MechChem Africa May 2019

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The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) Africa has aligned with Africa Automation Fair (AAF) for the first time this year, to help drive the next level of industrial automation (I4.0) in South Africa I4.0 partnership between MESA and AAF

Afrox................................................................................. 27 APE Pumps................................................................. OFC Atlas Copco.......................................................................3 CTC.................................................................................... 33 Flexicon........................................................................OBC FLSmidth......................................................................... 15 Johnson Controls......................................................... 25 Martec............................................................................IBC Omron.............................................................................. 12 Powermite...................................................................... 19 SEW-EURODRIVE....................................................... 16 ThyssenKrupp............................................................... 21 Veolia Water Technology.........................................IFC Zest WEG Group.......................................................... 23 Index to advertisers To advance South Africa’s Industry 4.0 agenda, Greeff believes industry stakeholders should begin actively sharing knowledge and upskilling theirworkforces now.MESA, which works toeducate and shareknowledgeonop- erations excellence, will participate in Africa AutomationFair to showcase itsmembership benefits and the information resources it has available to the sector. AAF takes place on Tuesday, 4 June 2019 at the Ticketpro Dome in Randburg, South Africa. q connected and automated to optimise opera- tionsacrosstheentireproductionecosystem.” Greeff notes that unlike certainother first- world countries, South Africa does not have smart factory/ Industry 4.0 initiatives driven and funded by government, in which stake- holders collaborate and share best practice to progress industry as a whole. In addition, South Africa is challenged in terms of the skills available to advance Industry 4.0 optimisation. “We don’t yet have formal automation degree qualifications at our local universities, although work is being done in this regard. And like many countries around the world, we lack data science and analytics skills, which are going to be crucial in optimising manufacturing in future,” says Greeff. He explains that analyticswill increasingly be used to obtain new insights into manufac- turing operations. It will be used to identify and statistically prove correlations between factors – suchas between specific rawmateri- als andproduct defects; or between a number of internal and external factors such as the weather, rawmaterials,machines, throughput and product quality. “With advanced analyt- ics we can identify patterns that humans might not perceive and use this information to improve efficiency, control costs, improve product design and become more globally competitive.”

M ESAAfrica is part ofMESA Interna- tional, a worldwide not-for-profit community of manufacturing com- panies, information technology hardware and software suppliers, system integrators, consultingserviceproviders,analysts,editors, academics and students working to improve manufacturing and business through opti- mised IT and best practice management. MESA Africa Vice Chairman, Gerhard Greeff says MESA’s focus sits on the layer above pure industrial and plant automation, extending to the systems that connect, opti- mise and analyse all aspects of amanufactur- ing business, such as production, inventory, maintenance and quality operations. He says, “We have aligned with Africa Automation Fair 2019 because of its focus on Industry 4.0 (I4.0), which encompasses more of the base

technologies and models we believe to be crucial for manufacturers today, and into the future.” South African industry and manufactur- ers are generally on par with those in Europe and the US in that some are at the ‘bleeding edge’ and some lag. “There is a great deal of automation in place inAfricanmanufacturing plants, but youmay find thatwhile the plant is automated, themanufacturer is stillmanaging the books on Excel spreadsheets, or there is an Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) or BusinessManagement system inplace, but the factory is being operated manually. “In many, we find that they are unable to track and analyse the factors that impact on production throughput and product quality. In next generation industry automation, all stakeholders, departments andprocesses are

Manufacturing Indaba Conference and exhibition 26 & 27 June 2019, Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton, SA The annual 2-dayManufacturing Indaba brings together business owners, industry leaders, government officials, capital providers and professional experts to explore opportunities aroundmanufacturing. The programme will include plenary sessions as well as breakaway debate sessions to unpack and encourage active participation at the event. The associated exhibition will be tightly focused to targeted audiences, making it a highly cost-effective sales andmarketing platform. Running alongside the conference, the exhibition is an opportunity to showcase local manufacturing expertise. The Small Business Indaba on 26 June, the premier event for entrepreneurs and small businesses inSouthAfrica, will provide small, mediumandmicro-enterprises (SMMEs) with the tools and networking opportunities to growtheirmanufacturing operations to the next level of innovation and job creation. In addition, the Black Industrialist Forumwill engage with the relevant stakeholders to share lessons learnt fromBlack Industrialists and understanding of the Black Industrialist Pillars, DFI’s and strategic partners. The audience will comprise representatives from the DTI along with existing and aspiring Black Industrialists. q MESA’s focus sits on the layer above pure industrial and plant automation, extending to the systems that connect, optimise and analyse all aspects of a manufacturing business, such as production, inventory, maintenance and quality operations.

36 ¦ MechChem Africa • May 2019

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