Electricity and Control June 2023

INDUSTRY 4.0 + IIOT

Monitoring water levels and water flow at Thune Dam. predominantly young population, keen to be trained to new skills. It presents significant opportunities.” A history in SA Ranaudo also highlights that Siemens has been present in South Africa for more than 160 years. It was the fourth country the company invested in, after Germany, the UK and Russia. It was Siemens that set up the first telegraph system between Cape Town and Simonstown. “As Siemens, we are proud to be in South Africa,” he says, “and we see ourselves first as a South African company offering a German brand, rather than a German company operating in South Africa.” Siemens South Africa is a Level 1 BBBEE company and has a well-established footprint locally, with national offices. Across sub-Saharan Africa, it has regional offices in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana. “Siemens is recognised as the leader in automation internationally and we bring value to our customers the world over,” says Ranaudo. Digitalisation and sustainability Sustainability, as a critical global challenge, is also a core focus for Siemens, internally and for the industries and customers it serves. Digital Industries – and the digitalisation of industry – are central to this, aimed at improving efficiencies in industrial operations and performance and the more efficient use of resources: materials, energy, water. “The implementation of digital systems and technologies enables our customers to be more sustainable,” says Ranaudo. “If, for a simple example, you are using an energy-efficient drive that consumes 100 Watts rather than one that consumes 1 000 Watts of electricity to perform the same task – you are improving a plant’s energy efficiency. “Digitalised process control systems that are web based, as we have launched here today, provide for remote monitoring of operations and plant maintenance. This also supports efficiencies, reducing time and costs and emissions associated with travel – particularly for remote sites as in mining and infrastructure. “We are also seeing new efficiencies emerging, for example, in vertical farming. Here, the land footprint (and impact) is reduced and the compact scale of production achieves significant efficiencies in water and energy consumption, as well as in infrastructure. “In water utilities and infrastructure, new digital technologies

can also play a valuable role – monitoring pipelines from national bulk supply systems to local distribution networks and managing water leaks, for instance, to reduce wastage.” Ranaudo adds that Siemens drives sustainability because it recognises its responsibility to society, and to future generations. “Education, building skills and training people is as much a part of this as the digital technologies we design and implement to improve efficiencies in industrial operations.” Collaboration Early in the digital revolution Siemens recognised the need for an ecosystem of expertise. “We recognised that we can’t do it alone,” Ranaudo says. “We work with multiple players, experts in their own fields, whether that is cybersecurity, cloud services, system integration, all have their strengths and particular areas of expertise. We work with selected partners to optimise the systems and service for the end customer. If a customer wants to digitalise and accelerate its transformation – Siemens has the know-how and experience to draw allied expertise together to complement its own systems and technologies, hardware and software, to meet the customer’s needs We offer customers one source for advice, guidance and implementation.” Looking ahead Digitalisation is clearly a continuing driver in industry and the development of new technologies is accelerating. AI, machine learning, the metaverse, all play into and can support sustainability. Importantly too, in Ranaudo’s view, much as the world has seen a pull back to localisation of production in some respects, globalisation is continuing apace and will become again a dominant theme going forward. “South African companies need to recognise that we are competing on a global stage – and will be increasingly exposed to global competition. We need to position ourselves globally. If we take just one example, line builders like the South African company Jendamark, operating in the automotive sector, are selling into global markets using Siemens technologies. We are operating in a globalised world, and we need to think and operate at a global level.” □

For more information visit: www.siemens.co.za

JUNE 2023 Electricity + Control

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