Functional safety is the backbone of every automated industrial operation, especially in high-risk, high-output environments like those found across South Africa’s manufacturing and processing sectors. Emergency stops, safety interlocks and light curtains play an important role in protecting people, preventing downtime and ensuring compliance with local and international regulations. Yet, for many South African facilities, the process of verifying these systems remains manual, labour-intensive and incredibly time-consuming. Until now.
The reality of traditional safety testing
Across local plants, whether in FMCG, food processing, mining or automotive, functional safety checks still often rely on teams of engineers manually triggering devices along a line. One engineer monitors the HMI or control panel, while another walks the floor testing devices and relaying instructions. These verbal back-and-forths take an incredible amount of time, are prone to error and require skilled resources. Documentation is often incomplete or inconsistent, especially when time is tight or teams are short-staffed. For operations looking to minimise downtime and improve efficiency, this outdated approach presents a growing challenge.
A smarter option with Sysmac
OMRON’s NX Safety platform offers a modern solution, Online Safety Functional Test Verification, which is a feature built into the Sysmac Studio engineering environment. This intuitive tool allows safety verification to be carried out digitally, with step-by-step guidance and full traceability, all from a single workstation.
Once connected to the NX Safety Controller via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, the system walks the user through each safety test, whether it’s checking an e-stop, light curtain or a door interlock. As each component is tested, the software records the real-time response of the safety program, logging it automatically with a timestamp.
There are no more clipboards or guesswork, and in many cases, no second engineer is needed.
Reliable reporting for safety compliance
For South African companies navigating strict health and safety requirements, audit readiness is non-negotiable. This tool generates a comprehensive, digital test report after each verification cycle, complete with a safety signature, ensuring traceability for inspections or certification processes. This is particularly useful in regulated sectors like pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and petrochemicals. Should a test step fail, it can be flagged, annotated and retested. The tool supports both first-time commissioning and ongoing routine maintenance, helping teams ensure ongoing compliance with standards like ISO 13849-1 (PLe) and IEC 61508 (SIL3).
More efficiency, less downtime
Perhaps most importantly for South African manufacturers working with tight teams and limited resources, the Online Safety Functional Test allows a single operator to manage the process end-to-end. This reduces the need for multiple skilled personnel, shortens testing cycles and ensures consistent procedures, regardless of plant size or shift changes.
Future-ready functional safety
OMRON’s NX Safety platform offers a modular and scalable approach to safety control that meets the needs of both small manufacturers and large, complex installations. With digital safety verification built in, it brings engineering teams a powerful tool to reduce risks, save time and keep operations running safely and smoothly.
OMRON is a global leader in the field of automation based on its core technology of ‘Sensing & Control + Think’. The company’s business fields cover a broad spectrum, ranging from industrial automation and electronic components to social infrastructure systems, healthcare and environmental solutions. OMRON supports manufacturing innovation by providing advanced automation technologies and products, as well as through extensive customer support, to help create a better society.
As a leader in industrial automation, OMRON has extensive lines of control components and equipment, ranging from vision sensors and other input devices to various controllers and output devices such as servomotors, as well as a range of safety devices and industrial robots. By combining these devices via software, OMRON has developed a variety of unique and highly effective automation solutions for manufacturers worldwide. Based on its reservoir of advanced technologies and comprehensive range of devices, OMRON set forth a strategic concept called ‘innovative-Automation’, consisting of three innovations, ‘integrated’ (control evolution), ‘intelligent’ (development of intelligence by ICT) and ‘interactive’ (new harmonisation between people and machines). OMRON is committed to bringing innovation to manufacturing sites by materialising this concept.
Range of CDUs to meet the rising demands of HPC and AI workloads Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Motivair by Schneider Electric has introduced two new coolant distribution units that are engineered to meet the rising thermal demands of HPC and AI workloads.
Read more...Siemens drives next-generation vehicle development Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
The Siemens PAVE360 Automotive technology is a new category of digital twin software that is pre-integrated and designed as an off-the-shelf offering to address the escalating complexity of automotive hardware and software integration.
Read more...How digital infrastructure design choices will decide who wins in AI Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
As AI drives continues to disrupt industries across the world, the race is no longer just about smarter models or better data. It’s about building infrastructure powerful enough to support innovation at scale.
Read more...How quantum computing and AI are driving the next wave of cyber defence innovation
IT in Manufacturing
We are standing at the edge of a new cybersecurity frontier, shaped by quantum computing, AI and the ever-expanding IIoT. To stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats, organisations must embrace a new paradigm that is proactive, integrated and rooted in zero-trust architectures.
Read more...2026: The Year of AI execution for South African businesses
IT in Manufacturing
As we start 2026, artificial intelligence in South Africa is entering a new era defined not by experimentation, but by execution. Across the region, the conversation is shifting from “how do we build AI?” to “how do we power, govern and scale it responsibly?”
Read more...Today’s advanced safety system is but the beginning Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Industrial safety systems have come a long way since the days of hardwired emergency shutdowns. Today, safety systems are not just barriers against risk; they are enablers of safer operations.
Read more...Siemens brings the industrial metaverse to life Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens has announced a new software solution that builds Industrial metaverse environments at scale, empowering organisations to apply industrial AI, simulation and real-time physical data to make decisions virtually, at speed and at scale.
Read more...Five key insights we gained about AI in 2025
IT in Manufacturing
As 2025 draws to a close, African businesses can look back on one of the most pivotal years in AI adoption to date as organisations tested, deployed and learned from AI at pace. Some thrived and others stumbled. But the lessons that emerged are clear.
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.
printer friendly version