Sparks Electrical News August 2017

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

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ELECTROMECHANICA INTRODUCES ITALIAN ELECTRICAL CONNECTION SYSTEMS

C embre SpA area manager Paolo Baldo, recently visited South Africa recently as part of a delegation to conclude a distribution agreement with ElectroMechanica (EM), and to demonstrate its extensive product range to potential customers. According to Baldo, Cembre SpA prides itself on the fact that it produces every component in its products; from design to manufacturing and servicing, in-house. “We seldom rebrand other company’s components as our own. We have to be sure of the quality of the products we sell, and

marking range to label and identify a range of electrical and automation components, from wires to panels, push buttons, and circuit breakers. “Whilethere isaplethoraofconsumableproducers, there are few making both the consumables and the printers themselves from scratch as we do. Again, we own the proprietary technology that makes up the entire system, which has proven to be very good for us in terms of growth,” Baldo explains. Lastly, Cembre SpA produces speciality products for the maintenance of railway lines. Traditionally, electrical rail contacts are welded to provide the

the only way to guarantee this is if we manufacture everything ourselves,” he says. TheItalianOEMspecialises inelectricalconnection systems that combine a copper connector, a die, and a tool in a single integrated package. “We sell a total system as opposed to a standalone product. If you have a bad connector and a good tool, the result remains a faulty electrical connection and vice versa. Our systems approach is predicated on our commitment to the highest product quality possible,” Baldo says. Cembre SpA also manufactures an industrial

necessary energy transmission between the cable and the rail itself. However, this process was highly dependent on the expertise of the worker carrying out the welding process. “We tried to figure out how to make the process more reliable, and less dependent on external factors such as human labour and climatic conditions,” Baldo stresses. The innovation Cembre SpA has come up with in this regard involves extruding a copper bush into a pre-drilled hole, which results in the external surface of the bush being tightened and sealed against the hole surface, in order to provide the necessary electrical contact. Baldo explains that Cembre SpA was approached by EM to become its exclusive distributor in Southern Africa after CEO Dave van den Berg began using some of its products locally. “This coincided with our own strategy of moving away from projects themselves to broader-based distribution. The advantage of projects is their size, scope, and duration, but they are highly sensitive to economic conditions and financial uncertainty.” Africa remains a key focus for Cembre SpA, Baldo says. “Mediterranean Africa is more akin to Europe, while Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be driven by South Africa itself. Overall it is a market with a huge potential for growth.” Commenting on his visit to South Africa, Baldo reveals that there has been much interest in the Italian manufacturer’s innovative products, testament to EM’s strategy of introducing only the best and highest-quality technology available globally. UTILITY MAINTENANCE FLYING HIGH equipment, they are visible on the thermal camera and can signal that there is a fault on the power line. While thermal cameras can be used by a person on the ground, this can be laborious and time- consuming. It is also almost impossible when power lines are located above rugged terrain. Botha says drones are being used to great effect in monitoring power lines. “With power lines, there can be magnetic GPS interferences. However, owing to the sophisticated camera lenses that UAV Industries uses, we are able to fly at a safe enough distance from a power line, which negates the necessity for a specialised inspection drone. This means we are able to use a consumer-based drone with a special camera lens attached.” Thanks to the use of drones, these types of assessments and inspections no longer require expensive equipment and dangerous acrobatics. With tight profit margins and safety becoming increasingly important to utilities, drones are ensuring efficiency and situational awareness, as well as the ability to identify easily avoidable problems such as loosening electrical cables, missing screws and so on. Now carrying the same technology used by helicopters, drones can reveal the smallest risks in the electrical grid, allowing utilities to focus their maintenance budgets where it matters most, and prioritise the actions necessary to mitigate those risks and avert power outages and downtime. With the cost and time saving benefits they offer, it would not be hard to picture a future in which utilities could put smaller drones on every single truck, allowing them to do site inspections quickly and easily. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Enquiries: www.em.co.za

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

AUGUST 2017