Recently, the branch was fortunate to be invited to The National Laboratory Association (NLA) in Lynwood, where Steve Sidney and John Wilson presented on ‘The role of technical infrastructure organisations in South Africa’. This doubled as both a technical evening presentation and a site visit to the laboratory. The topic of ‘Technical infrastructure’ was introduced and one of the aspects which stood out was its role in terms of protecting against ‘Technical barriers to trade’. Differentiation was made between physical and paper standards. Also touched on was the role of regulatory organisations, along with concept of traceability and quality assurance. It was noted that the NLA has more than 300 organisations as members and, furthermore, trains around 400 people a year in different aspects, such as metrology, analytics, etc. and in due course will also present on process measurement, which will include electrical, temperature and pressure. The presentation is available upon request and the branch thanks the NLA for its hospitality and looks forward to more engagement in due course.
Internet of Things (IIoT) portfolio/forum
At present we are looking at representation within ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41, the scope of which is ‘Standardisation in the area of Internet of Things and related technologies’. To get involved with the activities of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC41, you will need to join SABS TC 001/SC27 and SABS TC 001/SC 31. The latter ones focus a bit more on cybersecurity. For the moment, however, anyone interested in participating should contact the committee for an application form.
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