The August technology meeting was jointly presented by Pusetso Sentle and Suvern Moodley on the subject of ‘Universal Automation: Open, Flexible and Vendor-Agnostic Industrial Control’, and drew a record attendance. The audience was vibrant and engaged, with lots of interaction and questions, especially around the demo unit on show. Suvern is a consulting services sales representative for ETAP at Schneider Electric, supporting utilities and industry with advanced power system modelling and analysis. Pusetso is a solutions architect in Schneider Electric’s industrial automation division, with a background in control systems and hands-on experience across diverse automation projects since 2015.
The presenters explained that universal automation, driven by the IEC 61499 standard and UniversalAutomation.Org (UAO), is transforming industrial control by introducing true openness and flexibility. Unlike traditional PLC and DCS systems, which often lock users into a single vendor and make upgrades or integration difficult, open and vendor-neutral automation software enables seamless use of hardware and solutions from different suppliers. This approach supports ‘plug-and-produce’ components, which make upgrades faster, integration easier and operations more future-proof. Both brownfield and greenfield facilities can benefit, as UAO-compliant solutions accelerate IT/OT convergence and create a more agile automation environment.
The Durban branch would like to thank Schneider Electric for their kind sponsorship of the evening.
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Pusetso Sentle (left) and Suvern Moodley (right) being thanked by Mfanasibili Nkonyane (centre).
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