Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Rosslyn, near Pretoria, was opened more than five decades ago. For years, this massive facility has played a key role in the brand’s strategy to secure a bigger share of the new vehicle market in South Africa and more broadly across Africa.
Serving as Nissan’s light-commercial vehicle manufacturing hub for the region, Rossyln is the linchpin in its African transformation strategy. That’s why the automotive giant pumped R3 billion into improving the facility in 2019, with much of this going towards preparing the plant for production of the next generation Nissan Navara pickup.
According to Lunga Mpofane, head of IT for Africa Regional Business Unit and head of Industrial Systems for Africa, Middle East and India, ensuring the success of the upgrades and digital transformation at Rosslyn demanded that Nissan consider its manufacturing operations in totality. This involved identifying ways to standardise manufacturing processes in order to scale more easily.
Mpofane is responsible for making sure that the plant has the required technology resources and IT systems to ensure that manufacturing operations run at optimal levels. For example, a part picking selection system, also known as Pick by Light, is being used to select parts for a particular model based on a specific code for each part. “Based on the rules within the system, lights are switched on at the various parts required for each model. Once the operator has picked the part, he switches off the light. If all lights are switched off, the unit is confirmed and then the lights will be switched on again for the parts required for the next unit. This approach increases efficiencies across the production line and reduces human error of picking incorrect parts.”
The value of improving these processes all came to a head in the middle of 2021 when, after several years of preparation and development, the first locally-produced Nissan Navara rolled off the production line.
To enable this launch, various facility enhancements needed to happen, including different technological, systems and machinery improvements, he says. While the Navara might be a ‘rugged bakkie’, the company wanted to make sure that it was manufactured using the latest technologies and equipment, leveraging innovative infrastructure and automation capabilities to streamline how the vehicle was produced.
As part of this, Mpofane spent time working on production line consolidation and increasing efficiencies, enabling the manufacture of multiple models on a single production line and giving the flexibility to adjust the production speed based on varying supply and demand requirements.
Additional training and upskilling was provided to South African staff, as part of the Rosslyn upgrades, to guarantee that the work met Nissan’s exacting global quality standards. But due to the pandemic, some creativity was required in how some of this training was delivered. He says: “The start of lockdown provided Nissan globally with an opportunity to fast-track its digital transformation strategy. We had to rapidly adopt virtual technologies, like MS Teams and Zoom, to continue delivering critical business-enabling projects, despite people being in different geographical areas. For example, local engineers and technicians used these tools to complete virtual technical training on the production planning system so that they knew how to make the most of the upgrades at the facility.”
Kaizen chiefs
In line with Nissan’s kaizen way – which is the Japanese word for ‘improvement’ and describes an approach that aims to create continuous improvements by making small positive changes – Mpofane is constantly exploring the latest technological advancements in the manufacturing sector to advance the brand’s locally built products. He believes that it comes down to using digital innovation to better meet the diverse needs of the customer base, while also providing employees with the most cutting-edge technologies so that they can be more productive.
One such innovation that he’s exploring is the use of digital twinning to constantly monitor the manufacturing facility’s performance. “Using a digital twin, we can collect information and create simulations so that we have the opportunity to predict how a product or process will perform,” he says.
Digital twins help to minimise future disasters by enabling Nissan to shift production to another plant without much disruption. “This has already been piloted at Japan’s Oppama Plant. Japan has had multiple natural disasters (earthquakes and tsunamis), where production has been impacted negatively. With digital twinning, Nissan can redirect production to the nearest plant utilising the records of the distressed plant to continue production as usual.”
Nissan has undertaken comprehensive research over several years to gain a deeper understanding of customer needs. This is a key priority for all automotive brands because customer demands and expectations have changed so much in recent years. Mpofane stresses that this data has been critical to the local production of the Navara. And, when combined with intelligent tools like AI, the data only continues to provide insights that can be leveraged to help expand operations across the African continent.
Connectedness
“These insights enable us to develop the technological features that end up in Nissan vehicles, making sure that these are manufactured to enhance the overall driver experience,” he says.
Citing Nissan Intelligent Mobility, dubbed NIM, as an example of this, Mpofane boasts that the newest vehicles offer customers a range of smart features that showcase the significance and importance of having rich data.
Using a digital twin, we can collect information and create simulations so that we have the opportunity to predict how a product or process will perform.
Lunga Mpofane, Nissan
The idea behind NIM is to make Nissan drivers feel more confident and connected, while also enhancing road safety. For example, NIM aims to provide the driver with extra peace of mind via safety features designed to identify and manage risks. Features like intelligent forward collision warnings, pedestrian detection, intelligent emergency braking, blind spot warning and lane departure warning. All of these features represent the brand’s desire to redefine how their cars interact with each other and with the world around them.
“Essentially, what Nissan has been doing and continues to do, is to integrate the driver and the vehicle with the technologies and environments around them,” he says. It’s all about connectedness and connectivity, he continues, highlighting that the aim is to advance current NIM technology by ‘bringing vehicles to life’ and allowing them to connect to one another, learn from each other and eventually enable EVs to charge while driving.
Speaking to those who have dreams of one day doing similar work in the automotive industry, he believes passion, commitment and drive can open any door. “You need to be passionate about the industry and you need to be passionate about the technology,” he says, stressing that people shouldn’t think that this industry is all glamour; sometimes there will be more lows than highs.
“Those wanting to get involved in the automotive sector, with a technology focus, should be prepared to be challenged every single day. But if you have a deep, burning passion, these challenges will only propel you to think in new ways and to do things better.”
* This feature was first published in the August edition of ITWeb's Brainstorm magazine.
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