Invensys has announced the formation of the Wonderware South African User Group Committee (UGC) for 2013. Elected at the Invensys X-Change 2013 User Conference, the UGC appointed its office bearers and declared its objectives at its first meeting on 5 July.
The Wonderware UGC in southern Africa represents the largest faction of industrial automation and MES end-users and system integrators in the region who are involved in the mining and manufacturing industries. The committee members all hold positions of responsibility at leading South African companies and have a collective depth and breadth of experience spanning many decades and virtually every aspect and discipline of production and associated business processes. The committee members are:
* Erol Cacouratos – Johnson Matthey
* Gawie Reyneke - Lonmin Platinum
* Jaco van Heerden – African Rainbow Minerals
* James Mbewe – Rand Water
* Jonathan Meyer – Exxaro Resources
* Kevin Lawrence – Nestlé South Africa
* Lucia Beukman – South African Breweries
* Wiseman Magagula – Coca-Cola Swaziland
The committee appointed Jonathan Meyer, senior solution architect at Exxaro Resources as chairman and Kevin Lawrence, senior technical advisor at Nestlé South Africa as secretary. Meyer indicates that the main roles of the UGC include:
* Providing a platform for conversations between industry users of Invensys Wonderware software and Invensys Southern Africa.
* Allowing industry to voice its business and user requirements in terms of application knowledge and product functionality.
* Acting as an information channel to relay these requirements to the Invensys Wonderware product development teams so as to improve the overall industry experience with the technologies in which they have invested.
* Provide a win-win situation between Invensys and industry users.
“Invensys ranks South Africa near the top of the list for the professional and innovative deployment of its solutions and that is why input from this region is paid particular attention,” says Deon Barnard, MD of Wonderware in southern Africa.
Other responsibilities of the UGC include collaborating on the contents and format of events such as the annual X-Change User Conference as well as the topics for the winter and summer breakfast road shows which cover up to 13 national venues annually.
For more information contact Jaco Markwat, Invensys Operations Management, +27 (0)11 607 8100, tech@invensys.co.za, www.iom.invensys.co.za
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