MechChem Africa August 2018

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

Earlier this year, AtlasCopcoandRandAir, in partnership with the Reality Wellness Group, showed their support of women’s empowerment by inviting female learners to come and experience life in a corporate environment. The objective of the initiative was to Empowerment of young women for the corporate environment encourage the young ladies to identify and embrace their inner strengths andabilities and to equip them with the motivation and knowledge required to persevere in achieving their goals for a promising and successful future.

sentation by Reality Wellness Group Psychologist, Candice Janks, who focused on essential life skills such as building self-esteem, setting goals and identifying career choices. Angie Bazan, operations manager at Reality Wellness Group, guided the girls to not only discover their physical but also theirmental and spiritual strengths, a highly beneficial exercise that assists the youngwomen in choosing their future career paths. The final and thought-provoking pre- sentation was presented by Kathryn Coetzer, regional communications and academy manager for Atlas Copco, who carried a strong message; “We are all unique and we don’t all fit into onemould. I hope that these young women were inspired and that theywill embrace every- thing that they’ve learned.” www.atlascopco.co.za

The Cell C Take a Girl Child to Work initiativeholds a special place in thehearts of Atlas Copco employees and for the fifth consecutive year the company opened its doors to welcome 27 excited young women, offering them a jam-packed pro- gramme filled with inspiration. This year Atlas Copco invited schools from far and wide and learners from different walks of life; ten learners each fromWillowmoore High (Benoni) and Ponego Secondary School (Katlehong) and seven learners from Strathyre (Little Haven) Girls Home (Kensington, Johannesburg). The young women listened to a pre-

Kathryn Coezer (centre) with all the learners who participated in the Atlas Copco take a girl child to school initiative.

AI for the factory of the future

systems for typical AI algo- rithms is underdetermined and reliable operation can only be confirmed through testing, optimisation and, frequently, over-dimensioning. Given these conditions, how do we go about designing and

Thanks to increased processing power and the availability of increasing volumes of data, the discussion about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the mechanical engi- neering sector is gaining momentum. The majority of systems are generally so complex, however, that it is not possible to map out an entire system mathemati- cally – as a ‘white box’ –whilemaintaining costs at an acceptable level. A ‘black-box approach’ is more com- mon, but the available data in these

ning, Omron tackles things from the other direction. The required algorithms are integrated into the machine control system, thus creating the framework for real-time optimisation – at the machine, for the machine. In contrast to edge computing, where individual manufacturing lines or sites are analysed using limited processing power, the AI controller used by Omron, which features adaptive intelligence, is closer to the action and learns to distinguish normal patterns from abnormal ones for the individual machine. The AI controller integrated into the SYSMAC platform – a complete solution for factory automation featuringmodules for control, motion and robotics, image processing and machine safety – is pri- marily used in the manufacturing process at the points where the customer is expe- riencing the greatest efficiency problems – bottlenecks. Intelligence is accumulated based on previous findings and already-implement- ed improvements, which subsequently drive holistic optimisation of the entire manufacturing process. www.industrial.omron.co.za

integratingAI that creates tangible added value? Instead of laboriously searching a huge volume of data for patterns, in addition to the processes that are run-

Exclusive distributor for Hydrotechnik range BMG has been appointed as exclusive distributor of the Hydrotechnik range of analogue and digital analogue testing, charging, bleeding and sampling of almost any fluid or gas.

“BMG’s fluid technol- ogy division’smeasure- ment sensor range now includes new pressure, flow, tem- perature, speed and force measurement devices, designed for ex- tremely accurate analysis of hydraulic or process systems.”

test and measurement equipment inSouthern Africa. “ T h r o u g h t h i s a g r e eme n t , BMG h a s ex t e n d e d i t s range of fluid technol- ogy products to include Hydrotechnik measure- ment sensors and datalog-

ging equipment for digital hydraulic testing and analysis,” says David Dyce, business unit manager, Fluid Technology, BMG. “BMG also now distributes Minimess ® test points and adaptors; high pressure microbore hose as- semblies; pressure gauges; and test kits for

High precision Hydrotechnik equipment, which is manufactured to stringent interna- tional quality standards, is known globally for reliability, ease of use andflexibility indiverse industries, including those operating in ardu- ous conditions. www.bmgworld.net

34 ¦ MechChem Africa • August 2018

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