After nearly 40 years of investment in South African operations, German motor and gear unit manufacturer SEW-EURODRIVE continues to expand its reach throughout South Africa and the rest of the continent.

With new branches planned for Kenya and Zambia, the group will inject more investment into skills and expertise, as well as “manufacturing and repair excellence”, which form the core values of the Bruchsal-headquartered group.

The effective collaboration between Germany and South Africa is demonstrated through SEW-EURODRIVE’s eight global steering committees that contribute to product innovation.

The three steering committees that SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa is part of has enabled the development of products specifically suited to the African market.

Local engineers and developers have made valuable contributions to SEW-EURODRIVE’s research and development efforts, customising products to suit the harsh African climate while benefiting from designs developed through German expertise, explains SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa MD Raymond Obermeyer.

SEW-EURODRIVE has global steering committees, attended actively by key personnel from strategic locations around the world participating in product advancements and innovations. SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa also has a seat at some of these crucial committees. Through increased collaboration among regions, SEW-EURODRIVE has become more targeted with its development and innovation to suit the distinct markets in which it operates, he adds.

The group invested more than R2-billion in the South African economy – helping to support the manufacturing sector and job creation – of which R380-million has been spent on a new repair and service facility at the Aeroton site, in Johannesburg, the construction of which will be completed in November.

Obermeyer says the company remains committed to the South African market and will continue to provide training and skills development opportunities as it has done on a global basis for the past 94 years.

“Whatever develops at SEW-EURODRIVE in Germany is dispersed to the rest of the world. Our parent company is proactive with its subsidiaries globally. It follows the ethos of ‘think globally, act locally’, with every SEW-EURODRIVE branch reinvesting in its host countries.”

Rather than having its global branches compete for investment, the group invests across all its operations to offer optimal services and products to customers.

“We share the same goals as SEW-EURODRIVE in Germany, with the steering committees ensuring that our strategies remain aligned. We also share technical knowledge, and support other SEW-EURODRIVE operations in Africa, ” Obermeyer adds.

Most staff members undergo training at a Drive Academy, in Germany, but local academies and centres of excellence also advance on-the-ground skills and training, closer to those operations.

As part of its new repair and service facility investment, SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa will rehouse its training academy to facilitate additional training capacity.

The new 17 000 m2 building will have 1 500 m2 of space dedicated to increasing training capacity for employees and customers, but the company will regularly send staff members to Germany to learn about new group developments, products and digitalisation, including AI.

He believes it is rare to have a company consistently investing in markets as challenging as those in Africa, and that this commitment helps to reassure customers about the group’s dedication to localisation and its continued support.