Testing, certification, training and inspection services provider TÜV Rheinland South Africa has launched a crash-scene investigation course – the latest in its mobility division product offering – in collaboration with Northwestern University, in Illinois, which offers specialist knowledge on accident investigation.

The course, dubbed Crash Investigation 1, is an in-depth study of the skills needed to systematically investigate a crash scene. It improves one’s ability to handle all aspects of road-accident investigations, including measuring and mapping an accident scene, as well as photographing the scene and the damaged vehicles.

The first of TÜV Rheinland’s local trainees, comprising mostly government officials and metro police officers, completed their Crash Investigation 1 certification, achieving a 97% pass rate, and were awarded their certification earlier this month during CEO Dr Manfred Bayerlein’s inaugural visit to South Africa.

Bayerlein was in the country to touch base with local colleagues and further expand on the company’s global growth strategy, which involves expanding its sales base from €1.5-billion in 2012 to €2.7-billion in 2017.

As a result, TÜV Rheinland is undergoing a consolidation process and, like its competitors, wants to accelerate growth through acquisitions.

“It is important for us to maintain our strategic global position, which means we will have to become more profitable. This involves supplying more to our customers on a global scale,” says Bayerlein.

He explains that standards and regulations differ from country to country, which means that manufacturers need support to ensure that their products fulfil various export requirements.

TÜV Rheinland has, therefore, focused on acquiring knowledge of manufacturing, maintenance and quality standards for 100 countries to date, servicing manufacturers who need to ensure that their products meet global manufacturing standards and regulations.

Meeting these industry requirements, however, means that TÜV Rheinland has to have the infrastructure in place in the countries where the company’s clients are doing business.

“There are so many emerging countries, especially in Africa, which means markets and consumer groups are emerging as well. We need to be there and we need to know the standards and be able to service future demands in these areas. This means growing, investing and getting the right people settled in these areas,” says Bayerlein.

He admits, however, that differing cultures do present a challenge with regard to the consolidation process, especially in Africa, but believes that using the company’s South African branch as a hub for sub-Saharan Africa will mitigate this challenge.

Bayerlein adds that much of the company’s service provision lies in the context of globalisation, owing to production being shifted from high-wage to lower-wage emerging countries, which require more local content.

He adds that, as a result of labour moving to emerging markets, infrastructure requirements are increasing.

TÜV Rheinland is an independent test provider that tests and certifies technical systems, products and services and supports projects and designs processes for companies operating in six business streams, including industrial services, mobility, products, training and consulting, systems and healthcare.

“From these business streams, major growth areas include mobility and industrial services and products, which comprise about 80% of the company’s revenue,” explains Bayerlein.

While the mobility division is still relatively new to the company’s South African business structure, TÜV Rheinland regards its industrial services division as the cornerstone of the local company, which started implementing inspection ser- vices in South Africa in 1978.

“We were the one of the first European inspection bodies to come to South Africa,” says TÜV Rheinland South Africa MD Josef Peters.

He adds that the company was first commissioned to come to South Africa to assist State-owned power utility Eskom in ensuring that it complied with international standards in the early seventies.

During the company’s 40-year tenure in South Africa, TÜV Rheinland adopted international processes and a human resource base to adapt local requirements to international standards.

Currently, the company is fully localised, with access to international community networks to communicate with the rest of the TÜV Rheinland group when necessary.

TÜV Rheinland South Africa also enjoys full black economic-empowerment status and proudly announces that 2013 marks the first year where the majority of the staff complement represent the previously disadvantaged.

Peters tells Engineering News that, in the last 15 years, TÜV Rheinland South Africa has grown by an average of 26% year-on-year and foresees continued growth at this rate for the years ahead.