The 350 000th towbar has come off the line at Brink Towing Systems, the Pietermaritzburg-based manufacturer and importer of precision-made, high-quality towing solutions.
Fittingly, it was a bar for a Ranger T6 that stopped production for a short celebration, the Ford brand being at the forefront of demanding tow bars made to ever-more stringent international standard and with increasingly high towing capacity. The vast majority of Rangers exported around the world from South Africa leave fitted with a Brink tow bar.
Each Ranger tow bar weighs 40 kilograms and includes about four metres of MIG welding, every centimetre of it completed robotically for maximum quality and consistency. Once completed, a tow bar is e-coated and then powder-coated for long-term protection against the elements. 305 000 Ranger towbars have been produced at the facility, 10 500 tonnes of steel being consumed in the process.
“It is a tribute to the entire team at our Pietermaritzburg facility that we have reached this goal and maintained such a high standard along the way,” said Mark Gutridge, managing director of the local operation. “It has taken a lot of hard work to compete in the global industry, and this is reflected in the recognition we’ve received from customers and users, including both Toyota and Ford’s South African plants.”
