More than 100 jobs in the infor-mation technology sector will be created with the recent launch of the new Mercedes-Benz South Africa IT Hub situated at the car manufacturer’s East London plant.
The hub, which is one of three in the world, is designed to digitalise manufacturing operations, broaden IT competence and production know-how while the other two are responsible for IT engineering and quality solutions and based in India and Spain, respectively.
MBSA information technology senior manager Tom Cawood said the IT Hub would result in the employment of 90 additional specialists consisting of a mix of graduate and professional experts with data science, software development, solution architects and business analyst skills.
“We are incredibly proud that our ability to deliver world- class IT solutions is recognised by our principles in Daimler AG. These include software solutions such as paperless manufacturing, including internet of things [IOT] connected devices, digital shopfloor management and artificial intelligence solutions.
“We have proven our innovative spirit, ability to deliver fast and our software development is on the newest architecture platforms. We are ready for this new challenge,” said Cawood.
MBSA communications manager Thato Mntambo said while the company offered a variety of graduate development programmes, they had developed a new programme dedicated for the new hub to upskill the community of the Eastern Cape.
“We currently have six graduate development programme positions for the current IT business model. The plan is to create an additional 10 positions to ensure a development talent pool is created so our second wave of recruitment in 2020 is fully supported,” she said.
Mntambo said the hub was an extension of the IT Mercedes-Benz Car Operations Division responsible for providing the global Daimler manufacturing plants with IT applications specialising in the manufacturing operations for production systems, supply chain and maintenance services.
“At the moment we are looking for graduates in IT with a special interest in data science – working on big data and analytics projects, software developers who write codes for new applications, business analysts who are responsible for interpreting business requirements and writing scripts for automated testing of new developed software,” she said.Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati congratulated the German car giant on establishing the third global IT hub within the Buffalo City region.“The new hub, located right here, will create close to 100 additional new jobs and comes with increased opportunities in skills development, training, and jobs for our local communities. In addition to underlining Buffalo City’s reputation for manufacturing excellence, the new IT hub will also cement our metro’s place in developing SA as a centre of excellence in information technology,” said Pakati.Walter Sisulu University spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said the institution has a good relationship with the car manufacturer.“Over the years, we have had great working relations with our local car plant which has taken students for work integrated learning, providing much-needed training and taken from various streams including engineering.” 
To apply, view vacancies at: https: //www.mercedes-benzsa.co.za/careers/..