Africa needs to revive its steel industry (Furnaces + Casting). Without Metallurgy we are doomed. Yes we need to manufacture, however we need a strong and vibrant Metallurgy Industry. We need to be able to build all kind of tools from simple hand tools to industrial machine tools
📸 imdiario, history, reliance foundry
We are mostly just assembling product parts from all over the world while lying to ourselves that we are manufacturing. We can't build most of the items we manufacture from the ground up. From the electronics, the chips, code, to the design, moulding of parts, or casting.
Africa needs some serious reskilling. The software industry and the Ai buzz are important, however we have some serious gaps in our industrialization plans if we are ignoring the very important Steel and Chemicals industries. We need to revive them at a small scale and grown them
📸 European Commission
Africa needs more Machining Factories for Machine Tools Manufacturing and where you can Make & Build Prototypes of items. Steel & other Metal Smelting Industries should be revived + more focus on Materials Science. Metallurgy and Fabrication are key in any Industrialization Plan.
Do you know simple stuff like "bolts" are hard to get currently in African nations? Its hard to especially get bolts of diff types & dimensions easily. The Metallurgy industry exists in some African cities, but still has almost no help from Govt. Mostly still at cottage scale.
These are areas that African Govts need to refocus on. African Countries have deskilled completely in such important sectors due to ignorance/lack of investment from past Govts. Kenya Railways for example used to build wagons and had good capacity to build and repair small ships
1) India for example is the Worlds 2nd largest producer of castings. Different types of metal castings and cast components are produced by its foundry industry for these sectors:

-Railways

-Machine tools

-Power

-Agro machinery

-Tractor

-Automotive

-Defense
2) -Earth-moving and mining machinery

- Oil and natural gas industries.

- Electrical machinery.

India has roughly 4,500 foundry units of various sizes. All are very important to its economy.
Some of India's foundry cities have specialized in producing particular products.

India's foundry cities include:

-Mumbai

-Agra

-Pune

- Sholapur

- Kolhapur

-Batala

-Jalandhar

-Ludhiana

- Rajkot

-Belgaum

-Coimbatore

-Chennai

-Ahmedabad
The vehicle manufacture industry in India and many other car producing countries is a major consumer of castings. India automobile sector consumes around 40% of the castings it produces. Some cities focus on automobile casting and other products like pumps, pipes,engine casts etc
📸 Wikimedia Commons, reddit, mcwane
With Africa's growing economy +population. Africa's Govts should be increasing investment in such areas. The car industry needs a strong foundry market (Needs castings). The housing sector needs pipes and fittings. Power industry needs metal fittings. Africa needs a Foundry plan.
Pretty much when our African inventors and engineers have an idea, there are almost no options when they think about casting or fabrication. Ideally our Countries should have many foundries of various sizes. Strong foundry presence as small business is key to any strong economy.
Kenya Govt spent millions, bought machines to build a car factory only to produce a few cars and abandon the venture. The project was initiated in 1986 when then President Daniel Arap Moi asked the University of Nairobi to develop the vehicles. Good venture but poorly implemented
Such case studies prove that if our Engineers are pushed to the limit they can actually create something. We need to challenge our engineers even more.

Most of our smartest students go into Engineering. Why waste such smart brains. We need to support them with research funds.
Africa needs a coordinated Govt and private sector industrialization strategy with 10 yr plans + target monitoring. We have many engineers that don't get challenged enough because our African support systems suck. Lack of Research Funds, and investment in necessary equipment.
U.S.A, Japan, South Korea & China also have thousands of foundry's of various sizes. All are very important to their economies. These foundries supply products to many sectors in their economies for example automobile casting and other products like pumps, pipes, engine casts etc
Africa needs to take drastic Industrialization measures quickly, or we we shall never recover. We've been conditioned to be just consumers. No "African Nation can industrialize without steel & steel industries", it is a basic driver. It's a fundamental pillar of industrialization
Ideally we should have foundries capable of building car parts other products like pumps, pipes, engine casts etc in most of our African cities. Many Countries outside of Africa have machining places where anyone can make prototypes of stuff. In Africa we have to outsource such.
Many African Countries have Iron Ore, Coal and every other mineral you need for Steel Production but lack Steel Mills and Foundries. What we lack is an understanding of value creation. We don’t want to solve problems, tough problems. Our tech foundation is non-existent.
"Metal works" is a fundamental pillar of heavy industry. Without it, a country is less likely industrialize. Metallurgical & Materials sciences are critical to Africa's development. They are also crucial to any Country's security. In short Africa needs to learn to make stuff.
Africa needs to be strong in Applied Sciences and Engineering. Many of Silicon Valley's early startup folks had advanced degrees in materials sciences, and had strong hardware knowledge. Fundamentally Silicon Valley was built on hardware. Hence the name Silicon Valley.
Understanding value creation is key. Africa needs to rebuild its value systems from the ground up + train more folks in crucial areas like Materials, Chemicals, Metallurgy & Engineering. These are drivers on which a lot of stuff is built on in many advanced industrial economies
Africa's innovators have to find ways to get support from the system in order to solve the value creation problem, so that Africa can gain control of its economy. The present system all over Africa doesn't support innovation and has conditioned Africans into being just consumers.
In short Africa ain't sh....t if it can't make sh...t
Africa's innovators have to find ways to get support from the system in order to solve the value creation problem. Peer pressure can also be used in order to help bring everyone on the same page on various issues like Connecting Infrastructures, Taxes, Visas, Tickets Prices etc.
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