In 1999 Andre Vuilleumier opened Systems Anywhere with a focus on flour milling and feed milling for the food and animal feeds industries. In 2001 the company extended its interest to mining companies throughout Africa.
The company grew rapidly and now employs 20 fulltime and contractual specialists at its head office in North Riding, Gauteng. “We have also opened a separate company – Systems Anywhere Coastal – in Cape Town, which will have four staff members,” Vuilleumier says. Both offices are involved in providing a systems integration service to a number of diverse industries.
Systems Anywhere specialises in the design of automation systems using the latest scada and PLC software. The design includes MES and ERP integration to provide a customised solution for the client. The company also offers an in-house electrical and MCC panel design with the use of E-Plan software.
A product that its clients have found very useful is the Maintenance and Service Agreement (MSA) which guarantees bi-annual site visits to maintain the control system. More importantly, the agreement is coupled to telephonic, remote dial-in and site assistance on a 24/7 basis.
“We have the capability to undertake projects from electrical design – using Eplan – and panel building, all the way up to the supply and installation of PLCs, scada systems, as well as MES and ERP integration,” Vuilleumier explains. “We also provide clients with a maintenance and service agreement (MSA) whereby our technicians visit client facilities twice a year, coupled to 24/7 access to additional telephonic or on-site assistance.”
Vuilleumier points out that the company makes use of all major PLC brands while “on the scada side, we are one of 10 Certified ArchestrA System Integrators with Wonderware Southern Africa”. Systems Anywhere prides itself on the additional certification it holds with regards to the Wonderware ArchestrA Toolkit, which allows the SAP and ERP integration as a plug in to ArchestrA.
The company’s unique offering in the market is an Expert Control System developed by Systems Anywhere’s software specialists. This Expert System is based on fuzzy logic and rule-based principles and it imitates the behaviour of an operator by offering multivariable control. The Expert Downtime software is used to report on the plant’s downtime events and produces the relevant management reports.
Vuilleumier expands: “In addition, we can integrate our Expert to business systems like Oracle and SAP. This results in increased efficiencies as the system will automatically trigger a job card for maintenance when utilisation of the equipment is higher than normal. The system also allows for concurrent updating of production data making it a truly integrated systems approach.”
The company boasts a number of high profile clients in its portfolio including AngloGold Ashanti, Rainbow Chickens, Epol, Tiger Foods, Great Basin Gold, AngloPlatinum, Randgold Resources, Buhler, Royal Canin, IAM Gold and Nestlé Waters.
As a result of its approach to systems integration, Systems Anywhere has received a number of awards from Wonderware since 2001 for its creative application of Wonderware products in the market. These include ‘Best Scada Designs’ for Tiger Milling in Pietermaritzburg in 2001; ‘Most Innovative Use of Factory Suite’ for Free Gold One Plant, Harmony in 2002; ‘The best use of ArchestrA Advanced Objects’ for AngloGold Ashanti’s Navachab Gold Mine in 2006; ‘Best EMI Application’ (international contest) for AngloPlatinum in 2008; ‘Best HMI Application’ for AngloGold Ashanti’s Geita Gold Mine in 2009 and ‘Best Scada/HMI Application 2009’ at the Wonderware Open EMEA International Contest, again for the Geita Mine project.
For more information contact Andre Vuilleumier, Systems Anywhere, +27 (0) 11 024 5491, andre@systemsanywhere.com, www.systemsanywhere.com
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