Established in 2003 to focus on automotive wheel assembly outsourcing, Gauteng-based Wheel Assemblers has grown into a nigh-R100-million-a-year-turnover company servicing automakers Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) and BMW South Africa under multiyear contracts. The company invested heavily in state-of-the-art equipment and testing facilities to comply with international manufacturing and quality requirements. It prides itself on being one of the very few wholly South African-owned Tier 1 automotive suppliers that have managed to break into the highly internationally competitive automotive market.

Wheel Assemblers is currently developing other assembly opportunities, and will in the future not focus on tyre and wheel assembly only. It also has a subsidiary that specialises in the cleaning and shipping of returnable packaging and, as part of its vertical integration process, the company has started manufacturing rubber valves under licence in China and is investigating other opportunities as well.

Wheel Assemblers’ breakthrough came in 2007, when FMCSA outsourced its assembly process to it. Within the first three months of operation, Wheel Assemblers managed to reduce FMCSA’s scrap rate from 3% to 0.28% and to slash its operating costs considerably.

Apparently impressed by Wheel Assemblers’ performance, FMCSA awarded the company the contract for the Ford T6 model on fully automated equipment in 2012. It started delivering assemblies to BMW in July 2015.

Wheel Assemblers operates two plants near Pretoria: one at FMCSA, in Silverton, and the other in Rosslyn, about 500 m from the BMW plant. The latter plant consists of two factories on a 15 000 m2 site to accommodate manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, packaging and recycling requirements.

Wheel Assemblers, which is owned by entrepreneurs Ockert van Schoor and Dr Johan Olivier, who serve as operations director and financial and marketing director respectively, underwent ISO 9001 audits recently and has been certified.

Its staff complement of 88 includes some who have worked for the company for more than ten years.