The June Technology Evening attracted a record attendance with everybody keen to learn more about the topic ‘Realising Industry 4.0’. The evening was kindly sponsored by Beckhoff Automation and MD Kenneth McPherson presented.
Chairman Hennie Prinsloo (left) seen thanking Kenneth McPherson.
Industry 4.0 is the German terminology for ‘Industrial Internet of things’, and the presentation included an overview of where this revolution came from and the aim of it. Kenneth said that a good and simplified explanation is the combining of information technology (IT) and automation technology to create a manufacturing process that is able to self-optimise, self-configure, self-diagnose and which gives intelligent support to workers. The purpose of ‘Realising Industry 4.0’ is to achieve flexible, efficient and sustainable manufacturing processes. It is interesting to note this process can not only be implemented on green fields projects, but that it is also very possible to implement this solution on brown fields projects as well.
Team Beckhoff (from left): Aimee Schumacher, (marketing and admin student), Mike van der Walt (sales engineer), Kenneth McPherson (managing director) and Brad Garside (technical engineer).
Kenneth received his National Diploma Cum Laude qualification as an Electrical Engineer (Power Engineering) in 1996 from PE Technikon and immediately afterwards fulfilled his bursary obligations to Siemens as an apprentice. He then worked for AEG Automation as a project technician. 1999 saw a move to Durban where he took on the position of branch manager for SA Power Services (Lenze SA agent). In 2003 he was appointed as sales engineer for the Beckhoff product range by Jendamark, which stood him in good stead when he assisted in opening Beckhoff Automation in Johannesburg in August 2006, becoming managing director six years later. Kenneth’s employers have always been German industrial automation companies (or their South African agents) and this also means that he understands their way of thinking and was eminently suitable to explain the reality of Industry 4.0.
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