Hexagon has appointed Shiven Sukraj as the company’s ‘vice president, Africa’, to lead its African manufacturing division, supporting manufacturers throughout the continent with a combination of software and hardware solutions.
Hexagon said: “Using Hexagon technology will enable organisations ranging from small component manufacturing shops through to blue chip global manufacturers to optimise how they design, manufacture and inspect components and integrate high-quality products on time and efficiently.
“Declining new car sales in China, the US, and Europe have driven some of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers to build plants and sales organisations in North Africa, taking advantage of the new-found wealth in the region and gearing up to export from the region. Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan, PSA, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Toyota have invested billions in North Africa and beyond. Such OEMs stand to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), which promises to boost cross-country investments by removing trade barriers and making African manufacturing exports more cost competitive.
“For small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs), rapid technological changes in manufacturing, such as automation and advanced robotics, create pressure to invest in costly equipment and upskill their workforce to stay competitive. This is where Hexagon can help, by enabling businesses to embrace automation and digitalisation to improve their efficiency and provide the training and upskilling opportunities for employees to operate and maintain advanced technology.”
Hexagon’s presence in Africa currently includes 24 partners focused on distribution and sales throughout the continent. Based in South Africa, Mr Sukraj will lead the development of Hexagon’s business in Africa, building on proven track records in senior leadership roles with industrial multinationals such as ABB, Quant, and Johnson Controls.
He said: “Africa is rapidly emerging as a pivotal hub for global manufacturing operations, and its new automotive and aerospace plants are some of the most advanced in the world with significant benefits upstream for the Tier Ones, Tier Twos and their suppliers. Africa is brimming with resourceful young people, and we want to empower SME’s with technologies that make the motivated successful.
“Our team has encountered machine shops where technicians were struggling to make consistent quality measurements using vernier callipers; with Hexagon technology a new hire can make a 3-D laser scan of any component in an accurate and repeatable way — and without requiring decades of metrology experience.”