JENNY MARSHALL: Senior Project Manager at AIDC Incubation Programmes Department
#AutomotiveAllies: Jenny Marshall, nominated by the AIDC, is a Senior Project Manager at the Automotive Industry Development Centre. She is responsible for project delivery and operations at the AIDC’s Incubation Centre, which is situated at Nissan South Africa’s Rosslyn manufacturing plant.
Jenny has spent more than a decade as a Project Manager in the automotive sector, before being promoted into her current role in 2017. She is qualified as an ESLog (European Senior Logistician) – which she obtained from the University of Pretoria – with a focus on Production Planning and Operations as well as Supply Chain Management.
Her portfolio includes oversight of eight B-BBEE Incubation Companies, who remain in the programme for a period of up to five years. Post the incubation period, AIDC secures a business contract for the graduate.
Additionally, Jenny is responsible for the management and coordination of a shared services delivery model which provides support into the Incubation programme. These services include HR, payroll, finance, marketing, business development, health and safety, as well as facility’s management for the R70m Incubation factory, amongst others.
Jenny’s portfolio included contributions to the Special Projects Department at the AIDC, with projects such as the LPG Taxi Programme, The Tshwane Automotive City (TAC) Concept, the implementation of a Learning Management System at the Gauteng Automotive Learning Centre, the blueprint for the Ford Supplier Park which has since become a Special Economic Zone, as well as the role of Key Account Manager in a large Skills Development Project.
Background of the Nissan Incubation Programme:
The creation of the Incubation Programmes Department was borne from urgent approaches by Ford and Nissan South Africa to the AIDC to assist their Gauteng based manufacturing plants to successfully place and secure manufacturing contracts for the local production of the Ford T6 Ranger and the new Nissan Navara respectively.
The initiatives also paved the way for previously disadvantaged individuals to become active in the automotive sector making them owners of their own businesses hence fulfilling the government’s Transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation (TMR) mandates, creating jobs and developing sustainable SMMEs.
Tier 1 suppliers and the OEM’s provide technical support to the Incubation companies so that they can build and create local competency to supply services into the automotive sector.
Jenny’s thoughts on #ThingsIWishIKnew:
We are the product of the decisions we make in our younger life. It doesn’t really matter where you start! Do your best each day, be aware of the environment around you so that you notice future trends unfolding and can influence and contribute to evolutionary change. With this eyes-wide-open approach comes the ability to know if-and-when to make a career change as well as staying relevant. The success of a team is the individuals involved, where each person considers the greater good of the team and the team’s objectives first, then you will be a winning team.
#TheFutureIsFemale: The automotive manufacturing sector is a vibrant sector where women can make a difference. The industry is transforming rapidly with a focus on e-mobility, the connected car, autonomous driving, electric vehicles, robotics and growing availability of mobility preferences.
That being said, the traditional manufacturing landscape is evolving. Disruptors such as UBER have seen a fundamental impact in car rental markets which in-turn impact on manufacturer’s derivative volumes. Shifting directions creates new, varied and innovative job opportunities.