Electricity + Control July 2015

COMMENT

Editor: Wendy Izgorsek

Design & Layout: Adél JvR Bothma

Advertising Managers: Helen Couvaras and Heidi Jandrell

you and will enable you to peer into the ‘silos’ that define our industry with an increasing breadth of vision and appreciation for how best to manage the system that is the modern plant. In meetings, I often find myself adding to my tradi- tional Venn diagram, depicting the two intersecting circles representing Energy and Information with an all-encompassing circle called Systems – emphasis- ing the need to design, build and maintain coherent systems that encompass both commodities in their fullest sense. I will do a Face Value around this theme in the near future – and I invite you to join the conversation on trends that are emerging in our industry. At a later date I will comment on how I see these impacting on research in the southern Africa context.

We have always promoted Electricity+Control as a magazine that effectively focuses on the two com- modities of modern industry – Energy and Informa- tion . Describing the magazine as ‘a collection of articles on the use of electrical energy to produce a product or deliver a service’ neatly encapsulates the content. This would include the flow and use of electrical energy at any site, and the way energy must be managed and controlled in a system de- signed to produce a product. In the past, measurement focused largely on man- aging and monitoring variables in an automated or controlled environment. Increasingly, however, thesemeasurements have been extended to include almost every aspect of the electricity supply system at the plant. We have seen measurement moving rapidly – and rightly – into the energy component, ensuring that the information we are accessing to better man- age our systems includes that which defines and quantifies our energy usage. This shift has come about because the cost of energy has become an issue of which manufacturers and businesses need to be cognisant. I am convinced that the key to any successful indus- try is not only the use and management of Energy and Information , but how these integrate into a coherent system where each input is a monitored and measured part of the system, recognised as having a real impact on the final product or service. The delineation between power, and instrumen- tation specialists is becoming blurred. While we have argued all along that such differentiation is fictitious; today competence needs to cut across these traditional divides. We require people with a real systems’ attitude towards a plan, and an ability to see into all the existing silos with a view to breaking them down – at least partially. At Electricity+Control, we continue to strive to en- sure that the technical feature articles we publish, in this magazine and on-line, will be of interest to

Circulation: Karen Smith

Reader Enquiries: Radha Naidoo

Publisher : Karen Grant

EditorialTechnical Director: Ian Jandrell

Quarter 1 (Jan - Mar 2015) Total print circulation: 4737

Published monthly by: Crown Publications cc CnrTheunis and Sovereign Sts Bedford Gardens PO Box 140, Bedfordview 2008 Tel: (011) 622-4770; Fax: (011) 615-6108 e-mail: ec@crown.co.za admin@crown.co.za Website: www.crown.co.za Printed by:Tandym Print

Electricity+Control is supported by:

Ian Jandrell Pr Eng, BSc (Eng) GDE PhD, FSAIEE SMIEEE

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor, SAAEs, SAEE, CESA, IESSA or the Copper Development Association Africa

July ‘15 Electricity+Control

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