On 22 October 2025, SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa officially cut the ribbon to open its new R385 million, 17 000 m² service and repair facility at its Aeroton headquarters, south of Johannesburg. The ribbon cutting was timed to coincide with a visit to South Africa by Jürgen Blickle, Chief Executive Officer of the SEW-EURODRIVE Group, who has been instrumental in the group’s growth globally and specifically in South Africa.
Members of the SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa management team line up with CEO Raymond Obermeyer (third from left) and Jürgen Blickle CEO of the SEW-EURODRIVE Group {centre) for the ribbon cutting. [Photo: Electricity + Control]
As construction nears completion, having begun just a year ago, the new service and repair centre is still to be equipped and is scheduled to be fully operational by March 2026. It will then offer customers full OEM quality gearbox servicing with quicker turnaround times and stronger warranties.
Speaking at the opening, Raymond Obermeyer, Managing Director of SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa, said the development of the new facility responds directly to the market’s needs. “For the first time, customers will be able to have all aspects of their industrial gearbox dealt with in one place – and to the highest OEM quality standards,” Obermeyer said. “This allows us to offer unprecedented warranties on service work, giving the market the assurance of operational continuity and enhanced uptime on repaired and refurbished units.”
Purpose-built to OEM standards, the new SEW-EURODRIVE service and repair centre will bring all aspects of gearbox, motor and drive refurbishment under one roof - a first for the South African market.
He emphasised that the expertise and equipment that SEW-EURODRIVE is bringing together in this new facility mean it will be able to conduct comprehensive drivetrain repairs – “from the gearbox and coupling to the motor, steelwork and electronics. We now have all this capability at our disposal, and it is game-changing for customers. It means industrial gearbox users will no longer need to involve various service providers in a single repair or refurbishment contract. They can work with one OEM, and they gain a new level of support in terms of quality, reliability and warranties.”
Significantly, this investment in the new service and repair facility follows the company’s R500 million head office expansion completed in 2022, and forms part of the group’s €1 billion global drive to strengthen service capabilities.
The facility will also accommodate a bigger Drive Academy – with capacity to meet the growing need for skills training for SEW EURODRIVE personnel as well as for customers as technologies continue to evolve.
For more information visit: www.sew-eurodrive.co.za
