No manufacturer in South Africa needs to be reminded of the significant decline in the manufacturing industry over the past 20 years. While many are calling for and hoping for government initiatives to improve the situation, there is wide-spread agreement that the only long-term sustainable solution is achieving global competitiveness. OneSolve Fusion Experience

South Africa is known for product innovation – the ‘what it does’ part of the equation. However, when it comes to global competitiveness, quality, reliability and cost – the ‘how it is made’ part of the equation – become the defining competitiveness factor. While we need to design innovative products to be competitive, we also need to make better products less expensively.

This requirement is forcing South African manufacturers to seek out new production materials, methods and processes, together with cost reductions wherever possible. Recent advances in both the traditional subtractive – and the newer additive manufacturing methodologies – have completely changed the potential for South African manufacturing on the world stage: Barriers to entry have dropped considerably. New, small innovators are now able to bring new products to market at reasonable cost, while long-established firms can reinvent production processes to compete on both the quality and cost fronts.