Advanced manufacturing was internationally regarded as critical to reversing the economically-stifling effects of increasing deindustrialisation and could prove to be the answer to South Africa’s stagnant growth rate, the Manufacturing Indaba heard on Friday.

Government had long lamented the country’s receding manufacturing capability and dwindling industrial base, attempting redress through the introduction of a suite of incentive programmes through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), among them the Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme (MCEP).

According to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), combinations of new and established intellectual capacity and manufacturing technologies – considered elements of advanced manufacturing – could be regarded as additional factors of production that complemented traditional inputs, such as land, labour, materials, capital equipment and energy.

“There is no doubt that talent-driven innovation and advanced technologies are the primary drivers of manufacturing competitiveness into the future,” commented DST technology, localisation, beneficiation and advanced manufacturing chief director Beeuwen Gerryts.

Government’s MCEP, which was one of the key action programmes of the Industrial Policy Action Plan, provided enhanced manufacturing support aimed at encouraging manufacturers to upgrade their production facilities in a manner that sustained employment and improved the efficiency of value-addition in the short to medium term.

The programme comprised two sub-programmes – the Production Incentive (PI) and the Industrial Financing Loan Facilities – which were managed by the DTI and the Industrial Development Corporation respectively.

The DTI also offered an Industrial Policy Niche Projects Fund catering to projects that were focused on new areas with the potential for job creation, diversification of manufacturing output and contribution to exports, but were otherwise not candidates for commercial funding.