African Fusion August 2015

SAIW Member profile: Hydra-Arc SAIW bulletin boar

Alan Reid: SAIW’s new Technical Services manager

welding coordinator support; procedure development; consumable assess- ments; failure investigations; quality system development; and implemen- tation of research projects. “I am the ‘go to guy’ for industry related welding development or problems,” he adds. Underpinning the Technical Services offering is the SAIW’s new laboratory. “My number one priority right now is to have the lab SANAS accredited to ISO 17025. The manual has already been submitted but a few revisions still have to be incorporated. Within the next few months, we aim to resubmit the amended manual, following which we will be audited by SANAS to obtain ISO 17025 certification for the mechani- cal and chemical testing laboratory, which has been specifically set up for welding related tests: welding proce- dure qualifications (PQRs) and welder qualifications. “Following accreditation, the labwill then be able to reach its full commercial potential. And, unlike many other test labs in South Africa, we have consider- able experience inwelding. Our consult- ing department offers help to develop weldingprocedures, for example, andall of the associatedmechanical tests, com- positional analyses and micrographs needed for a procedure qualification will be able to be offered from our own accredited laboratory,” he says. “And while many larger users and fabricators operate their own labs, ours is independent and backed up by the Africa still lags behind in the training of welding engineers (IWEs), technologists (IWTs) and International Welders (IWs). We need to create a sustainablewelding skills base to achieve world-class weld- ing performance. “Only when South Africa is able to use local skills to successfully execute major fabrication and constructionproj- ects and to maintain those plants, can saywe have achievedour goals,”Maroga says. “But I am quite confident that our renewed focus will enable us to develop a new generation of reliable and skilled local people,” he adds. High quality papers were presented to appeal to industrial sectors including: shipbuilding, ground transportation, energy, pressure andprocess equipment and aerospace.

best welding support available,” he suggests. Reid also reveals that the SAIW is looking for a secondwelding consultant to join the Technical Services team, fol- lowing Renier Mostert’s move to SAIW Certification to join Herman Potgieter. Technical Services’ Thulani Mngomezulu is the only other SAIW welding consul- tant. “We are looking to appoint a sec- ondwelding consultant/engineer to this role in the near future,” Reid confirms. “This new position is an excellent growth opportunity for me. I have now returned to the technical side, which is what attracted me to metallurgy and welding in the first place. When I left school, I was passionate about engineer- ing, so I am looking forward to being back doing the things that I really enjoy,” Reid concludes.

R eporting directly to executive direc- tor, Sean Blake, Alan Reid joined the Institute in July as the new man- ager of the SAIW’s Technical Services department. “I graduated with a degree in Physi- cal Metallurgy fromWits University back in 1998 and, in 1999, I started work at DCD Heavy Engineering as a Welding Technician. I was there for over 16 years in several different positions: fabrication manager; productionmanager; QAman- ager; contracts manager; cluster SHEQ manager; and finally, sales and market- ing manager,” Reid tells African Fusion . As well as a BSc (Eng) in Physical Metallurgy from Wits, Reid completed an MBa in 2011 through the North West University’s Potchefstroom Business School. “And I amnow about to embark on the IIW’s International Welding Engi- neer (IWE) course under Professor Pieter Pistorius at the University of Pretoria,” he says. Describing his new role at the Insti- tute he says that he oversees the suite of Technical Services offerings, which include: expert welding consultancy; become a preferred destination for fab- rication, we need to adopt technology for better quality systems management andwemust renewour efforts to imple- ment internationally approved welder training programmes – such as the IIW International Welder programme – in training schools across the country,” he says. Morris Maroga, who represents South Africa in commission XIV: Educa- tion and Training and SC-Qual: Quality management in welding and applied processes says: “Education and training as well as welding quality management remain major challenges in completing the current infrastructure development projects inSouthAfrica, andmaintaining our power plants using local skills. South

WorldSkills Welding 2015 J acobus van Deventer, South Africa’s welding candidate for the 2015 World Skills competi- tion held in São Paulo, Brazil from11-16 August, achieved 493 points in the welding competition, just seven points shy of the 500 needed for a Medallion of Excellence. Although finishing in 25 place, he finished ahead and the German and Swedishwelding en- trants and only 50 points behind the Gold Medal winner, Zhengchao Zeng from China. The Silver Medal went to Jackielyson Alves of Brazil, while Thailand’s Suparat Rattanapan took Bronze. Van Deventer is a product of the Steinmül- ler Africa’s Technical Training Academy (SATTA) in Pretoria West, which, along with its sister facility in Bethal, Mpumalanga, is accredited by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (merSETA).

IIW Annual Assembly and Conference: Helsinki, 2015 Continued from page 11 

South Africa’s WorldSkills 2015 entrant for the welding competition, Jacobus van Deventer, on completion of his carbon steel pressure protect. Jaco achieved 493 points, just seven points shy of the 500 needed for a Medallion of Excellence.

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June 2015

AFRICAN FUSION