Continental – engineering the road to localisation
CONTINENTAL Engineering Compounds successfully concluded the commissioning of a R25-million investment in its Pinetown production facility in September this year. The new line provides the ability to produce highly filled concentrates using the most up to date technology available globally.
The focus of this site is to produce engineered compounds for both the industrial and automotive markets. The compounds produced include modified polypropylene, polyamid 6 and 66, polycarbonate and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) compounds. A key component of this is the company’s continually expanding R&D lab and testing facility to bring in-house Continental’s ability to develop compounds specific to its customer’s specifications and meet the requirements of the industry to have local key stakeholders contributing to the localisation programme set out by the Department of Trade and Industry in 2017.
Through its continued success and growth into the industrial market, Continental Engineering Compounds has worked closely with project partners to secure the approvals of its locally produced compounds for automotive applications, focusing on modified polypropylene and polyamid compounds, which have been tested successfully locally and in various OEM-approved labs internationally.
“Through extensive financial investment and dedicated man-hour resources allocated to these specific projects over the past few years. Continental Engineering Compounds has now successfully started supplying into the Toyota SA Motors component manufacturing supply chain, with many more Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects in progress,” says Byron Stanley, general manager.
“These compounds are produced at our manufacturing facility in Durban and encompass the full spectrum of considerations for true localisation . The recent global supply constraint is a clear reminder to all the stakeholders of the need to partner with local manufacturers and to be risk adverse and realize the localisation goals set out by industry.
“With this success, we look forward and continue to work towards broader localisation within the South African automotive value chain, through the supply of technically strong and commercially bespoke compounds. This is being achieved through strong project partnerships and a commitment to strengthen the local technology available to the industry,” Stanley adds.
