This Is How Ford South Africa Is Creating New Jobs At Its Silverton Assembly Plant
This Is How Ford South Africa Is Creating New Jobs At Its Silverton Assembly Plant. Ford South Africa has announced that it has created around 1 200 incremental jobs by adding a third shift as part of the $1.05-billion investment in its Silverton Assembly Plant. With the surge of unemployment rising everyday in South Africa, Ford is lending a helping hand in order to significantly reduce the number of people that are unemployed.
The company also said that its local workforce has increased from 4 200 Ford South Africa employees to approximately 5 000, along with an additional 440 jobs at the plant’s on-site service provider. The company’s reintroduction of the third shift will support expanded production of the current Ranger pickup to meet strong local and international demand. It will also enable an increased production capacity for the next-generation Ranger, starting in 2022.
“Our key objectives with the $1.05-billion investment in the Silverton Assembly Plant and our supplier facilities are to expand our production capacity, and to introduce the most advanced technologies and systems as we modernise our manufacturing operations to bring them in line with the best in the world,” Ockert Berry, VP Operations at Ford South Africa said in a statement.
The company attributes this initiative as the first use of a three-shift production schedule since they implemented it as a temporary measure during the second half of 2019 to fulfil higher production volumes required for the current Ranger and this is why the Silverton Assembly Plant will operating around the clock, five days a week.
“Crucially for our communities, the higher production volumes mean more jobs, and we are delighted to add the 1 200 jobs that now fill the third shift from the beginning of September. We first ran three shifts and 24-hour production for a limited period in 2019 to meet higher volume targets, and we are delighted to reinstate this extra shift as a permanent fixture as we ramp up our production.” Berry added.
