Towards the end of last year, Festo hosted a series of whisky tastings on a national scale.
Each event was backed up by a strong Festo team presence. Some of the senior management team from Festo’s head office, including Olaf Mayer-Mader (industry segment manager: process automation), Steward Mbele (industry segment specialist: chemicals) and Kershia Beharie (marketing product manager), were all present at the events, as well as the majority of the local regional staff. Festo partnered with a professional whisky tasting company called The Whisky Rebellion and the specialists imported four types of Scottish single malts for the occasion, and supplied whisky experts for the main event.
“The tastings were a way of reaching our client base in a direct one-on-one fashion while simultaneously providing them with valuable information on process automation and our offerings in that field,” said Mbele. “They were held in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg.”
These events formed part of the company’s process automation campaign for the year. “Festo is traditionally known for its superior pneumatic components product range,” continued Mbele. “However, we also offer that same quality in other fields such as process automation. More specifically, we offer automation components for the chemical, mining, water, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industrial segments. We strongly believe that our products in these sectors have the capability to give our clients a competitive edge.
“We were looking for a fun and unique forum to enhance our customers’ knowledge on our offerings and the whisky tasting was the perfect platform to do this. There is a great connection between whisky and process automation, since it undergoes a multitude of processes such as malting and mashing during production.”
In addition to the actual whisky tasting, Festo gave a short presentation on its process automation offering and showcased a number of physical products and displays, including:
• Solenoid valves ideal for installation outdoors and in areas with potentially explosive atmospheres.
• Quarter turn actuators suitable for any application.
• Sensor boxes for quarter turn actuators for use in areas with potentially explosive atmospheres as well as other harsh areas.
• A complete range of PLCs (CPX-P programmable logic control) that supports intrinsically safe (IS) applications.
“In an ever-competitive market, Festo always seeks to help its clients attain an advantage through reliable, quality products,” concluded Mbele. “However, over and above providing the product, we truly believe in building relationships with our customers. This event allowed us to do just that.”
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