Advanced Manufacturing

Advanced manufacturing has been recognised globally as important to economic growth, employment and international competitiveness. The Advanced Manufacturing Unit promotes investment in innovations that will enhance the knowledge intensity of manufacturing in South Africa. Advanced manufacturing differs from “conventional” manufacturing in that it is knowledge and/or technology intensive. Companies involved in advanced manufacturing typically make high-value products, pay higher wages and are globally-competitive. Advanced manufacturing industries are defined as those that have the following characteristics or are positioned to transition towards:

• Increasingly integrating new innovative technologies in products and processes; and
• Adopting new technologies and are able to use the technology to remain competitive and add value.

Business Unit Purpose

The Advanced Manufacturing Business Unit supports the development of a knowledge economy in manufacturing by accelerating the manufacturing capability and the knowledge intensity of industry.

In this way we seek to increase and sustain innovation in the manufacturing industry whilst contributing to transforming it into a competitive, high-tech and high value creation industry.

Business Unit Objectives

a) Technology - building on existing manufacturing capabilities to increase and create new competitive advantages.

b) Industry - facilitate development of competitive advanced manufacturing industry.

c) Knowledge networks - foster the development of advanced manufacturing networks to co-ordinate and direct research activities in the sector.

d) Green manufacturing - facilitate the greening of the brown economy to position the advanced manufacturing industries to take advantage of the increasing demand for environmentally-friendly products.

Technology Focus Areas

• Chemicals
• Electronics
• Light Weight Materials
• Production Technologies

In addition to these, TIA will make new investments in the areas of Additive Manufacturing, Automation, Advanced Electronics, Photonics and Aero-Structures, whilst continuing to support the development of strategic high impact projects - Mega Projects - in advanced manufacturing sectors such as Aerospace.

Contact our Business Unit

Charmaine Mphahlele - Coordinator

Tel: 012 472 2922

Charmaine.mphahlele@tia.org.za

Exciting Innovations             

Diagnostic MultiCAM - The project is a joint collaboration between TIA, the CSIR and Eskom, who have come together to develop world-class technology for the monitoring of potential power line failure from a phenomenon known as corona discharge. It will be an important tool in the utilities’ preventative maintenance activities by drastically simplifying the user’s abilities to quickly detect and quantify the nature of the possible failure.