JOHANNESBURG - United States consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) said on Monday it had delivered on a commitment announced last year by investing R300 million in a manufacturing facility in South Africa.
It said the investment in the Kempton Park site had increased employment at the facility by 30 percent and included upgrades to P&G’s Pampers® production facilities.
"The facility is a zero waste to landfill site and the latest energy saving initiatives means that even with the additional manufacturing demand of a new product line, energy consumption has not increased," the company added.
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P&G’s presence in South Africa has created over 4,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout its value chain.
"The commissioning of the new manufacturing facility represents P&G’s dedication to the development of, and investment in, South Africa and Africa as a whole, responding to the growing needs of our consumers," P&G vice president for southern Africa Vilo Trska said.
"This supports the government’s National Development Plan objectives relating to job creation and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s quest to promote investment into South Africa.”
He said the company was committed to addressing the needs of women and girls in South Africa and Africa, through its products, operations and its social programmes, with 40 percent of managers at the plant being female.
"Our partnership with WEConnect International upskills women-owned businesses and integrates them into the company’s supply chain, and we have committed to tripling our spend with women-owned businesses," said Trska.
"Over the next five years, we will deliver puberty education to over 1.5 million girls in South Africa, and our Always Keeping Girls in School programme complements this with the provision of free Always® sanitary pads to another 13,000 girls every year.”