Promoting local tool industry

This second AfriMold Exhibition aims to address the number of major local industries such as automotive and packaging that spend millions of Rand on local design, engineering and manufacturing equipment and services - only to have the tooling, dies and moulds manufactured overseas instead of in the local economy.

Exhibition MD, Ron MacLarty comments that tooling, dies and moulds made overseas can be less expensive if they are correctly made, but if they are wrong it becomes a very expensive experience.

"The exhibition is a vehicle for local tooling, die and mould makers to get into the market and find selective work which suits a particular tool room. It has been proven as an excellent means of showing local capability and expertise. Last year, business worth R6.5-million was concluded and two agencies were acquired within the three days of the show itself. Significant other business was concluded in follow-ups after the show," comments MacLarty.

He points out that every part made has to go through the comprehensive design cycle and product development and the exhibition expects to represent each step in the cycle, which runs from design, materials, simulation, visualisation, engineering / CAE, virtual reality, CAD and CAM, rapid prototyping and tooling, pattern making and prototyping, mould making and tooling, tools, machine tools, quality assurance and automation and finally to processing and finishing.

"One of our major objectives is to encourage the South African tooling industry to adopt and invest in the technologies that make up the product development design cycle. The more innovative and competitive they are, the more major local industries will be encouraged to place their tooling, die and mould requirements locally. Tooling is a R6-billion industry in SA yet the local share of that is just R1.2-billion with the remainder of the work being placed overseas. In essence, we are importing more than 60% of the tools we are using in manufacturing."

A plan to address this situation is the National Tooling Initiative Programme (NTIP) within which there is also a Gauteng Tooling Initiative (GTI) involving the implementation of a re-orientation programme and apprenticeship curriculum to be completed by 2014.

"The exhibition is an instrument that not only draws attention to this situation but provides a platform for positive developments to address the problems the tooling industry faces," he concludes.