Pretoria, South Africa, 17 July 2019 - Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) is introducing a third shift to its vehicle assembly operations at the Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria to meet the growing international and local demand for the New Ranger, Ranger Raptor and Everest.
The additional shift, which commences in August, will create 1 200 new jobs at the Silverton plant, taking Ford's total employment in South Africa to approximately 5 500 employees. At the same time, it will significantly bolster supplier 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 Ockert Berry, Vice President Operations, Ford Middle East and Africa.
The third shift will allow the plant to ramp up their 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 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 the additional Friday third shift available to address any potential shortfalls in the production schedule.
Berry says 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.
Thanks to Ford Motor Company's ongoing investment in South Africa, which reached R11-billion between 2009 and 2018, Ford's domestic turnover now accounts for 1% of the country's GDP. This makes the Silverton-based company a significant player in the country's economy and manufacturing sector, as well as a major contributor to South Africa's employment - both through direct jobs and within the total value chain amongst supplier companies.
Port Elizabeth
As demand for the New Ranger and the Ranger Raptor continues to grow in Europe, Ford began exporting vehicles through PE in April this year - a strategic move to address the high level of congestion at the Durban Harbour's Roll On Roll Off (RORO) Terminal, which is the country's primary import and export hub.
The multi-port strategy makes effective use of Transnet's rail infrastructure to transport vehicles from the Silverton plant to the Port Elizabeth vehicle terminal. Approximately 1 000 Rangers are being exported via this new route each month, which has improved the efficiency and delivery timeframes to European markets.
PE is also home to Ford's Struandale Engine Plant which supports two global diesel engine programmes. Production commenced at the end of last year of the new-generation 2.0-litre Bi-Turbo and Single Turbo engines that are used in selected Ranger and Everest models, with an installed capacity of 120 000 engines per year, all of which are supplied to the Silverton Assembly Plant.
