Automation specialist Rockwell Automation has partnered with The Southern African Maintenance Association (SAMA) as main sponsor of the 2004 SAMA Excellence Awards. The annual maintenance excellence award was instituted in 1999/2000 to reward companies and facilities within companies that are serious about maintenance and who recognise that good maintenance can contribute to their bottom line.
Presenting SAMA president Dr Joe E. Amadi-Echendu with the new floating trophy, Rockwell Automation commercial marketing manager Abraham Brooks, expressed satisfaction with the way in which the Section 21 organisation has uplifted the status of the maintenance practitioner in southern Africa, providing incentives and rewards for people and organisations that are excelling in the maintenance environment.
"At Rockwell Automation, we have an engineering service department that constantly strives to improve delivery to our clients, and SAMA is the perfect vehicle for us to drive this initiative," said Brooks. "Our long-standing association with SAMA has, over the years, included sponsorship of various functions and other areas, including making myself available as an adjudicator. As a result of our sponsorship this year, I will obviously not be active in that capacity, but we will continue to put our weight behind this initiative to ensure world-class levels of maintenance excellence in southern Africa."
As a professor in Engineering Management at the University of Pretoria, Dr Amadi-Echendu has been part of the SAMA council for four years, acting as president of the association for the last two years.
"I am delighted in the support that the association has been enjoying from companies like Rockwell Automation, and hope that this is just another step in strengthening our support to the engineering industry," stated Dr Amadi-Echendu. "The audit process has recently been calibrated against its Australian counterpart to ensure that it remains world-class, and we have audited two Australian companies during that process. At present, the association is looking for similar partnerships with our European counterparts to continue reviewing the process."
Each site invited to take part in the audit process receives a pre-audit questionnaire to determine its suitability for adjudication, following which a team of ISO 9001-2000 accredited auditors are sent out to the site to actively assess various parameters over a period of two days. This year's winners are due to be announced in a month's time at a gala event in Gauteng.
For more information contact Jeff Sandison, marketing communications manager, Rockwell Automation, 011 654 9700, [email protected], www.ra.rockwell.com
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