In 1981, Dave Howcroft left Process Control Instrumentation where he was the technical director to establish Instrotech. Starting out from offices in Braamfontein, a year later the company moved to premises with a workshop in Northcliff. The company’s focus was systems engineering and plant automation complemented by high quality overseas product ranges.
This business model soon extended to include the in-house design and manufacture of quality engineered innovative equipment. The first products to be launched were load-cell transmitters, motorsport rally timers and Eskom maximum demand timers. The transmitters and Rallytime are still part of Instrotech’s range, now in their third generation.
Today, Instrotech is a leading producer of process calibrators, weighing electronics, signal conditioners and digital display units with global product sales. One of the advanced products to find acceptance in countries around the world is the Inspecta FFT, an acoustic leak detection system used to detect boiler tube leaks in coal fired utilities as well as in oxygen plants. First produced in 1984, the latest systems are equipped with scada and Internet accessibility.
With demand for Instrotech’s instrumentation growing, the company moved into its own office and factory premises in 1989 in Kya Sands, Randburg, The same year a dedicated manufacturing and wholesaling sister company was formed, Digital Process Measurement, that started off producing digital displays and has now become one of South Africa’s largest manufacturers of process control instruments and calibrators.
Twenty years ago, Instrotech Australia was established in Adelaide to market the SA-ranges of process control equipment throughout Australasia.
Instrotech holds the SA distribution rights for 14 European, UK and USA process control and instrumentation manufacturers lending credence to the company’s reputation as a one stop instrumentation outlet. These include top name brands such as Vishay-Revere load-cells, Kobold level and flow switches and meters, Siko encoders, Selet proximity switches, Keller pressure transmitters and Senix ultrasonic transmitters.
Late last year both Instrotech and DPM were acquired by Comtest, which provides test and measurement and communications equipment solutions from leading manufacturers to the southern African market. Instrotech’s and DPM’s high-quality product portfolios complement the Comtest line of test and measurement equipment, allowing for an even broader range of integrated solutions and services.
Dave Howcroft, after 48 years in the instrumentation industry, is looking forward to a well earned retirement later this year.
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