Electromechanical equipment manufactuer ACTOM has expanded its manufacturing footprint at its Pretoria West industrial campus, in Gauteng, with the launch of the ACTOM Static Energy battery assembly facility and the unveiling of additional manufacturing capacity for its High-Voltage Equipment (HVE) division.

Speaking at the launch event on July 15, ACTOM CEO Mervyn Naidoo said this development marked a significant milestone in the company's efforts to strengthen local manufacturing capability and position itself as a supplier of integrated energy infrastructure solutions.

He explained that the Pretoria West facility, previously operated by electrical equipment supplier SGB-SMIT Power Matla, had been transformed into an industrial campus by integrating the manufacture of large power transformers, high-voltage equipment and lithium-ion battery energy storage systems.

Naidoo also highlighted that this investment could revive manufacturing capability, reinstate jobs and establish a platform for long-term growth, while strengthening South Africa's grid infrastructure and expanding local industrial capacity.

Additionally, he said the investment formed part of ACTOM's broader continental strategy of manufacturing "for Africa, by Africa, in Africa".

He noted that while the continent hosted abundant mineral resources required for infrastructure development, it still continued to lag in beneficiation and intra-African trade.

ACTOM intends to establish regional industrial hubs across the continent, supported by local manufacturing and regional supply chains to improve long-term energy security and economic resilience, and at its Pretoria West campus, ACTOM has increased its large power transformer manufacturing capacity by about four times since acquiring the facility.

The company has also doubled its circuit breaker manufacturing capacity by relocating production from Germiston to Pretoria and expanded its instrument transformer manufacturing capability.

Moreover, Naidoo noted that ACTOM had acquired a controlling stake in lithium-ion battery manufacturer JUEL Batteries, relocating the business to Pretoria West and rebranding it as ACTOM Static Energy. Since the acquisition, production capacity had increased by about ten times through continued investment in new manufacturing equipment.

Speaking to Engineering News & Mining Weekly on the sidelines of the event, Naidoo said that, as alternative sources of energy gained prominence within South Africa’s energy market, there would be an increased need for energy storage capacity.

“Our long-term intent has always been to enter the battery manufacturing space. We acquired a controlling equity stake in a business and effectively ramped up capacity by moving it into the [Pretoria West] facility and this enables us to build lithium-ion batteries, [and] beyond that, [also] energy storage systems that incorporate batteries, inverters, as well as associated high, low and medium-voltage equipment into a system, allowing for an integrated solution, enabling utility-scale storage,” Naidoo highlighted.

Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) acting deputy director-general Dr Tebogo Mokube described the investment made by ACTOM as an example of localisation in practice.

He said localisation and industrialisation remained central to government's economic strategy despite earlier criticism that local procurement would increase costs, adding that investments such as ACTOM's generated wider economic benefits through employment creation, industrial revitalisation and the expansion of domestic manufacturing capability.

Mokube also noted that Cabinet had approved South Africa's Critical Minerals Strategy, with the dtic assuming responsibility for promoting the local beneficiation of minerals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel and vanadium, particularly for battery manufacturing.

He added that battery manufacturing would play an increasingly important role as South Africa expanded its renewable-energy deployment and developed its electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Further, Mokube also referred to government's recently released Industrial Development Strategy, commenting that the decline in manufacturing's contribution to the economy remained a concern given its impact on employment.

However, he assured attendees at the launch event that government would continue to support local manufacturers through policy certainty and public procurement.

“We believe that through localisation and industrialisation in the country, there are many multipliers associated. [The] investment here is not only benefitting [ACTOM] in terms of returns but also contributing positively to employment creation in Tshwane. It is contributing to the revitalisation of Pretoria West,” Mokube said.

ACTOM High-Voltage Equipment divisional CEO Casbah Zwane said the expanded manufacturing capacity would support growing demand arising from renewable-energy projects, Eskom’s Transmission Development Plan (TDP), rail infrastructure modernisation, electricity distribution upgrades and broader power network development across Africa.

He added that the expansion also reflected ACTOM's investment in engineering skills development as the company currently sponsored students at several South African universities and employed about 20 graduate engineers through its engineering training programmes.

Zwane thanked government, customers and suppliers for supporting the company’s localisation efforts, saying ACTOM had deliberately chosen to manufacture products locally rather than rely on imported equipment in order to serve both South Africa and the broader African market.

“Our growth is really about servicing customers and industry at-large, especially when we look at this expansion as one of the largest high-voltage equipment manufacturers in Southern Africa,” Zwane says.