Lack of local SWH manufacturers 'untenable' - minister

According to Business Report, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters committed her department to boosting levels of local content in solar water heaters. 22 May 2012 13:46

Alarm raised over SA manufacturing

South Africans are living through "dangerous times", Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told Parliament on Friday, saying it was "clear that investment is still held back by both global and domestic uncertainties". 22 May 2012 12:18

The case for job creation and retention in SA's white goods manufacturing sector

[Dave McDonald] South Africa's white goods manufacturing sector (fridges, microwaves, cookers, small electrical appliances, etc.) is the latest casualty of globalisation. It is shrinking rapidly, replaced by cheaper imports, with ownership of some operations recently moving to international companies that have well-established global manufacturing supply chains. 22 May 2012 11:49

Gloom over water and electricity

This is according to the Manufacturing Circle, which recently released its 2012 first quarter Manufacturing Survey results. The survey featured 50 chief executive officers from a variety of manufacturing companies. 22 May 2012 11:49

SA infrastructure plan causes manufacturing sector optimism

South Africa's multibillion-rand national infrastructure plan offered the only realistic short-term hope of reviving South Africa's ailing manufacturing sector. The plan had the potential to inject life into the economy and pave the way for subsequent growth and development, Pan-African Research and Investment Services economist Dr Iraj Abedian said, according to Engineering News. 21 May 2012 11:54

Caterpillar chief is an Afro optimist

Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman is a self-declared Afro optimist: "I am more optimistic about Africa than I have ever been in my career," he tells Engineering News. 18 May 2012 13:54

Grave concern over South Africa's future

South African businesses are either putting off their investment decisions or investing in foreign countries according to Grant Thornton's first quarter survey and Business Live says that government incompetence and inefficiency is the main reason for the lack of confidence. 18 May 2012 09:00

Polystyrene can solve housing problem - PSPC

Two of South Africa's most pressing needs, namely the need for sustainable, low-cost housing and the need to divert recyclable materials away from the country's landfill sites which are rapidly approaching their fill capacity, have found an unlikely common solution in recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS). 18 May 2012 06:48

Denel: No orders for Rooivalk

According to Fin24, state weapons company Denel has not managed to secure any foreign orders for its Rooivalk helicopter. The parastatal's chairperson Zoli Kunene said at a public enterprises department media briefing that Denel had delivered 11 Rooivalk at a cost of R6bn to the SA Air Force. 17 May 2012 16:25

SA scientists look to produce titanium cheaply

South African scientists are developing a new way of making powdered titanium, potentially halving the cost of producing the metal used in a range of high-tech manufacturing from military aircraft to artificial limbs, Reuters Africa reports. 17 May 2012 16:22

R5.75bn to help boost manufacturing sector

CAPE TOWN: The manufacturing sector is to get a R5.75 billion injection over six years from the Department of Trade and Industry to help factories become more competitive in the increasingly difficult global economic environment. 16 May 2012 09:48

How to optimally integrate smart grids - African Utility Week

According to PR.com, the European Technology Platform for Electricity Networks for the Future (Smart Grids ETP) defines a smart grid as an electricity network that can "intelligently integrate the actions of all users connected to it - consumers, generators and those that do both - in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies." 16 May 2012 08:29

SA's fuel cell industry may become a lucrative business

The South African Department of Mineral Resources and Department of Science and Technology have been working closely with Ballard Power, a leading manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells, and Anglo Platinum, a processor of platinum-metal groups, to investigate the possible uses of hydrogen fuel cells. 16 May 2012 08:15

Soweto jewellery manufacturer is bound for London

Nqobile Nkosi, 28, studied jewellery design at the Soweto Jewellery School in White City in 2004. But after graduating he did not have the necessary capital to initiate his long-life dream of manufacturing jewellery. 15 May 2012 13:36