William Hilditch

Our history begins in January of 1984 when five individuals with entrepreneurial flair pooled their resources and set about starting a plastics business. As they each had substantial experience in different aspects of injection moulding, the name AUTOMOULD was chosen. Some factory space was leased in the Pinetown area and four injection moulding machines were purchased and installed. Shortly after, the first order came through and the machines were operating. The founder members shared the same opinions about business approach and strategy. Together they could offer extensive experience in the field of high specialty plastics manufacture, where the quality standard policy is one of exactitude and non-compromise. As they ensured that good and regular communication took place with customers as well as between themselves, they went on canvassing for orders from Original Equipment Manufacturers in the Automotive, Electronics, Armaments and Domestic Appliance industry sectors. 1986 proved to be a very meaningful year in our developmental growth. In that year our company’s customer base increased substantially, and through a company acquisition move we became a member of MORGANITE S.A. (Pty) Ltd which, in turn is a subsidiary of MORGAN CRUCIBLE PLC, a giant international concern with its headquarters in the U.K. As we adopted Morganite S.A.’s logo, we also made it our goal to obtain the ISO 9002 certification. This was achieved in August of 1989 when AUTOMOULD became one of few South African plastics companies able, to this day, to boast this accreditation. In 1998 Automould focused on supplying the South African Motor Industry and in 2002 achieved its ISO TS 16949 Listing and in 2005 ISO 14001 listing. In 2007 Automould became a subsidiary of SMITHS PLASTICS and part of the METAIR group of Companies. Our intention is to keep specialising in the field of injection moulding.