supply chain.
“The Tool, Die and Mouldmaking (TDM) industry, which represents a market of R13 billion per annum, with added maintenance services contributing another R2 billion per annum,is critical to achieve manufacturing competitiveness in South Africa,’’ Mkhize said.

Binning said the agreement “was an important milestone in the development of The Week as the country’s single and authoritative voice and showcase of its manufacturing capability.’’ According to Binning the previous edition of South African Automotive Week in 2014 at Gallagher Events Centre, injected around R27m into the economy and facilitated an additional R30m p/a in actual deals between local and international organisations. Collectively 56% of exhibitors concluded deals valued above R50 000 at the event. Of that total, 15% netted deals valued between R100 000 and R500 000 and 21% concluded deals at the event above R500 000, Binning said. 1414 meetings were scheduled between buyers and sellers on the match-making programme between 968 profiled organisations.

Using interactive technology, 80.1% of delegates gave the conference an overall rating above 7 out of 10, with a large percentage rating its value at 9 and/or 10, underlying the value of the information delivered. The Week is actively supported by a range of automotive roleplayers including Plastics SA, The Aluminium Federation of South Africa, merSETA, NAAMSA, TASA the IDC, The Exporters Club, the AIEC organised business, KZN Invest, the ECDC, SEDA and the AIDC among others.

More information is available at www.saaw.co.za