The National Tooling Initiative (NTI), a partnership between Industry and government, is the turnaround intervention programme aimed at the rehabilitation and growth of the Tool, Die and Mould manufacturing (TDM) Sector and has been identified by the dti as a key programme to support the development of SA Manufacturing competitiveness as the stimulus for sustainable economic growth and job creation. The National Tooling Initiative Programme(NTIP) has been incorporated into the dti’s Industrial Policy Action Plan – IPAP (1 and 2) as a key action programme for Capital Equipment and Allied Services. Importance of Tooling in Manufacturing: Tools, Dies & Moulds, Jigs and Fixtures, Gauges and Metrology Equipment are paramount to Manufacturing Competitiveness, as they are key Product Life Cycle Cost Drivers in terms of: • Initial Capital Investment to enable manufacturing of any new product, (Design and Manufacturing Cost of Original Tooling, • Production Cost Competitiveness (through Production Cycle Time, Reject Rate, Conversion Efficiency of the product to be produced), • End Product Quality standard, • Reliability of Production output and End product, • Maintenance Cost of Tooling • SafetyThe SA Manufacturing sector procures on average in excess of R6B of tooling. The SA Manufacturing sector procures on average in excess of R6B of tooling. The SA TDM sector has declined over 20 years from a position of 80% local supply to now less than 20% local supply. The international consumption of tooling amounts to EURO 64 billion per annum. Manufacturing represents 16-17% of SA’s GDP, making it a key focus area of the dti’s IPAP to develop sustainable jobs through manufacturing localization. The average labour content in TDM manufacturing amounts to 30%. Therefor the SA demand for tooling, if localized, can fund job sustainable job creation spend in excess of R2B per annum. At the average labour cost spend of R150k per annum per job, this can amount to direct job creation of 13 000 jobs in the sector. The FRIDGE study done for the TDM sector also confirmed that the TDM sector has a large multiplier downstream into manufacturing and can support as many as 25 downstream jobs. Read more on the context of the fridge study in the strategy section | 
