The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Assembly plant

  • Lanre Shittu Motors builds ‘most standard assembly plant’ in Nigeria

    The automobile industry has received a major boost as one of the leading auto firms, Lanre Shittu Motors (LSM), has started the local assembly of JAC trucks at its multi-million dollar assembly plant in Lagos.

    Located at Amuwo-Odofin on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, the plant, it was learnt, has, with the technical support from JAC China, churned out 150 units of JAC trucks.

    The Nation learnt that the plant has the capacity to produce over 1,800 trucks yearly.

    It has also the capacity to assemble six units of trucks in one shift or 12  in two shifts depending on market demand, and can also roll out about 150 units monthly.

    LSM Group Executive Director Mr Taiwo Shittu, who led auto reporters to inspect the plant, said the company invested in the assembly plant to support the Federal Government’s auto policy.

    The plant is expected to be unveiled early next year.

    Shittu described the plant as the most standard assembly plant in Nigeria.

    Operated by local technicians with two JAC technicians on supervision, it carries out semi-knocked down (SKD) assembling.

    Shittu said the plant has the capacity to carry out complete knocked down (CKD), adding that the trucks being rolled out from the plant are of equal quality as the ones produced from any JAC assembly plant abroad.

    He added that the company is working on another assembly plant in Mekun on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway for the production of buses, cars and pickups and another line for support vehicles like trailers, tanks, among others.

    “In this assembly plant, all the equipment were imported from Germany. We believe in auto policy and we believe it has come to stay. The government is really focused on the policy,” he said.

    The journey to achieving this historic milestone started about a year ago and was successfully completed this year with all the trappings of a modern truck assembly plant found in any part of the world.

    Also, officials from JAC truck manufacturers from China, are in Nigeria overseeing the daily assembly at the plant. The team is expected to work with the aim of transferring requisite skills to local engineers in Nigeria.

    “We believe genuinely in the JAC brand; it has come to stay; and very soon it will take over the market demand for trucks because of its quality and our experience in the automotive business in the last 38 years in Nigeria. Already, we have received orders for hundreds of units of these trucks from fleet customers, including BUA Group, and many others. On daily basis, the lists keep growing,” Shittu said.

    He expressed support and strong confidence on some of the stringent measures taken by the Federal Government to streamline auto assembly processes and procedures, whereby nobody is allowed to set up an assembly plant without satisfying the full requirement of the mandatory assemblers’ bonafide certificate.

    Sales Manager, Medium and Heavy Truck Department of JAC, Shaun Yu, said the JAC trucks were specially designed for Nigerians, noting that most of them have been running for eight years, and they are still in good condition.

    Yu said the partnership with LSM is a win-win, adding that the future is bright for the two firms.

    In a related development, the dealership has completed and opened its ultra-modern three-S (sales, service and spares) facility in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    Shittu said the company is training 40 Nigerians as a way of giving back to the society.

    “Prior to the recruitment of these set of people, they are majorly unskilled people, but have passion to develop themselves. Some of them are university graduates, while others are secondary and primary school leavers,” he said.

    When they are selected, they are sent out to the various training schools  in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt set up by Lanre Shittu Motors.

    Upon graduation, they are employed and paid salaries by LSM for   one, two or three years on a graduated salary structures based on performance evaluation metrics conducted by the company.

    After four years, these skill sets are seconded to work with LSM’s  customers, other auto dealer workshops or corporate fleet clients with large fleets based on a negotiated pay package, including their accommodation, if they are going to other parts of the country between LSM, which is the skill set providers and the clients.

  • Hyundai to set up assembly plant in Pakistan

    Hyundai to set up assembly plant in Pakistan

    A Pakistani firm, Nishat Mills, has signed an agreement with Korean-based company Hyundai to establish an assembly plant in Pakistan in a major development.
    The agreement has been signed between Nishat Mills and Hyundai Motor Company and Sojitz Corporation, a company based in Japan, to establish proper framework for negotiating an assembly plant for the sale of passenger and one tonne range commercial vehicles in the country.
    The process of setting up the assembly unit once all the prerequisites and approvals have been granted.
    Market sources state that the investment would range from about $400 million to $500 million and the plant would be established within two to three years after all the paper work is complete.
    It is also believed that some China based companies like FAW and Foton are interested about investing in Pakistan.
    The new Pakistani government policy on foreign investment has started paying dividends as several foreign companies have expressed interest in investments and have already put forward plans to setup assembly plants here in Pakistan.

  • Kewalram Group unveils $400m Assembly plant

    Kewalram Group unveils $400m Assembly plant

    A foremost dealer of Foton, Isuzu Cherry and Mitsubishi in Nigeria Kewalram Chanrai Group has unveiled an assembly plant with capacity to produce 198,000 vehicles and bikes.

    Tagged Group Automobiles Manufacturing Hub, the plant located inside the Afprint complex, Isolo, Lagos, covers 10,000 square meters with more than 6,000 sq meters of open area for road tests and off-loading of Semi-Knock Down (SKD) kits for kinds of vehicles under its umbrella.

    Kewalram will start with assemblage of 12,000 Foton and Isuzu trucks, 30,000 mini buses and cars, 36,000 three-wheelers (Keke Napep) and 120,000 motorcycles.

