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See the future of industrial ­software at X-Change 2017

March 2017 News

Wonderware Southern Africa’s 25th annual User Conference, X-Change 2017, will be held at Sun City’s brand new conference centre from the 2-5 April. X-Change is the most successful and longest running conference of its type on the continent and has become a yardstick for the quality and quantity of the knowledge it shares with professionals in the manufacturing, food and beverage, power and gas utilities as well as the mining, minerals and metals industries.

This X-Change will introduce a new era of HMI/Scada systems as we know them. Wonderware Prometheus is the industry’s first universal configuration solution that defines, programs and documents a user’s control code into all systems from the HMI to the PLCs and I/O. Wonderware NextGen, the next generation of industrial operations management is an innovative new offering which brings simplicity, flexibility and scope to HMI/Scada management on a level that has not been seen before.

From its South African home, X-Change has become an international phenomenon and every year it hosts industry leaders such as this year’s keynote speakers, Ravi Gopinath, executive vice president Software Business at Schneider Electric, who will map out the strategy and opportunities for the company’s rapidly-evolving range of technologies; and Dion Chang, one of South Africa’s most respected trend analysts.

To illustrate the point that such technologies are business enablers, a dozen presentations by end-users will illustrate how Wonderware’s technologies are helping them achieve their operational and business goals. But this is only a fraction of the dozens more presentations that will address key issues across most industrial domains.

What is in it for you?

In short: insight, knowledge and perspective. X-Change provides in-depth information sharing, education and networking opportunities in a power-packed three-day event. Attend product roadmaps, solution and industry overviews, deep-dive technical breakouts and customer success story experiences. The conference also features two days of demos and displays in the Collaboration Expo, along with unparalleled networking opportunities all designed to help users optimise their operations and providing options for a better business model to face today’s industrial realities of business uncertainty, increasing technological complexity and having to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less. From the Industrial Internet of Things, Big Data and Cloud computing to industrial IT and business decision support, X-Change 2017 will open new doors and opportunities. For example, how many know that they can have an end-to-end lifecycle management tool for control systems that ensures 100% integrity when making changes across PLCs, RTUs or HMI in real time? Or, how best to combine IT and OT so that they work in harmony?

In spite of its name, X-Change is open to everyone and not only to Wonderware users. The solutions feature extensive integration facilities which will help users get the most from their existing assets. It’s no coincidence that the world’s leading industrial companies make use of Wonderware as they know that this remarkable suite of inclusive solutions safeguards their past investments while catering for a very variable future.

X-Change by numbers

• 350 delegates will get to see how their colleagues are addressing the ever increasing challenges their industries face. They will meet like-minded people from Africa’s top mining companies, leading F&B companies, best manufacturing companies and leading utility providers so that they can see how problems they are confronting are being addressed.

• 45 top-rated technical presentations by local and international industry experts will address various topics of interest to industry including what to expect in the near future and how one can turn this into bottom-line profits – but they’re not just at a speaker’s podium – have one-on-one meetings with them about individual issues.

• 12 end-user presentations will demonstrate the value Wonderware solutions have delivered to South African companies who have looked for effective solutions in the HMI and Supervisory Control, Manufacturing Operations Management and Industrial Information Management categories of applications.

• 24 exhibitors from the best system integrators and solution providers in southern Africa and beyond will demonstrate the level of knowledge and depth of expertise available right here and now. Every year, these industry solution providers choose the unique opportunities offered by X-Change to network with existing and potential customers and to showcase their capabilities. From instrumentation to software and from consulting to system integration, these solution suppliers are at the top of their game and combine their skills, knowledge and experience with Wonderware solutions to provide world-class implementations to industry.

Solution line-up

Wonderware’s new 2017 product releases will bring users greater power than ever to explore a much wider range of possibilities for improving your business. A lot has changed in just one year and, like it or not, users need to know about what’s going on and how they can capitalise on that change. They also need to know how, as users of decision support information, they can define their own landscape for data mining, information contextualisation and targeted distribution.

From advanced process control, device integration, improved formula management and mobile scada to energy management, manufacturing intelligence, workflow management and mobile reporting, X-Change 2017 brings a world of new opportunities and capabilities to the bottom line. In other words, see how operational and business processes can be integrated into a formidable competitive advantage.

On the product side, Wonderware and Schneider Electric commit annually to an investment of over €1,1 billion towards innovation and development. At this conference, you will see not only the current benefits of this investment, but also where this is headed in the near future.

Conclusion

X-Change is designed to help delegates address today’s challenging issues whether they are in the mining, manufacturing, food and beverage or the utilities industry. Brochures can only go so far and often do not tell it like it is – X-Change does. Brochures cannot answer the important questions that X-Change can. In fact X-Change’s best brochures are the end users, so come and get answers from those best qualified to supply them.

Welcome to X-Change 2017 at Sun City!

To book a seat, make a presentation or reserve an exhibition stand, please visit www.x-change.co.za

For more information contact Clarise Rautenbach, Wonderware Southern Africa, +27 (0)11 607 8473, clarise.rautenbach@wonderware.co.za, www.x-change.co.za





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