MechChem Africa May-June 2025

Malben Engineering: over fifty years of manufacturing excellence Customer- and people-centric is how operational director Luca Smargiasso describes automotive component manufacturer, Malben Engineering, which is celebrating its 50 th anniversary this year.

pany opened its plating facility, and in 2002, its e-coating facility. A second plant opened in December 2021, despite the Covid-19 pandemic making travel to South Africa by Chinese commissioning technicians extremely challenging. Today, Malben offers a fully vertically inte grated service, which includes tool manufac turing, component production/assembly and surface coating/finishing. Malben Engineering was founded on a pas sion for supplying world-class products through agile decision-making and authentic, people centric values, all of which are still hallmarks of the company. “Although our family provides a close-knit, solid foundation, we have also invested in succession planning throughout the company. We are already developing passionate young managers, introducing new, innovative ways of doing business and ensuring that quality and production performance are maintained,” explains Luca Smargiasso. Malben has seen the automotive sector transform from using only manual systems, to installing its very first welding robot in 1988, and all the way through to today’s highly automated systems, having entered the digital era with the same passion for excellence as for everything else on its five decade journey. Commercial Director Marius Schafer notes that the company’s original, deeply entrenched values remain its bedrock: “What makes Malben truly unique is the hands-on approach to ensur ing that quality remains consistent. This is vitally important because many of the components that Malben supplies are integral to the safety of the people driving the vehicles in which they are used.” Luca Smargiasso agrees, adding: “One of our key differentiators is that we have also spent a long time entrenching a culture of ownership in our people, across the whole company. This is no longer confined to our family but applies to everyone in the company. That is where real sustainability comes in: it is inter-generational and broad-based.” He also pays homage to his father’s ap proachable personality and daily dedication: “The key to the ongoing sense of togetherness is also my father's continued presence on the factory floor. He is an example of passion and commitment. He and our mother – an extremely inspirational influence in all our lives, who has worked very hard alongside him – were born

M alben Engineering, which operates two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Nigel, Gauteng, is very well known and respected for its strong tool design and manufacturing capabilities; as well as for the supply of high-level welded assemblies using the latest technologies and world-class surface finishing, which includes plating and e-coating for exceeding exacting customer corrosion standards. Malben is also the first South African automotive component manufacturer to import and trial green, low carbon steel. The company has supplied the Ford Motor Company SA at 1 st tier level since 1978, along with other 1st tier automotive suppliers. It has received Ford’s Top 20 Supplier of the Year Award five times and recently scored 98% in an international Responsible Supply Chain Initiative (RSCI) supply chain audit, the highest score ever achieved by a local supplier. Malben was also the winner in the Environmental Stewardship category of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) Awards for Excellence at the end of 2024. Proudly local, Malben is a member of MIBCO: the Motor Industry Bargaining Council; and the automotive component manufacturers’ association, NAACAM, with solid faith in both to represent and champion their interests. Luca Smargiasso, the company’s operational director, says the family – including the greater An aerial view of Malben Engineering Plant 1 and Plant 2.

‘Malben family’ of staff – are the custodians of the Malben brand that his father, Amerigo Smargiasso, established back in 1974. Amerigo Smargiasso and five other founding partners immigrated to South Africa from Italy during the 1950s and 1960s, cashed in their pensions and, in Amerigo Smargiasso case, borrowed R2 000 from his in-laws to raise the capital required to set up an operation manufacturing tooling and pressed metal parts for Malben’s first automo tive customer, Fiat. In the 1970s, additional capacity and tool ing were urgently needed by South Africa’s fledgling automotive sector, and these highly skilled artisans worked seven days a week, often only returning home in the early hours of the morning. “We all shared the same passion and dedication to excellence, and we did business the same way. We were all equally invested and motivated to grow and gain experience,” Amerigo Smargiasso recalls. The first ownership change followed in 1980, when three of the original six founders went on to pursue other business ventures. In 1985 and 1995 respectively, two more founders left the company, making Amerigo Smargiasso the sole owner. The name, which represents the first letters of the hometown from which each of the Italian founders came, was retained as part of the company’s proud, five-decade legacy. By 1978, automotive stalwarts BMW and Ford were added to Malben’s original customer base of Fiat and Alfa Romeo. In 1998, the com

32 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2025