The Gauteng Tooling Initiative (GTI) has appointed Henk Snyman as its new CEO.

The GTI said in a statement that the new appointment would aid the revitalisation of the tool, die, and mould making (TDM) sector in Gauteng province, a move that aimed to bring the manufacturing sector of the province to competitive levels.

As the newly elected GTI CEO, Snyman would assist tooling companies within the borders of South Africa's busiest province to be globally competitive and to benchmark its activities to those of successful countries in the industry such as China and Germany.

Further, Snyman would actively assist black economic-empowered companies and small medium-sized and microenterprises to compete effectively in the tooling industry. He has been tasked with creating support mechanisms to enable the toolmaking industry to recapitalise and use the appropriate technologies to improve competitiveness.

The GTI pointed out that Snyman was no stranger to the tooling industry. Before taking the reins as GTI CEO, he was the CEO of the Western Cape tooling initiative. "He holds a masters degree in industrial and mechanical engineering and has 20-years experience in the manufacturing industry."

The GTI forms part of the greater National Tooling Initiative (NTI), which had been developed as a national, multistakeholder initiative and structured as a public–private partnership, working with the Department of Trade and Industry to stimulate South Africa's tooling and manufacturing industry.

"With a fully functioning tooling initiative in the Gauteng region, members of the Tooling Association of South Africa can feel confident that they have an association that is constructively protecting and promoting their interests.

"Snyman understands the tooling industry and what we are trying to achieve, making him the ideal candidate to drive this initiative," said NTI CEO Dirk van Dyk.