8:00 am on 27 July, as the Sasol Recreation Club in Secunda opened its doors, trailers and bakkies of every shape and form started to descend on the main entrance. After the initial orientation and "Hoe gaan dit met jou?", the usual scramble for extra hands and trolleys began.
The reason for this sudden burst of activity was, of course, the return of the annual PENMAC Roadshow to this area. Even though there were two entrances to the club, this still created some challenges to get 44 exhibiting companies inside and set up by 12h00. Most exhibitors however are well skilled at this by now and, true to form, were at their posts when the visitors started to queue at registration.
Now the third year in this technology capital of South Africa, the roadshow continues to go from strength to strength. This year both main halls and the connecting hall at the club had to be used in order to accommodate the number of suppliers that wanted to participate. The growth in these events from exhibitors and visitors alike reinforces the importance of this most efficient way of networking between both parties.
Users of this technology are presented with an open forum where they can browse and compare products, make contact with new innovations and update themselves with the latest products, all less than one hour away from the office or shop floor. A secondary benefit to the user is the reduced number of companies requesting to have their own product presentations on site, which can be time-consuming.
Y2K Secunda roadshow experienced an overloaded registration desk from 12h00 when the doors opened and subjected the catering department to unprecedented strain. Hundreds of name tags and much hand-shaking saw 18h00 come and go, at which point the usual band of merry men took some convincing that the show was now over.
Exhibitors at this year's Secunda show included: Adroit Technologies, AMS Process Control, Anglo Allied Engineering, Ascoreg, ATI Systems, Autotech Weighing Systems, Burkert Contromatic, Danfoss, Endress+ Hauser, Futuristix, Grintek Systems, Honeywell SA, Industrial Auto & Control, Instrotech, J Coetzee, KAB Instruments, Kubler Africa, Laser Measurement, Loadtech, MeasureTech, Measuretronic, Moeller Electric, Optical Fibre Tech, Phoenix Contact, PLC Direct, PREI Instrumentation, Ramsey Technology, RET Automation, Schenck Weighing, Shorrock Automation, Sperosens, Tecmo Automation, Temperature Controls, Titan Technology, Tracerco, Valve and Automation, VEGA South Africa, Wirsam Scientific, Xycom/IPC, Yelland, Yokogawa SA.
23 August will see the roadshow in Port Elizabeth this year; readers in the Vaal Triangle region are encouraged to visit the Vaal Triangle Roadshow on 21 September at the Riverside Sun. The Vaal show has grown by 60% this year and will host over 40 companies. The final PENMAC show for the year 2000 will take place in Carletonville on 21 November. (Please note the date change from 23 November).
PENMAC
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