From Ore to engine: A national strategy for rebuilding Zimbabwe’s foundry and manufacturing ecosystem

By Eng. Martin January & Eng. Paul Matshona

 

Zimbabwe’s industrial future will be defined not by the minerals beneath its soil, but by the manufacturing capabilities built above it.

The country’s ambition to shift from raw mineral exports toward a technologically capable, export-oriented economy depends on producing high-precision engineering components, particularly for automotive platforms.

Zimbabwe hosts key vehicle assemblers Willowvale Motor Industries in Harare, Quest Motors in Mutare, AVM Africa, and Deven Engineering but these operations continue to rely heavily on imported components due to limited domestic metallurgical capacity.

The challenge extends beyond reviving assembly lines or forming partnerships with global brands. Zimbabwe must rebuild its metallurgical base and position foundries as strategic industrial assets capable of producing certified castings, engine components, housings, and structural parts essential for modern vehicles.

Without this capacity, the country will remain dependent on semi-knockdown assembly, limiting integration into regional supply chains and constraining the development of a competitive, technologically advanced industrial base. Building on earlier analysis in Industrialisation and Tool-Making in Zimbabwe: Building the Foundry Backbone of a Modern Economy, this briefing shifts from diagnosing metallurgical gaps to outlining how Zimbabwe can engineer a pathway from molten metal to globally certified motor components.

For meaningful industrialisation, the foundry and metal-working sector must move from a peripheral role to the central protagonist supplying precision components that underpin vehicle assembly, industrial machinery, and export-led growth.

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Foundries as the Hidden Infrastructure of Industrial Economies

 

Foundries lie at the heart of any serious industrial economy. They transform mineral resources into engine blocks, brake housings, pump casings, chassis components and specialised tooling systems that underpin mining, agriculture, construction, transport and energy sectors.

When a nation’s foundry capability declines; as Zimbabwe’s has due to outdated machinery, weak quality control, energy instability and limited automation; the entire industrial ecosystem begins to hollow out. Industries that depend on precise castings and machined parts become reliant on imports, and national value addition collapses.

 

Zimbabwe’s inability to produce high-tolerance castings locally is not a technical accident; it is the cumulative outcome of years of underinvestment in metallurgical testing, heat treatment, machining and process automation. In this sense, the foundry sector mirrors the artisanal mining sector: productive, entrepreneurial, but starved of structured financing, formalisation and technological upgrading. Without deliberate intervention, both remain trapped in low-value activity.

 

What It Takes to Make an Automotive Component: The Global Benchmark

 

Producing a motor component that can be fitted into a BMW, Toyota or Mureza vehicle requires far more than casting ability. Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) demand consistent metallurgical control, traceability of alloys, repeatable dimensional precision and zero-defect manufacturing cultures.

 

A component must undergo spectrometry, microstructure analysis, tensile and fatigue testing, ultrasonic inspection, radiography and computer-aided dimensional verification. It must come from a facility where every stage, from melting to machining, follows documented process control and where defects are predicted using simulation before the first metal is poured.

For Zimbabwe, meeting these requirements means building a new technological foundation. Foundries must adopt controlled melting practices, precision alloying processes, degassing systems, and automated cooling regimes.

Machining must shift to 3- and 5-axis CNC centres capable of tolerances measured in microns. Automation becomes the only path to repeatability: robotic handling, PLC-driven furnaces and automated moulding lines.

A modern automotive casting is not a metal object, it is a data-validated, process-controlled engineering product. This is the standard Zimbabwe must build toward.

 

Lessons from Countries That Engineered Their Own Competitiveness

Industrial competitiveness is not inherited; it is built through institutional discipline, technological investment and clear industrial targeting.

Egypt offers a compelling example. Over the past two decades, Egypt deliberately modernised its foundry base, investing in high-pressure die casting, metallurgical laboratories, simulation software, tooling centres and specialised industrial zones. It intentionally created a casting-to-component ecosystem, enabling its industries to supply selected automotive systems across Africa and the Middle East.

 

South Africa, despite cost pressures, remains Africa’s most sophisticated automotive manufacturing hub. Its success did not emerge spontaneously. It was engineered through long-term industrial programmes; first the Motor Industry Development Programme then Automotive Production and Development Programme   which created incentives for tooling, machining, casting, assembly and export growth.

The development of automotive supplier parks, specialised training academies and structured OEM to supplier integration made quality and certification routine rather than exceptional.

 

The critical lesson for Zimbabwe is that manufacturing ecosystems grow out of deliberate choices, not market chance. Nations that succeed invest heavily in metallurgy, automation, tooling, industrial clustering and human capital.

 

 The Technological Foundations Zimbabwe Must Rebuild

 

Zimbabwe’s current technological base cannot support entry into competitive automotive supply chains. Most foundries operate with outdated melting furnaces, minimal process automation, limited alloy control and basic mechanical testing.

The absence of spectrometers, metallurgical microscopes, radiographic inspection and controlled cooling systems makes high-precision production nearly impossible.

 

Modernising this foundation requires a shift from manual, variable processes to digitally monitored and automated production. Automation must become central to industrial policy because it delivers the repeatability global OEMs demand. A manually cast part might vary subtly from batch to batch; an automated moulding line produces the same part every time. Robotic handling reduces porosity and dimensional deviation. CNC machining eliminates human variability.

Digital simulation predicts defects long before they occur, reducing waste and accelerating time-to-market. Rebuilding technological capability is not a luxury, it is the minimum threshold for entry into the global industrial economy.

