Johannesburg Branch News
April 2005
SAIMC
Back in the early days of the SAIMC (around 1958) a group of young enthusiastic engineers got together and established The Instrument and Control Society of Southern Africa (ICSSA) the forerunner of the South African Institute of Measurement and Control. The inevitable happened, these young people became older, and unfortunately, there were not any younger leaders willing to take up the challenge of running this essential organisation.
I am pleased to say that this has now changed, the members of the controlling council and branch committees are mostly younger persons with new and exciting ideas. The excuse that the SAIMC is 'a bunch of old fogies' has become even lamer than it ever was. If this was ever true, why did the user of this excuse not do something about it by their support and participation?
We are currently working on a number of initiatives that will make the SAIMC an organisation that will be even more of a benefit to members - whether individual or patron. It will be an advantage to members of all categories to be associated with the SAIMC. (More of this later.)
The Johannesburg branch is once again off to a flying start in this New Year. January saw our well-attended AGM, where the 2005 committee was elected and the February meeting was sponsored by Siemens, who told us about flue gas analysis using across stack infrared detection principles. This subject encouraged many questions from the audience, and was appreciated by the members. We have entered the planning phase of the winter golf day and have made a booking for June
The committee also has a number of site visits planned and will be publishing these as soon as it has confirmed the venue appointments.
We are continuously on the look out for technical papers that qualify for the Negretti Award. This prestigious award recognises original endeavour in preparing and delivering an original technical paper on the topic of instrumentation used for measurement and/or control.
Remember, our meetings are on the second Wednesday of the month at the Rivonia Club. See you there.
Vivian MacFadyen, chairman
Further reading:
International robotics conference streams live to Africa
SAIMC
The SAIMC hosted five live-stream viewing events across South Africa for the IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation in Vienna, bringing global robotics research and technology directly to local industry and academia.
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From the office of the CEO: Introduction to GRIP
SAIMC
SAIMC
Industry has long been concerned about graduates who have no understanding of the modern equipment they will face in industry. This has triggered an investigation into the possibility of creating a facility whereby graduates register with the SAIMC and rotate through all the vendors to obtain experience on modern equipment.
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SAIMC: Durban branch
SAIMC
SAIMC
The SAIMC Durban Branch hosted a technology meeting featuring a presentation by Abacus Automation on the practical role of AI in industrial automation, drawing considerable interest from attendees.
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SAIMC: Johannesburg branch
SAIMC
SAIMC
Instrotech recently hosted a technical presentation on load cell technology and applications at the SAIMC Johannesburg Technology Evening, presented by Trevor Salzwedel. The session covered load cell fundamentals, selection and installation, mechanical considerations and calibration methods.
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SAIMC: Johannesburg Golf Day
SAIMC
SAIMC
The SAIMC Johannesburg Golf Day on 22 May 2026 brought together 16 four-balls for a day of golf, networking and fundraising, with generous support from sponsors across the instrumentation and control sector.
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SAIMC to exhibit at Electra Mining Africa 2026
SAIMC
SAIMC
The SAIMC International INSPIRE Conference 2026 will be held on 14 and 15 October 2026
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SAIMC’s International INSPIRE Conference
SAIMC
SAIMC
The SAIMC International INSPIRE Conference 2026 will be held on 14 and 15 October 2026.
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Knowledge Sharing for Industry: SAIMC’s June 2026 event
SAIMC
SAIMC
SAIMC will host a technical presentation focused on an important challenge facing modern industry, tracking and tracing across increasingly complex supply chains.
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SAIMC: Johannesburg branch
SAIMC
SAIMC
The Johannesburg Branch had the privilege of being hosted by Phoenix Contact for our technology event in May. Shamil Surbun, BU manager for Automation, presented a CPD-accredited session on ‘From Sensor to Cloud: How SPE and APL Are Transforming Industrial Connectivity’.
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From the office of the CEO: Power Hour goes national
SAIMC
SAIMC
South Africa’s automation, control, mechatronics and computer engineering community is changing fast, and the SAIMC is changing with it. I am excited to announce a new national initiative that will reshape how we deliver technical knowledge, strengthen branch identity and bring our community together like never before.
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