LOCAL furniture manufacturers and design professionals have been urged to unite to build a strong industry that’s increasingly under threat from a tide of international imports flooding the local market.
“With the challenges faced by the industry laid bare, one of the solutions suggest is to come together as an industry under the eThekwini Furniture Cluster,” said Anu Pather, Programme Manager for Furniture in the Sector Development Department at eThekwini Municipality.
“This industry has not been interacting with each other for a while, and we believe that clustering is the way to go in order to unify this industry,” said Pather, who has developed KwaMashu Furniture Incubator as an industry infrastructure which supports small and micro businesses. Last week, the cluster held the first of its many networking sessions, partnering with the African Institute for Interior Design Profession (AIID), aimed at encouraging industry discussions.
Guest speaker, Prof Justin Barnes, Executive Director of the Toyota Wessels Institute for Manufacturing Studies, urged the different stakeholders to unite to learn about their common challenges, as technology would soon impact on all their businesses.
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“Major disruptions to the way we work are coming our way. We think the company next door is our competition, but that’s not true. Technology, already widely being used overseas for mass production is our threat. They have scale. If we don’t unite and if we don’t start investing in technology to build knowledge, then we will be left at the side-lines,” said Barnes.
He also urged companies to invest in greener methods of production.
Nqobile Mthembu, owner of Woodnovation, based at the KwaMashu Furniture Incubator, said the platform to network opened new opportunities.
“This will advance and empower SMMEs who face many issues in trying to enter the market. This way, we will have access to people who can help us achieve our company’s goals,” she said.
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