OVERVIEWManufacturingConcrete growth expands to eSwatini.SECTOR INSIGHTDe Beers diamond sorting hasmoved to the ORTIA SEZ.Railway sleepers in Brakpan.Colossal Concrete Products has done its first deal outsideSouth Africa. The company, which has manufacturingfacilities in Brakpan, Gauteng, and De Aar in the NorthernCape, is expanding into Eswatini through a distributionagreement with the potential for a possible manufacturing facilityinvestment with Nkonyeni Precast Limited (NPC).The consortium that became Colossal Concrete Productscomprised Colossal Africa Group, Mafoko Holdings, Clone Capitaland Randvest Capital and is a Level 1 B-BBEE company. Theprecast concrete manufacturing facilities of Aveng Infraset wereacquired. Brakpan continued to operate and the De Aar factorywas reopened in 2023. The transaction included all the relevantplant and equipment, key staff, intellectual property and licencesrelated to precast railway products, poles and masts, pipes andculverts, enclosures and related specialised product ranges whichare manufactured and exported.The Oliver Tambo International Airport SEZ (ORTIA SEZ), runby the Gauteng Industrial Development Zone, has become a newcentre of manufacturing. The launch of the Jewellery ManufacturingPrecinct has had the effect of crowding in a range of investors.With the completion of the last of six buildings planned for Precinct1, Phase 1 was officially declared complete in March 2024. In February2023 the building that houses Pluczenik, a Belgian investor, wasunveiled in the presence of King Philippe of Belgium.Other buildings include a precious metals refinery as well asan administrative buildingwhere national regulatoryagencies, the South AfricanDiamonds and Precious MetalsRegulator (SADPMR) and theState Diamond Trader (SDT),are located.De Beers’ decision to moveits diamond-sorting facility toORTIA SEZ and the investmentof R81-million has created 89permanent jobs and given thePrecinct additional credibility.Metcon Gold Refinery hasestablished a gold-refineryfacility, a R102-millioninvestment with 100 permanentjobs. In2Food has set up a fruitand vegetable-processingfacility, a first in Africa, with thelargest refrigeration plant in theworld. The company investedR257-million and created 2 500permanent jobs.Ford South Africa’s goal ofreaching production capacity of200 000 vehicles per year is a stepcloser, thanks to an investmentin automation at its SilvertonAssembly Plant in Tshwane.An amount of R15.8-billionhas been invested in a rangeof new facilities, includinga 44 000m2 Body Shop, asupporting warehouse anda Stamping Plant. The FordGAUTENG BUSINESS 202528PHOTO: Colossal Concrete Products
Ranger is produced at the plant in a wide variety of configurationsincluding single cab, supercab and double cab, as well as lefthanddrive and right-hand drive models. Welding is done byrobots, as are many of the other functions on the production linethat features 493 robots in all.In response to Ford’s investment, auto component and batterymanufacturer Metair will establish a new logistics facility atSilverton. Several Metair subsidiaries, including Hesto Harnesses,Unitrade, Automould and Lumotech, have signed agreements tosupply Ford with a wide range of products.All of Gauteng’s large automobile manufacturers are investing innew model production. Nissan is spending R3-billion on productionof the Navara pick-up vehicle. Other major investments includeR6.1-billion by BMW at Rosslyn and R260-million by BMW on anexpanded campus at Midrand. UD Trucks, a part of the Volvo group,will assemble the Croner heavy commercial vehicle at Rosslyn.Manufacturing varietyMore than half of the companies operating in the food andbeverage sector in South Africa are in Gauteng, including Nestlé,Tiger Brands, Pioneer Foods, RCL, AVI and Astral. There areapproximately 4 000 food processing companies in the province,employing more than 100 000 people.Although there are more than 200 pharmaceutical firms inthe country, large companies dominate the field, with AspenPharmacare (34%) and Adcock Ingram (25%) the two key players,followed by Sanofi, Pharmaplan and Cipla Medpro. Among theother big international brands active in Gauteng are Merck, whichhas a 55 000m² plant at Modderfontein, and Pfizer SA, which runs alaboratory in Sandton among its facilities in South Africa.The Eastern Corridor of Gauteng, centred on the metropoleof Ekurhuleni, is consolidating its position in manufacturing byleveraging the advantages of hosting the OR Tambo InternationalAirport and related Special Economic Zones and industrial parks.Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has the greatestconcentration of manufacturing enterprises, especially betweenWadeville and Alrode, south-west of Alberton. Germiston is thecountry’s biggest rail junction and Transnet Engineering hasinvested hundreds of millions of rands in new equipment at itsfacility there.ONLINE RESOURCESCentre for Advanced Manufacturing: www.cfam.co.zaChemical and Allied Industries’ Association: www.caia.co.zaGauteng Department of Economic Development:www.ecodev.gpg.gov.zaManufacturing Circle: www.manufacturingcircle.co.zaKeeping a keen eye ondiamond quality.Aeroton is the site of SEW-EURODRIVE’s new head officeand factory which will bringunder one roof several of thecompany’s activities whichwere previously in differentparts of the country.Packaging companyNampak has metals, plastic,paper and glass operationsat various locations. It is themarket leader in beverage cans.In 2022 Ardagh Groupbought Consol Glass, SouthAfrica’s biggest glass producer,and now controls thatcompany through ArdaghGlass Packaging. Productionfacilities are located in Clayville,Wadeville and Nigel.Household productsmanufacturer Unileverrepresents an example of thelighter industrial capacity of theEast Rand.The southern portion ofGauteng around Vanderbijlparkand Vereeniging is synonymouswith steel production. Flat ironis made at the ArcelorMittalplant. Scaw Metals has a chainmakingfactory in Vereeniging.There are 35 aluminiumprocessing firms in Gauteng,involved in both secondaryprocessing to produce foils,cans, bars, rods and sheets,with final fabrication in theform of die-casting and sheetmetal work. Within Gauteng,the automotive and packagingindustries are the chiefconsumers of these products. ■PHOTO: GGDA29 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2025