    The company’s Group Deputy Managing Director, Mr Victor Eburajolo, said Kewalram is partnering Daimler, maker of the Mercedes Benz to bring the best quality to the Nigerian automobile market.

    Eburajolo said the company has employed over 100 skilled Nigerians to work in the plant, noting that this is capable of creating about 500 indirect jobs at the early stage.

    He said: “We are starting with one shift, which gives 60 per cent of the above figure annually. We are starting with Foton trucks. We are also including buses and of course Isuzu. Isuzu is not new in this country. We have entered into agreement with General Motors to assemble Chevrolet brand and we also signed agreement to assemble 3-wheelers and 2-wheelers. If necessary, as demand increases, we can do three shifts. We are target four lines.”

    Flanked by National Automotive Design, Development Council (NADDC) Deputy Director, Policy and Planning and Customers Luqman Mamudu and other Kewalram top executives, Eburajolo said the company’s $400 million investment in the project showed that it believes in the policy.

    While appealing to some government agencies that try to create bottlenecks for investors to go strict by the rules, he thanked NADDC for its support.

    “Going forward, we want to appeal to some agencies that seem to create bottlenecks. We appeal that various agencies affiliated to this and various aspects of the Nigerian economy; timely approvals for documents of imports is key. If all agencies work in unison, we will have great results.

    “The NADDC has been very helpful, but there are some departments that make things so difficult for us. But let me emphasise that we are not going to cut corners, but if our papers are right, agencies should give timely approvals,” he said.

    One of Kewalram Executives Mr Anil Sahgal said: “The most important part of auto policy is quality. We are not compromising and we will consistently improve on this. We are putting all equipment required for this production line.”

    Mamudu debunked claims that made-in-Nigeria vehicles are costlier, explaining that with the huge rebate for knocked down parts, there was no way vehicles assembled locally would be costlier than imported ones of same brand, model and specifications.

    He said:”Vehicles imported are heavily levied but the local manufacturers are allowed to pay only 10 per cent on the knocked down parts used for assembling locally.

    “The moment a company registers as the an auto assembler, we send its name to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to ensure ease in procuring knocked down parts.

    “It is not true that price of locally made are costlier. We have made it in such a way that if you assemble one, you can bring in two, but we encourage them to produce more. We are trying to get component manufacturers because assembling is like a precursor of real manufacturing.”

  • Chinese firm to set up auto assembly plant in Calabar

    Chinese firm to set up auto assembly plant in Calabar

    A Chinese truck manufacturing company, SINO Truck of China, has completed arrangements to establish an assembly plant in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

    This was announced when the company’s Head of African Division, Mr. John Wang, visited Governor Ben Ayade.

    Wang noted that the assembly plant would be preceded by the establishment of service centres across the state for the company’s trucks in Nigeria.

    He said the assembly plant would reflect the company’s first-class infrastructure and the people’s life style.

    The company chief said the peaceful investment climate in the state was one of the motivating factors, adding: “Cross River is the most peaceful in the Southsouth with an enduring weather that has a huge potential for the development of trucks and it is good for industrial establishment.”

    Giving a profile of his company, Wang said: “Sino Truck is a state-owned company and the number one heavy duty truck manufacturing company in China with over 56 years experience, a good track record in truck manufacturing and assemblying.”

    Ayade urged the company to speed up the preparations for the auto plant to take off.

    He said: “With our aggressive climate change campaign, the World Bank is setting up $16 billion for Africa and the United Nations (UN) is setting aside $100 billion annually for developing countries. You can see that transportation of young seedlings for planting, vegetation and forest cover becomes a key issue.”

    He added: “We are far more prepared and more geared towards the utilisation of the product more than you can imagine.”

  • FG suspends licence issuance for new vehicle assembly plants

    The Federal Government has suspended issuance of licence to new vehicle assembly plants.

    Mr Aminu Jalal, the Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.

    Jalal said that the action was to enable the council to consolidate the country’s vehicle assembly operations and concentrate in developing local content.

    He explained that the suspension did not apply to investment in original equipment manufacturing (OEM), adding that applicants for OEM license would not be affected.

    Jalal said: “The major objective of the National Automotive Industry Development Plan is to bring back completely knocked down (CKD) automotive assembly and develop local content.

    “NADDC is investing over N5 billion to establish automotive test centres that will ensure that the vehicles and components meet international safety and environmental standards.

    “The response to the policy so far has exceeded our expectations. The current status of implementation of the policy is that 14 existing assembly plants started assembling new products (cars, SUV, buses, pick-up trucks) in 2014.”

    The DG listed some of the 14 plants as Volkswagen of Nigeria (VON), Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN), Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, ANAMMCO, Leyland-Busan, NTM and Steyr.

    According to him, Nissan, VW, Hyundai, Kia, Honda cars and SUV, Shacman and MAN Trucks, and Ashok-Leyland buses are now assembled in Nigeria.

    “Eleven new companies, including Century Auto (Toyota), TATA, Coscharis Auto (FORD, Joylong, Dongfeng) and Dana Motors (Renault) have been given bona-fide manufacturing status and are on track to start assembly operations this year.

    “Our emphasis has now shifted to the development of automotive local content.

    “Sites for automotive supplier parks in excess of 400 square hectares have been acquired across Nigeria and effort is ongoing to acquire more.”

    Jalal said the council was evaluating tenders by global consulting firms with experience in the establishment of industrial parks.