Manufacturing

Global demand for steel continues to rise and fall, just as the fortunes of the South African economy on the world stage. But what links the nation and the raw product is ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), the biggest steel producer in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Kunstmann Brewery's story began 30 years ago, in 1991. Back then, the brewery's founder Armin Kunstmann wanted to return the joy of making beer to the city of Valdivia (Chile). Especially after a massive earthquake the year before its foundation ended with emblematic producers in the southern part of the country. 

It has been nearly seven years since Business Excellence first paid a visit to Coca-Cola Sabco Mozambique in Maputo back in 2003. At that time, the company had just entered its second decade in the east African republic. It had already undergone a journey with the country, which still viewed soft drinks as a luxury product because of price constraints.

Jaguar Land Rover's flagship Solihull plant began a two week shutdown today (Monday 22nd).

Christian Stadler, professor of strategy at Warwick Business School, said:

"JLR is one of many UK car manufacturers heading into troubled waters.

"This shutdown is a short term measure, but the company has already laid off 1,000 jobs across the Midlands this year and more cuts will follow if things don't get better with Brexit and China.

"That will be the biggest worry hanging over the workers and unions during the next fortnight.

The tower, designed by renowned architects Helmut Jahn and Werner Sobek, is set to be completed by the end of 2016. Shortly after the launch of the innovative MULTI-elevator system from ThyssenKrupp, the company laid the foundation for its test tower in Rottweil, Germany. From 2016 onwards, ThyssenKrupp Elevator's innovative products will be tested within this tower, which is emerging as a crucial element in the company's global research and development strategy.

Whenever contaminated trucks from construction sites, mines, harbours, landfills, dumpsites or industrial areas drive out directly onto the public roads, the MobyDick Wheel Washing Systems can prevent dangerous contamination from getting onto the roads and highways. As a further positive effect, pollution of the air with dust around the areas is also reduced considerably.

With 22 years at Toyota behind her, working up from assembly manufacturing supervisor to VP of Manufacturing Cheryl Jones has nothing to prove when it comes to the knowledge of lean systems. However that is not where she first realized that waste is often endemic, always bad for business and ultimately unfair. That came in a very different industry, when she was working as a checkout operator for Krogers, the American supermarket chain.

I recently received an email from a business acquaintance who had somehow come upon the book I coauthored and published in 2010 (CoDestiny: Overcome Your Growth Challenges by Helping Your Customers Overcome Theirs). His email explained that he and his firm were grappling with the challenge described in the case study in the book’s first chapter, namely that of capturing value from innovations offered to customers who seem to care only about price. His email included the following observations:

Aerosud is the biggest manufacturer of aircraft parts and assemblies on the African continent, producing 1.5 million parts and assemblies a year and on the back of an established track record of quality and delivery it has become a single source supplier for almost all of the products it supplies. It is a fantastic success story, so much so that the company was declared a strategic industrial national asset by South Africa's government owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

Capital Star Steel SA, based in Maputo Province, Mozambique, is a subsidiary of the South African company, Capital Africa Steel (Pty) Ltd (CAS), the company through which Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) operates its construction materials businesses. WHBO is one of the largest construction companies in Southern Africa, listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange with 12,000 employees, and had a turnover in 2013 of more than R23 million.