The value of localisation becomes most apparent when a plant stops. When critical equipment fails, the theoretical availability of a replacement component on another continent offers little comfort. Production is measured in hours; international supply chains are measured in days or weeks.

This is why SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa’s investment in local stock, assembly, engineering and service capability has strategic significance beyond the physical size of its facilities. The lesson became particularly clear during the disruption of 2020 and 2021.

International supply chains tightened dramatically, while many industrial businesses reduced inventories and deferred investment. SEW-EURODRIVE entered the disruption with two advantages developed over previous years – a decentralised operational structure capable of responding regionally and stockholding that had already been accumulated in support of planned growth.

Inventory became resilience. That principle has since been expanded considerably. The Aeroton headquarters, fully operational from 2022, represented a significant expansion in the South African operation’s physical and technical capacity. At about 26 000 m², it more than tripled the space available to the business compared with its previous facilities.

The significance of the facility, however, lies less in its size than in what it enables. Engineering, assembly, stockholding, testing and project execution can be brought into one operating environment. 

“People often look at the size of an investment, but the real value is what it allows us to do,” says SEW-EURODRIVE MD Raymond Obermeyer.

“Bringing engineering, assembly, stockholding and testing together means we can respond much faster to customer requirements, configure solutions locally and support projects across Southern Africa and the rest of the continent.”

The Aeroton facility supports customers across 24 African countries, giving the South African operation a role considerably larger than that of a domestic sales company. 

This is particularly important for modular drive technology. Local assembly allows a substantial range of configurations to be created from standardised components rather than requiring each completed drive to be imported in its final form. The advantage is flexibility.

Stock can be held at component level and configured according to actual customer requirements. This improves the ability to react to unexpected demand while reducing dependence on having anticipated the exact finished configuration a customer may eventually need.

The same principle was established much earlier in the geared motor business and later extended into more sophisticated product categories. Industrial gear assembly demanded specialised handling, measurement and skills. Mechatronic products required electrical and electronic competence. Automation required software and systems knowledge. Each additional capability increased the proportion of value that could be delivered locally.

Stockholding has also expanded significantly. Company records indicate that inventory increased from below R100-million to more than R500-million. 

“People sometimes see inventory as money sitting on a shelf,” Obermeyer explains. “But having the right components available locally means we can keep customers operating instead of waiting weeks for an international shipment.”

The investment is particularly important in mining, processing and manufacturing, where the cost of lost production can quickly exceed the value of the component itself.

Regional facilities reinforce the central hub by putting expertise closer to industrial concentrations. Gqeberha developed around automotive, manufacturing and processing. The Lowveld operation grew alongside agriculture and forestry before becoming strategically important to mining. The Cape developed around processing, food and beverage and port-related industries.

The result is a two-tier localisation model: deep capability concentrated centrally and application familiarity positioned regionally. Centralising every specialist resource may be efficient on paper but it increases distance from the customer. Duplicating every capability at every branch would be economically inefficient. SEW-EURODRIVE’s network instead allows regional teams to remain close to applications while drawing on deeper engineering, stock and workshop resources where required.

In industrial terms, this is not simply localisation. It is an architecture for response.