Automotive academy site found
● Outgoing AIDC board chair Moss reports progress in catalytic project
After hitting a bump in the road with the proposed Smart Industrial Academy, Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) board chair Weza Moss has finished his term on a high note after securing an alternative site for the project.
Moss, who spent two years as the centre’s chair, finished his term on July 14.
Before serving on the board, Moss spent a year as one of the AIDC directors.
The centre is a wholly owned enterprise of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation and is mandated to assist the automobile industry to remain viable and become more globally competitive.
The planned automotive academy — which is aimed at sharpening skills and creating new suppliers and jobs in the sector — was initially going to be built next to China’s Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (BAIC), in the Coega Industrial Development Zone.
But in the AIDC’s 15th Shareholder Report, Moss said this had fallen flat because of high costs, meaning the automotive centre had wasted a full year in trying to source a site.
The academy project was first workshopped in November 2018 at the Coega IDZ and engagements between partners were held last year.
It was expected to cost between R80m and R100m.
During an interview reflecting on his time as AIDC board chair, Moss said an alternative site for the academy had, however, been found, though he was reluctant to disclose it.
“We found an alternative space working with the Mandela Bay Development Agency.
“The MBDA has made commitments and we’re working with the Nelson Mandela University design team.
“You can’t refuse this. It’s got a developmental aspect.
“It can only delay probably to bureaucratic processes or stupid politics, without taking the time to question it and see the benefits that it’ll create for people and the unemployed youth,” Moss said.
The envisaged academy is intended to act as a catalyst in increasing the amount of locally produced components used in assembling vehicles, assisting new players and also helping to grow existing companies.
It will also help in developing the skills needed for the fourth industrial revolution.
The objectives are in line with the government’s SA Automotive
Masterplan 2035.
Moss said when he took up the position he looked at turning the centre around and making sure it was relevant to the sector as well as developing a strategy that spoke to the master plan.
“We needed to review what role the AIDC played in deepening the value chain to make sure suppliers are transformed from tier 1 to tier 4 suppliers.
“In developing and executing that strategy, myself and the CEO had stakeholder engagement sessions with OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and CEOs from VWSA and Mercedes-Benz SA because one of the key factors was to make sure we have anchors to our strategy.
“We engaged Thomas Schaefer and VWSA and they said ‘here’s an academy that’s equipped with 4IR technology, it speaks to the future’.
“They gave us a concept document and five days later we presented it to the board.
“The academy deals with technology, SMME development, skills development for unemployed youth, working with Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) colleges to make sure they produce graduates with skills required by the industry.
“The academy brings international partners.
“VWSA has built about four academies in the world and this would be the fifth in the world if we move forward.
“Deutsche Messe is a technical partner of VW and sets up these academies all over the world.”
Moss said one of the highimpact projects the AIDC was working on was an automotive industrial incubator at the East London IDZ.
He said this would be in partnership with MercedesBenz SA but they had signed a non-disclosure agreement and information would be shared at a later stage. Now he had finished his term as board chair, Moss, who with 25 years’ experience in the automotive sector, said he planned on spending more time with his family and would work on growing his businesses.
The Eastern Cape Development Corporation could not be reached for comment on on who would replace him.