Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) is introducing a third shift at its Silverton assembly plant, in Pretoria, to meet growing international and local demand for its new Ranger pick-up, Ranger Raptor performance pick-up and Everest sports-utility vehicle.

The additional shift, which officially starts in August, will create 1 200 new jobs at the plant, taking Ford’s total employment in South Africa to around 5 500 employees.

At the same time, it will significantly bolster component supply companies by adding around 10 000 jobs in this sector.

In total, Ford’s local vehicle assembly operations will now support some 60 000 jobs within the total value chain.

“The R3-billion investment in our South African plants, announced in 2017, is now coming to fruition with the addition of a third shift to increase our production output,” says Ford Middle East and Africa operations VP Ockert Berry.

“The investment enabled extensive reworks at the Silverton assembly plant to expand our production capacity from 124 000 vehicles per year to 168 000 units, which is 58 000 vehicles more than our original capacity when the current Ranger programme commenced in 2011.

“The third shift will allow us to ramp up our production from the current 506 vehicles assembled per day to a peak of 720 units to satisfy the strong demand from customers in South Africa, as well as for our crucial exports to 148 markets around the world.”

Kicking off at the beginning of August, the Silverton assembly plant will run around the clock using a three-shift pattern from Monday to Thursday, with a possible Friday third shift available to address any potential shortfalls in the production schedule.

“In addition to the job opportunities created for hourly employees, the new shift makes provision for 104 skilled artisans and technicians who have been appointed as permanent employees, thus adding to the skills set of our staff complement in Silverton,” notes Berry.

Thanks to the US car maker’s ongoing investment in South Africa, which reached R11-billion between 2009 and 2018, Ford’s domestic turnover now accounts for 1% of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Around two-thirds of Ford’s local production is exported to 148 global markets, with the balance sold in South Africa and sub-Saharan African countries.

PORT ELIZABETH
As demand for the Ranger continues to grow in Europe, FMCSA has begun exporting vehicles through Port Elizabeth in April this year, in a strategic move to address the extreme level of congestion at the Durban harbour’s roll-on roll-off (RoRo) terminal, which is the country’s primary import and export hub.

This multiport strategy makes use of Transnet’s rail infrastructure to transport vehicles from the Silverton plant to the Port Elizabeth vehicle terminal.

Around 1 000 Rangers are being exported via this new route each month, which has improved the efficiency and delivery timeframes to European markets.

Around 3 500 to 4 500 Rangers still have to move through Durban, however.

Berry says FMCSA hopes to increasingly migrate to the Port Elizabeth port.

It is all about cost per unit for FMCSA, he notes.

“We have to be competitive; to make sure we can compete with Thailand and other centres that produce the Ranger.”

“This is one of the topics we have been engaging with government on – on an individual and National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa level. We need solid, reliable infrastructure to support the movement of goods,” adds FMCSA MD Neale Hill.

Port Elizabeth is also home to Ford’s Struandale engine plant, which supports two global diesel engine programmes.

Production of the new-generation 2-litre bi-turbo and single turbo engines that are used in selected Ranger and Everest models started at the end of last year. The installed capacity for these engines is at 120 000 units a year, all of which are supplied to the Silverton plant.

Additionally, the Struandale plant continues machining component sets, comprising the cylinder head, block and crankshaft, for the existing 2.2-litre and 3.2-litre Duratorq TDCi engine.

Following the recent investment into Ford’s plants, installed capacity has climbed to its highest-ever figure of 280 000 sets a year, in support of export markets in Thailand and Argentina, as well as local engine assembly.

Aside from supplying fully assembled engines to Silverton for installation in the Ranger and Everest, the Port Elizabeth plant also ships engines to North America, China and several customer plants in Europe with a production capacity of up to 130 000 units a year.