ATLANTIS FOUNDRIES: AF Manufacturing a Bright Future in WC

As one of the most important parts of South Africa’s delicate economy, the automotive industry is critical in driving GDP, creating opportunities, and accelerating innovation. 4.3% of output is miraculous considering the state of the country’s power, port, and political ecosystems. Those involved deserve credit for inching towards the country’s targets of producing 1% of all cars globally by 2035. This hard work has benefitted all sub-sectors of the industry, with supply chains thriving when managed correctly.

North of Cape Town, 40km up the coast, the small town of Atlantis is home to a 940,000m² manufacturing operation that feeds into the country’s automotive sector, providing employment for hundreds of local people, spreading wealth and skills around the otherwise remote town.

Atlantis Foundries is key supplier into the truck and engine sector, manufacturing engine blocks and castings from a large facility in the south of the city.

Key products are manufactured using more than four decades of knowledge. This, according to the company, allows for large and complex cylinder blocks to be produced at high-quality, reliably, consistently. Working as an extension of a client’s operations, Atlantis Foundries becomes integral in wider operations. To achieve success for all stakeholders, the company works extremely closely with partners from tooling organisations to product designers to ensure success. Experience in the casting process is also key in the company’s offering – working with grey, compact graphite, and spheriodical iron as well as aluminium to bring choice to customers.

Location is important for the company, close to Cape Town International Airport and the Port of Cape Town for global export, and easily connected to the N7, N1 and N2 for national distribution to sites around South Africa. Atlantis Foundries boasts warehousing and logistics support that clients can make use of pre delivery, and during transit.

This operation is tried and tested – the skills are there, the facilities are in place, and the market exists. For the company, the challenge has been around pricing correctly and integrating technology without disrupting a seasoned business model. Since 1979, when the company was founded by the state, there have been major political, societal, and technological shifts, but with every change, the company has continued to deliver its brand of quality cylinder blocks.

INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED

Previously, Atlantis Foundries had a wide customer base before being acquired by the Daimler Group and aligning to produce specifically for the famous German auto business. But in 2015, Neue-Halberg-Guss acquired the company and set about reestablishing relationships with clients old and new. However, the strategy was relatively short-lived with Daimler Truck Southern Africa again acquiring the business in 2020. The global corporate was attracted to the work that had been done to grow operations since its previous ownership ended. Clearly, the company was also mightily impressed with the work being done in the Western Cape, needing to get Atlantis Foundries castings back into its supply chain.

Daimler Truck’s Director at the Mannheim Production Plant in Germany, Andreas Moch, said of the acquisition: “South Africa remains integral to Daimler Truck’s global business footprint and we are honoured to have entered into a long-term partnership with Atlantis Foundries. The strategically located first-class production facility in Cape Town makes business sense for us as it provides us with the additional capacity we need to continue to meet the demands of a changing global market. I am proud to say that we have a solid working relationship to ensure seamless day-to-day operations and our journey continues as we together slowly crawl toward a more sustainable future.”

The acquisition has allowed Atlantis Foundries to enter more global markets with key customers including Mercedes-Benz Actros, FUSO, and Freightliner benefiting from its 100,000 ton per annum melting capacity.

“It is indeed a privilege for us to be under the umbrella of one of the giants in the industry,” said Atlantis Foundries Senior Manager: Technical Engineering, Cordell Rautenbach. “One cannot overlook the added advantage of our corporate partner in Daimler Truck, which gives us the financial and any other backing we require to further boost our business in South Africa and fulfil our customer’s business needs. Our ongoing collaborative efforts are certainly the ingredient to the long-term success of Atlantis Foundries, we understand that ‘no block, means no truck’. We continue to maintain the global standards that Daimler Truck is renowned for through constantly improving our operational excellence and skillset.”

SETTING NEW STANDARDS

In South Africa, the company has faced the same macroeconomic challenges that have ravaged other parts of the automotive industry. As a heavy industrial company, exporting to global markets, a number of factors have combined to make business tough. Eskom continues to implement loadshedding, the Port of Cape Town and the Port of Durban remain underinvested and slow, and the exchange rate is unpredictable.

To mitigate against one of these challenges, the company has opted for installation of a solar energy package with Energy Partners. More than 20,000 solar panels will deliver a total rated capacity of 13.5 MWp and is the Western Cape’s largest embedded solar generation project. Energy Partners engineers, finances, constructs and operates the project, before entering into a power purchase agreement (PPA) when operation commences, with Atlantis Foundries hosting the ground-mounted solar system which will offer up a reliable and clean electricity supply for the next two decades.

“Opting for renewable energy is a significant step, and the system that we designed for Atlantis Foundries is expected to save more than 22,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually, likely the highest reduction achieved in the South African automobile industry,” said Manie de Waal, CEO at Energy Partners. “In financial terms, the system will generate electricity worth more than R35 million per year at current average Eskom tariffs.”

Pieter du Plessis, CEO at Atlantis Foundries was equally optimistic, saying: “Atlantis Foundries, as part of Daimler Truck AG, constantly sets and exceeds global best practice. Our commitment is to both our shareholders, stakeholders and the environment. With this renewable energy generation project, we are setting new standards in the South African automotive industry and alleviating pressure on our constrained national grid. It is a result of extensive cooperation between the AF and EP teams, in conjunction with the Western Cape government and City of Cape Town. Thank you to everyone involved.”

In just this small part of the automotive industry in South Africa, Atlantis Foundries is showing that whatever good you put into the process will result in a really great things coming out. There is no rival that can offer the quality if the manufacturing site in Atlantis, and this is proven by the investment from Daimler. The company is setting itself for the future with clean energy input, and innovative design contributions. Clearly, after much forward and backward, this is a company with the right ambition to maintain pole position and thrive as a true regional industry leader.