SAIMC


SAIMC: From the office of the CEO

March 2020 SAIMC

Yes, you are at the right place – the president of the SAIMC position has been replaced by that of the CEO (yours truly).

I would like to thank Annemarie for the wonderful work she has done as president of the SAIMC, especially being ‘thrown to the wolves’ at such short notice. Fortunately our members are not wolves, and it was great to see how she was embraced into the leadership fold. Luckily she will not be lost to us as she has been called into a higher office as a director of the SAIMC.

Although the SAIMC NPC has been registered as a non-profit company since 2010, it was only ‘activated’ in 2014, and then it was still run like a voluntary association. This all changed last year when it was decided to run the SAIMC NPC like the company it is.

During January 2020, requests for directors were sent to all of the branches and to Council. According to the MOI registered with the CIPC, it is the responsibility of the current directors to identify those nominees that would be able to contribute as directors, and send those names out for voting purposes to the SAIMC members. Fortunately voting was not required and all nominees identified by the directors were approved. The new board is:

• Vinesh Maharaj – Chairman.

• Annemarie van Coller – Sustainability.

• Oratile Sematle – Automation.

• Johan Maartens – Public Officer.

• Marc Van Pelt – Government and International Relations.

During the same board meeting, I was appointed as CEO and as such, the only executive director. This means that the board is being managed by a majority of non-executive directors as per Kings IV Report on good governance.

The CEO will now be responsible to the board and see to it that the strategy and goals of the SAIMC are reached. These fall into three categories:

• Education and training.

• Growth.

• Thought leadership.

By the time of going to press, the Executive Council has not yet been finalised with the general managers of the board and the CEO being the first members of Exco. Various nominations for the various positions on Exco have already been received.

First automation category recognised by ECSA

The Enterprise Integration Practitioner special category has been approved by ECSA, making it the first automation position to be defined and approved. This paves the way for the other six automation positions, and eventually a formal automation discipline. The Enterprise Integration Practitioner is specifically aimed at those MOM/MES professionals who are doing engineering work according to the Identification of Engineering Work definition currently in progress, but do not have an engineering related qualification.

While registration with the various SETAs is in progress, the SAIMC is also formalising budgets to get automation formally included in the NTIP programme.

The Supplier Advisory Council has been created within the SAIMC and we are looking forward to great things in future, especially in education and training, as well as thought leadership.


Until we speak again, have a wonderful year and may you, your families and your businesses be blessed. Join the conversation on https://www.linkedin.com/company/saimc/about/

Yours in automation,

Johan Maartens.


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