 

Foundry & Manufacturing Clusters as Zimbabwe’s Functional Model for Reindustrialisation

 

Zimbabwe’s foundry sector cannot modernise through isolated, under-capitalised firms. The future lies in establishing compact Foundry & Manufacturing Clusters integrated industrial zones that consolidate casting, machining, heat treatment, additive manufacturing, quality testing, and design-simulation in a coordinated ecosystem.

These clusters enable shared access to high-cost infrastructure such as spectrometers, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), high-pressure furnaces, and CNC machining centres. They promote collaboration between foundries, tool-making workshops, engineering firms, and universities, while serving as training grounds for metallurgists, machinists, simulation engineers, and industrial automation specialists.

The Zimbabwe Institute of Foundries (ZIF) plays a central role in this model. Through partnerships with the Zimbabwe School of Mines, industry advocacy for financing and infrastructure, and promotion of quality standards, ZIF ensures that clusters build the technical capability and certification discipline needed to supply OEMs and regional markets.

This approach mirrors emerging industrial economies, where competitive advantage stems not from individual factories but from integrated, collaborative Foundry & Manufacturing Clusters

 

Creating a National Narrative for Industrial Competitiveness

 

Industrial ecosystems do not flourish without coherent national narratives. Zimbabwe must articulate a clear industrial story that positions metallurgy and manufacturing, not merely mining, as the core of national competitiveness.

This narrative should connect ore to alloy, alloy to casting, casting to machining, machining to component and component to global value chains.

 

“We need to tell a different industrial story; one where beneficiation does not end at concentrate, but continues until Zimbabwean-made components enter engines, gearboxes and industrial systems across the region.” – Eng. Paul Matshona

 

It must redefine beneficiation not as exporting semi-processed minerals, but as producing engineered goods, motor components, mining equipment parts, agricultural machinery and industrial hardware. Without this narrative, policy coordination weakens, investor confidence falters and financing becomes fragmented. A compelling national narrative is not cosmetic; it is a strategic tool for mobilising institutions around a unified industrial goal.

 

Why Skills Will Decide Zimbabwe’s Industrial Future

 

The success of modern foundries is determined not only by equipment but by the sophistication of the workforce operating it. Zimbabwe must cultivate a new generation of metallurgists, materials scientists, CNC programmers, simulation engineers and robotics technicians.

Traditional vocational training must evolve into a hybrid model that blends industrial theory with hands-on exposure in cluster-based training centres.

Workers must understand alloy behaviour, casting simulation, quality assurance, tool-path programming, industrial robotics and non-destructive testing. Without this skills revolution, even the most advanced equipment will fail to deliver competitive results.

 

 Positioning Zimbabwe in Regional and Global Value Chains

 

Zimbabwe’s mineral endowment; iron ore, ferrochrome, nickel, aluminium and copper; provides a natural base for alloy production.

But raw materials do not automatically create manufacturing competitiveness. To integrate into regional automotive and engineering value chains, Zimbabwe must demonstrate reliability, certification and cost competitiveness.

South Africa imports large volumes of cast and machined components; Zimbabwe could supply a portion of this demand if it develops modernised hubs and meets quality standards. Proximity to OEM plants, combined with lower logistical costs, offers strategic advantages.

However, this requires stable power, efficient logistics corridors, predictable currency regimes and harmonised quality certification frameworks. Integration into value chains is not about selling products; it is about earning trust as a consistent supplier.

 

Financing: The Missing Middle That Holds Back the Foundry Sector

 

The greatest constraint facing Zimbabwe’s foundries is not talent or ambition, but finance. Like the ASM sector, foundries operate without tailored financial instruments. Capital-intensive requirements furnaces, CNC machines, robotic cells, and testing labs carry long payback periods that commercial banks, focused on short-term lending, cannot support.

Yet the sector presents significant opportunities. Modernised foundries can supply high-value castings, engine components, housings, and structural parts for local automotive and industrial manufacturers, while integrating into regional and global supply chains. They can drive industrial growth, create skilled jobs, and support export-led revenue generation.

Drawing on lessons from Capitec’s Bank approach to “serving the underserved,” Zimbabwe must establish a robust industrial financing architecture: long-horizon credit, concessional financing, equipment leasing, grant-supported technology upgrades, public-private partnerships, export guarantees, and a dedicated Foundry and Metalworking Development Fund. These instruments would enable scaling, modernisation, and global competitiveness, transforming the foundry sector from low-value production to a strategic driver of national industrialisation.

 

A Moment of Industrial Opportunity

 

Zimbabwe stands before a rare opportunity to redefine its industrial future. Modernising the foundry and metalworking sector is not about recovering the past, it is about constructing a new industrial identity capable of producing high-value components for regional and global markets. With the right combination of technology upgrading, automation, mini-hub development, skills transformation, financing reform and a unifying national narrative, Zimbabwe can move from exporting ore to producing engines, components and industrial systems.

 

“Zimbabwe cannot industrialise on sentiment alone. We need a disciplined investment pathway that upgrades our metallurgical, tooling and machining capacity to international specifications. Without this, we will remain spectators in the automotive value chain.” – Eng. Martin January

 

Industrial transformation is not an abstract ideal. It is a process of engineering, iteration, investment and institutional discipline. The future of Zimbabwe’s manufacturing economy will not be imported; it will be cast, machined and assembled at home.

 

Paul Matshona is a Mining Engineer and Researcher at the Zimbabwe School of Mines, specialising in sustainable mining systems, environmental governance, ESG, responsible mining, and de-risking strategies for small and medium-scale mining operations.

Martin January is a Financial and Mining Engineer, and Training & Operations Manager at the Zimbabwe School of Mines, focusing on financial modelling, operational efficiency, technical and financial valuation, and capacity-building in the mining sector.