News


Iritron and the I3 Group build on synergies

April 2021 News

Although 2020 was a tough year for everyone, Alwyn Rautenbach, CEO of the I3 Group, not only ensured its survival, but strategised to strengthen the business for future growth.

Part of this strategy was to employ Gerhard Greeff, well known to the industry through his work at MESA Africa (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) and MESA International, who has been involved in the MES market for the past 20 years. “We decided to expand into the MES domain as there are definite synergies with the control and automation competence within Iritron and the control room design and visualisation competence of Oculus, a subsidiary of Iritron,” explains Rautenbach. “I believe that adding MES competence to the fold will provide an additional offering to our customers and make the total bigger than the sum of its parts.”

Iritron was established to assist its customers to sustain increased efficiency and availability of their processes and operations. “We have assisted many companies in the past 20 years, but mostly at plant-floor level,” adds Rautenbach. “Optimisation opportunities at electrical and automation levels are limited as the biggest constraint typically occurs when people need to make plant-wide decisions. This is where MES will play its part as it reduces the time it takes between when an adverse event occurs on the plant floor and when the appropriate people that can act become aware of the event. This reduces the amount of lost production time, the number of defects produced and the amount of raw material wasted.”

Jacques van Eeden, well-known in the energy and food-chain industries in South Africa, was also employed. He has a wealth of experience in utility optimisation, looking at things such as wastewater purification, heat recovery, chiller and boiler optimisation and even condensate recovery. “We believe that the experience and expertise that he brings to the table not only fits in with the design and engineering competence of Iritron, but also with the environmental, heating and cooling competence within KVMTech, a sister company of Iritron in the I3 Group,” says Rautenbach. “This addition to our company competence is good for the environment as it has a focus on the sustainability of South Africa’s critical natural resources, energy and water.

“It is important that we all do our part for the environment. Water is a critical resource in South Africa and we should all try to conserve water as much as possible. If we can recover and reuse water from our production plants, it will reduce the strain on rainwater, given we are a drought-stricken country. We are also aware of the issues we have in South Africa with our local energy provider and changing our plants and processes to use less energy and use it more efficiently will benefit everyone in South Africa. We are seriously looking at renewables and clean energy to assist our clients reduce the strain on the grid. Helping our customers do better with their sustainability efforts is a big focus for us.”

Rautenbach believes that these additions to the I3 Group will open opportunities and expose Iritron to different markets and industries, not previously served. “We have not changed our strategic intent; we are just adding some competence to increase synergies within the group,” he concludes. “We have a lot of value to add and we want to plough as much of this competence and experience back into South Africa. We want to ensure maximum positive impact on the areas of our clients’ business that affect everyone in the country.”


Credit(s)



Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page

Further reading:

New Würth Elektronik location in South Africa
News
A new Würth Elektronik branch has opened in Brackenfell, Western Cape. The location operates under the name Wurth Electronics South Africa and will serve local customers, as well as being responsible for markets in Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia.

Read more...
John Thompson and BECS partner to deliver biomass energy solutions
News
John Thompson, a division of ACTOM and South Africa’s leading provider of industrial energy solutions, has announced a strategic partnership with Berkeley Energy Corporate Solutions, a specialist developer and supplier of biomass energy projects. Together, the companies aim to accelerate the deployment of reliable, renewable steam solutions to industrial customers across Africa.

Read more...
Academy pumps out the next generation of experts
News
KSB Pumps and Valves has invested in a specialised training centre designed to equip internal and branch staff and certified partners with in-depth knowledge of KSB products and systems.

Read more...
Celebrating the power of diversity in the engineering sector
News
The engineering sector has historically been a male-dominated field, and to a large extent it still is. However, this is changing, and the shift is gaining significant momentum as more women begin to take up leadership roles, spearheading innovation and driving inclusive growth.

Read more...
Fifteen years of promoting innovation and supporting engineering excellence
RS South Africa News
RS South Africa is celebrating 15 years of promoting innovation and supporting engineering excellence through DesignSpark, its pioneering online engineering platform.

Read more...
Enhancing industrial efficiency through advanced temperature control
Iritron Temperature Measurement
Iritron has been offering modular smart thyristor drives to the local and international mining, minerals and metals market, including the latest new leading innovations in temperature control technology. These drives combined with advanced proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control will change the way large industries manage their heating processes, reducing costs and extending equipment lifespan.

Read more...
From the Editor's desk: What happened to the metaverse?
Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control) News
One of the most interesting technical crashes in recent years is the metaverse. As recently as 2022, it was white hot, with massive hype led by Meta. Even Bill Gates was saying that in two to three years ...

Read more...
Omniflex celebrates 60th anniversary
Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists News
Remote monitoring specialist Omniflex is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Read more...
Nidec adopts Siemens Teamcenter for electric motor development
Siemens South Africa News
Siemens Digital Industries Software has announced that Nidec Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer and distributor of electric motors, has adopted Teamcenter X software from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industry software to achieve innovative motor development and supply to set new industry standards, including automotive.

Read more...
Yaskawa Southern Africa and Sol-Tech advance industrial robotics training
Yaskawa Southern Africa News
Yaskawa Southern Africa has announced a strategic collaboration with Sol-Tech, a private vocational training institution based in Pretoria, to strengthen technical education in industrial robotics and support the development of future-focused talent for South Africa’s evolving manufacturing sector.

Read more...









While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.




© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved