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MOTORINDIA
l
June 2012
51
will feed both the Durban and La-
dysmith manufacturing units of
Apollo Tyres South Africa, thereby
increasing the commercial vehicle
tyre capacity of Durban by 20 per
cent, and the Ladysmith passenger
vehicle and light truck tyre capacity
by 30 per cent.
Since acquisition of the former
Dunlop Tyre facilities in South Af-
rica, Apollo has invested around
R700 million ($85 million) towards
upgrading machinery and increas-
ing manufacturing efficiencies in
both the plants. Substantial invest-
ments have also been made in peo-
ple development and skill building
in local communities.
Said Dr. Luis Ceneviz, Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer, Apollo Tyres South
Africa (Pty) Ltd.: “This is a con-
tinuation of our efforts to modernise
and upgrade our plants to enable us
to capitalise on upcoming growth
across the African continent. In a
similar manner, given the acute
shortage of skilled artisans, we have
a programme in place to train young
talent with mechanical aptitude.
This has already brought into the
fold young talent from the commu-
nity.”
In view of the special needs of
the Ladysmith community and
the limited number of businesses
in the area, investments have also
been made at the Inkanyezi Special
School for young adults with spe-
cial needs in order to create self-em-
ployment opportunities, and at the
Ladysmith High School for compu-
ter literacy and at the Sizanokuhle
Creche to enable it to attain finan-
cial independence.
Apollo’s
restructured
R&D to focus on
product diversification
Apollo Tyres Ltd. has restructured its R&D
team across its three key geographies to cre-
ate synergy and greater alignment to the com-
pany’s growth plans. This comes soon after a
clear decision taken at the management level
to sharpen Apollo’s focus on core research and
a substantial increase in R&D spends over the
next few years. The new structure links the
entire organisation along two critical product
lines of commercial and personal vehicle tyres,
with respective leaders reporting to the Vice
Chairman.
Mr. Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Apollo
Tyres Ltd., said: “We have merged our research and development re-
sources of nearly 250 individuals from Africa, Europe and India under the
Mr. Neeraj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director
tyres