Research, which shows significant performance improvements amongst South Africa's automotive component manufacturers over the past decade, is enhancing the country’s reputation as a competitive global automotive producer.   Industry body the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers of South Africa (NAACAM) says figures released by the South African Automotive Benchmarking Club (SAABC) report are noteworthy.

"We need to acknowledge what has been achieved but most importantly the report suggests that difficult targets, previously considered unattainable, can and must be reached,'' said NAACAM President Dave Coffey. "Many local component manufacturing firms are truly world class, but we have the dual challenge of keeping up with rapidly progressing global best practice while also developing the tail of firms yet to fully adopt fundamental lean practices, which are essential to localisation contracts," Coffey said.
According to the SAABC report, South Africa's component manufacturers have made strong improvements over the past decade. Such an example is quality improvements. In 2006, customer return rates were 1,208 parts per million, in 2015 this was down to 84 ppm, a gain of 93.1%.

“This statistic is telling” says NAACAM Executive Director Renai Moothilal. “In a week where automotive quality and reliability issues have come to the fore, evidence is being brought to bear that South African component producers are making huge strides in supplying products at the highest quality standards”   

Other noteworthy gains include a 45% improvement in the time to do machine/tool changeovers whilst the supply chains' reliability, measured relative to customer delivery expectations rose by 70.0%. Referring to the upcoming NAACAM Show, Coffey said the Automotive Industry Conference would include a session purely reflecting on World Class Manufacturing and Best Practices. This would be led by international experts with a global view of manufacturing best practice and foresight of emerging trends.

In addition to international experts, leading government and other automotive stakeholders including  OEM CEOs and tier one executives would address participants on a range of topical issues. The NAACAM SHOW is being held in conjunction with the National Localisation Indaba from 5-7 April in Durban, and aims to showcase the capabilities of South Africa’s diverse automotive components sector. It is commonly known that the largest economic spinoffs in any autos sector lies in its base of component production.

For more information visit www.naacamshow.co.za