The MESA Africa conference is an annual two-day event hosted in Johannesburg. The theme for 2015 was “50 Shades of MOM“, which was attended by 79 delegates from around South Africa. Two powerful opening keynote presentations were delivered by representatives from GIBS and PWC respectively. Eight user presentations were delivered by representatives from the mining, manufacturing and food and beverage industry sectors, and sponsors this year included Siemens, DRA Projects, Bytes PMC, OSISoft and Elvey Security Technologies.
The first day keynote presentation highlighted the manufacturing concerns associated with both effectiveness and efficiency. During this presentation the increasing complexity of markets and organisations were presented. Too often organisations follow a reductionist way of thinking that focuses on individual elements of a system, whilst the presenter argued that in order to be more effective, dynamic complexity had to be included to stimulate system related thinking.
The second-day keynote explored the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on industry, and introduced the concept of Industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution. The presenter unpacked the capabilities required by a company to exploit the opportunities presented by the IoT, and suggested a transformation roadmap that companies could consider to ensure that they do not become obsolete during the next industrial revolution.
The best voted user presentation was a Manufacturing Excellence Solution implemented in a steel company that wanted to retain its competitive advantage of reasonable price, high flexibility and excellent customer service. This presenter explained manufacturing application alignment and the reasons to implement a solution using a big bang approach rather than a phased implementation. The presentation successfully highlighted functionality that resolved business and process issues in the enterprise, and further demonstrated the early benefits derived from the functionality implemented, including efficiency improvements, effectiveness improvements, cost savings and shortened lead-times.
Overall the MESA Africa 2015 Conference was praised by attendees as a value contributor to the southern African industrial community. Looking forward, the 2016 conference is planned for 17 and 18 November, whilst at least two Special Interest Group (SIG) sessions will be hosted: one in Gauteng during April timeslot and one in KwaZulu-Natal during July.
For more information contact Gerhard Greeff, Bytes Universal Systems, +27 (0)82 654 0290, [email protected], www.bytes.co.za
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