MechChem Africa January-February 2023

Leadership appointments at Bosch Rexroth SA

Through Mike Harrison’s leadership, the company has exper ienced s igni f icant geographic expansion, both locally and at a regional level, and he also played an instrumental role in the successful merger between Bosch Rexroth and the previ ously known as Hytec Group. Harrison will be succeeded by Freddie Kühn as the new Gene ra l Manage r wHytec SA. Kühn is the current Sales Director at Hytec SA having assumed responsibility for sales in the organisation three years ago as a part of the Group’s succession plan. He has contributed to the success of Hytec SA for more than 25 years and will now take responsibility for the rest of the functions within the company. Kühn has worked closely with Harrison and has made signi f icant contributions to Hytec SA. www.boschrexroth.africa safe, they are designed within specific system specifications to allow them to be deployed in hazardous areas. Typical benefits of this approach compared with flame-proof enclosures include cost sav ings in installation and maintenance of the equipment,” says Jardine. The company has a fully-fledged branch in Witbank to support the Mpumalanga coalfields, while the Richards Bay branch looks after the Vryheid/Newcastle coal mines, each with large aftermarket teams. www.booyco-electronics.com

Left: Bosch Rexroth Mike Harrison. Right: Bosch Rexroth Freddie Kühn.

Bosch Rexroth South Af r i ca has an nounced that Mike Harr ison, current Bosch Rexroth Regional Di rector for East Afr ica , and General Manager of Hytec South Africa, has been appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer at Bosch Rexroth South Africa, reporting to Chris Riley, Group CEO. In his new

role, Harrison retains responsibility for Bosch Rexroth Africa Development in Mozambique and Namibia, while assum ing responsibi l i ty for Group strategy. He has been at the helm of Hytec SA for more than a decade, with the more recent extension of his role and responsibility to East Africa.

R&D key to addressing PDS and CPS in coal mines

Since its inception in 2006, proximity detection system (PDS) and collision pre vention system (CPS) specialist Booyco Electronics has leveraged a radical re search and development (R&D) regime to inform its product development. This, ex plains chief sales officer Graeme Jardine, has been key to address i ng spec i f i c requirements for the coal mining sector. “We have over the years made sig nificant investments in R&D, which has truly spurred innovation, invention and progress,” he says. “Informed by changing industry requirements, we have evolved our offering from the first-generation Collision Warning System (CWS) to the new generation Booyco CXS.” The technology has advanced from sim ply being a PDS solution, to incorporating several other functions such as tracking and data management. In addition to the safety capabilities, Booyco PDS and CPS solutions are now able to provide cus tomers with a bigger operational picture, including information such as machine standing time, idl ing times and cycles times, among others. “The latest generation Booyco CXS consolidates the learnings of the past 16 years, leveraging technology to achieve new levels of safety in both underground and surface mining environments. It is a best-of-breed system that provides a comprehensive and integrated response to Level 7, Level 8 and Level 9 require ments , in l ine wi th the Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table (EMESRT)

requirements,” explains Jardine. One of Booyco Electronics’ competitive edges is that all its PDS and CPS components are intrinsically safe, which makes them ideal for hazardous mining areas such as underground collieries. The common industry alternative to an intrinsically safe solution is for suppliers to offer a flameproof enclosure to house the PDS, which makes the equipment extremely expensive, heavy and difficult to maintain. “Because our solutions are intrinsically

The Booyco CWS has found favour within the coal mining sector due to its reliability and intrinsically safe design.

40 ¦ MechChem Africa • January-February 2023