FORD Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) has appointed Shawn Govender as the new plant manager of the Struandale engine plant in Port Elizabeth.
Govender took over the reins in November last year from John Cameron. Govender has an established track record with Ford, having joined the company in 1996 as an industrial engineering supervisor before being appointed as production manager a year later.
Following extensive training at Ford in the US, Germany and Thailand, he became the first representative from FMCSA to achieve six sigma black belt certification for lean manufacturing, followed by master black belt status, enabling him to improve business processes.
This led to his being promoted to quality and process leadership manager for two years and then being appointed as assistant plant manager at the Struandale plant, a position he held for three years.
Thereafter, Govender joined General Motors as plant manager from 2006 to 2009, and subsequently held several senior positions including group operations director for Johnson Controls (2010–2011), chief operating officer at Formex Industries (2011–2014) and group manufacturing director at Komatsu Mining before returning to Ford.
“We welcome Shawn back to Ford Motor Company, and wish him all the best with his appointment in this crucial role,” said Ockert Berry, FCMSA VP operations.
“I am really excited to be back at Ford. Ford has evolved rapidly over the years, and the manufacturing technology level at Struandale is truly astounding,” Govender said. “My focus is to significantly drive safety, quality and efficiency improvements within the Struandale plant to make us a truly competitive global powertrain manufacturing facility,” he added.
Govender has a B-Tech Industrial Engineering degree and an MBA – both from Nelson Mandela University. He is currently busy with his doctorate at NMU, focusing on the development of a quality and efficiency improvement model for complex manufacturing industries.
He lives in Port Elizabeth with his wife, Saras, and has two children. – REPORTER
