BMW supplier expands plant

Kuhn said Aunde South Africa are the group's flagship operation, making a significant contribution to group profit, and that they are regarded by BMW and Volkswagen's quality staff as one of the best automotive sewing plants in the world. In an interview Kuhn said that the expansion would enable the company to implement their vertical integration strategy and increase capacity.

'We want to establish a one-stop shop for leather and textile seats. To achieve this, we may establish joint ventures to eventually become a component assembler rather than a mere component manufacturer. This was partly in response to car manufacturers reducing the number of suppliers they dealt with.'

He continued: 'About 90% of Aunde's R1.2 billion annual revenue is generated by the leather seat operation, the balance made up by the textile operation which supplies original equipment manufacturers in South Africa.

Turnover has remained constant at about Rl.2 billion for two years and the only way to improve profit was to cut costs, of which material constitutes about 70%. Aunde are planning to get closer to their suppliers, customers and markets. 'We supply the majority of leather seats for the BMW 3 and 5 Series worldwide, with Holden and Mitsubishi in Australia other major clients.

'Aunde makes leather seats, arm and head rests for over 320 000 cars a year and when the new capacity is on-line we will be able to produce leather seats for 3,000 cars a day.' At least two new contracts were expected to be signed within the next month. The company employ about 1,700 which could increase to over 2,000 if additional contracts are secured, but the expansion will enable the company to employ up to 3,500 workers if needed.'

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