MESA Southern Africa is currently planning its annual conference to be held in October. The theme this year is ‘MES and sustainability’. MESA SA is a voluntary organisation made up of users, vendors, system integrators and other interested parties. The objectives of MESA SA are to educate industry in southern Africa about MES through the sharing of knowledge between users of MES implementations and to promote MES within industry through the hosting of user events and education sessions.
The organisation has established an executive committee responsible for the coordination of events, education and general administration and already has over 100 members on the MESA SA LinkedIn group, established to promote the sharing of knowledge through online debate.
The first quarterly user group event for the year was held on 31 March at Sappi and was a huge success with over 40 people attending. The next event with an SABMiller focus is being planned for early August. Keep an eye on the LinkedIn group for further announcements.
Call for papers
MESA SA is currently looking for papers to be presented at the October conference. The process is starting early to ensure the quality of presentations and maximise knowledge sharing. Any papers that fit into the general theme and that contribute to the education of the manufacturing industry will be welcome. Presenters will attend the conference for free.
Papers could include topics such as:
* MES case studies with benefits.
* How your company approaches sustainability.
* How your company approaches MES.
* How do production and sustainability co-exist?
* Process optimisation case studies.
* Waste minimisation case studies.
* Energy management and energy saving case studies.
* Performance improvement case studies.
* Enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI) case studies.
* Any other MES-related topic.
Evaluation of submissions
Interested parties should send an abstract (100-200 words) of the proposed paper to gerhard.greeff@bytes.co.za by the end of June. Submissions should include a short profile (80-120 words) about the speaker/speakers that will be presenting. Abstracts will be evaluated by the MESA SA evaluation committee and feedback on all submissions will be given by the end of July.
The first draft of approved papers will be due by mid August when the MESA SA evaluation committee will review the papers/presentations again and may make some recommendations regarding clarity and content. Feedback will be provided by the end of August to enable finalisation.
Final papers will be due by the end of September to ensure consistent formatting and printing. Papers should be presented within a 30 minute time slot with an additional 10 minutes allowed for questions. Deadline for the final presentation to reach MESA SA will be 8 October.
Call for sponsors
As with previous conferences, MESA SA is looking for sponsors to assist cover the costs. Sponsorships can include printing, delegate gifts, speaker gifts, buying exhibitor stands etc. Please contact christy.pillay@sasol.com, daniel.spies@sappi.com, gerhard.greeff@bytes.co.za or bobby.kupresan@pbmr.co.za.
Diarise 21 October now and do not miss this exciting event.
For more information contact Gerhard Greeff, Bytes Systems Integration, +27 (0)11 205 7000, gerhard.greeff@bytes.co.za, www.bytes.co.za
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