Gearbox specialist SEW Eurodrive MD Urs Roos reports that exports will play a significant role in the company’s future and that industry activities in Africa are on the rise. He tells Engineering News that, once political discrepancies are put aside, the potential for growth and opportunity is huge in countries like Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Africa is blessed with a wealth of resources and, with the ongoing African mine expansions, there is always a good opportunity for SEW Eurodrive to expand its export footprint and achieve a bigger market share on the continent.

He says that the company’s future outlook is positive and it aims to grow exports into Africa. Both the industry and the company face many challenges, such as increased competition from countries such as China and India, which are entering the South African market.

Roos believes SEW Eurodrive is ready to face these challenges because of its strong workforce and the diversity of the industries it supplies.

“We are aware of the constant change within the company and the industry, such as technological changes, changes that work to our advantage and changes that we cannot avoid. However, SEW Eurodrive is ready to tackle these by continuing to increase our efficiencies, developing our people to maintain SEW Eurodrive standards and to be the market leaders in drive technology,” he says.

The highlights for SEW Eurodrive through the economic downturn have been sustaining positive financial growth and the increase in staff by 8%. Roos feels that hiring more staff during this difficult financial period, when others are retrenching employees, creates a stable workforce and contributes to alle- viating the skills’ deficit in the industry.

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