Johannesburg - BMW South Africa has commenced construction on a new body shop at its plant in Rosslyn in Pretoria for the production of the new generation X3 model, which forms part of its R6 billion investment in the country for the production of the new model.
Tim Abbott, the chief executive of BMW SA and sub Saharan Africa, said yesterday the new body shop and modifications to the paint shop would account for about 45 percent of the R6bn investment announced last year.
Stephan Huelsenberg, the BMW SA plant director, said the new body shop would be built on a recently acquired 30 000m² site adjacent to the Rosslyn plant and at 26 000m² would be almost 50 percent larger than the existing 17 000m² body shop.
Huelsenberg said listed construction group Stefanutti Stocks had been awarded the contract to build the body shop, which would be completed in the first half of next year.
“This will be followed by the installation and commissioning of the new body shop equipment. It will contain some of the most advanced technology and machines in the automotive industry to produce one of the most advanced vehicles on the road,” said Huelsenberg.
Robots
“This includes nearly 300 state-of-the-art robots, which amounts to an about 50 percent increase in robot numbers in the plant,” he said.
Huelsenberg said the increased size of the body shop, along with the increase in robotics and technology, would not only result in an increase in employees assigned in the new body shop compared to the existing body shop but also an improvement in the skill levels of employees, giving BMW SA a competitive advantage.
He said the new body shop was one of the major strategic infrastructural changes aimed at improving BMW SA’s business efficiency and optimising its processes.
Abbott said it was announced earlier this year that BMW SA would take over responsibility for sub-Saharan Africa and the 11 key markets in the region.
He said BMW SA did not export the current 3-Series to any countries in this region but wanted to tap into the African market with the X3. “With the X3 we feel we have a product that will resonate with those countries. One in three cars sold around the world now is an SUV type vehicle and that trend will continue.
“(An SUV) is a four-wheel drive off-road type vehicle and it will overtake sedans. So we are very well placed in South Africa to build a car that is very relevant to the market place,” he said.
Abbott added that localisation was close to the company’s heart and it was working closely with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and other partners to start building black empowered companies that would then supply to BMW.
Local content
Huelsenberg said the X3 would have increased local content compared with the current 3-Series and production of the X3 would positively impact logistics suppliers and distribution networks that supported BMW SA’s manufacturing processes.
He said BMW SA would continue to produce the 3-Series until the end of its lifecycle while changes took place in the Rosslyn plant for the production of the new X3.
Mzwandile Masina, the deputy minister of trade and industry, said many people doubted the country’s ability to attract new investment when BMW announced the investment, which would expand the industrial capacity and industrial base in South Africa.
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