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Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) has begun the second phase of its aluminium localisation initiative, the company’s strategic business development, procurement and export manager Philip Jooste, told the National Localisation Indaba, in Durban, on Tuesday.
This included a greenfield project with local partner VM Automotive to provide a laser blanking line for aluminium outer panels for Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles sold into the local and US markets, as well as negotiations to secure a local supply of aluminium sheet material from local producer Hulamin, he said.
In 2014, MBSA introduced the W205 C-Class – the first South African vehicle to be manufactured with aluminium outer skin body panels.
Initial localisation saw the creation of surface treatment facilities and the construction of a press plant in East London, which had upgraded South African press facilities to be on par with top facilities in the world. Both were completed in 2013 with significant benefit to the local business community.
“We don’t want to stop. We want to deepen localisation,” stated Jooste.
The VM Automotive laser blanking operation, which includes the installation of a new Schuler Laser blank line to cut blanks out of a moving sheet metal coil to be pressed into body parts without the use of conventional dies, was expected to be operational in 2017, he noted.
Up until now, the panels have been pressed from imported cut-to-size blanks which, he said, was not economical. Coils would be imported until a potential source of local supply was secured.
Jooste said MBSA was discussing quality issues with Hulamin and expected prices to be provided within the next two months.
He said a local aluminium supplier was expected to be secured by 2019/20.
This was important as there was a growing global shortage of automotive-grade aluminium as the use of aluminium in automotive manufacture continued to grow exponentially. This was initially restricted to “exotics”, but the use of aluminium was slowly creeping into all models, including entry-level vehicles, owing to safety and energy-saving benefits.
Although MBSA was the first to use aluminium panels in South Africa, Jooste said this would now grow quickly as BMW SA was planning to launch its replacement model with significant aluminium body panelling in 2018/9, Toyota was expected to launch a model with aluminium body panels by 2019 and even South African made pick-up trucks could be expected to sport aluminium body panels from 2020.
“It will be first prize to have the entire supply chain in South Africa,” he said.
In addition to benefits such as logistics cost savings, local job creation and skills development, he said this initiative created an opportunity for South African suppliers such as Hulamin to become a potential source of raw materials to other original-equipment manufacturers and world markets.