SAIMC Durban Branch
June 2005
SAIMC
The Durban branch has had a good start to 2005, meeting on the last Wednesday of every month at the German Club in Westville.
In January we had a presentation sponsored by G&D Agencies on a new technology power saving device. This was a very topical issue considering the capacity of electricity supply in the country at present.
In March, Phoenix Contact kindly sponsored an evening and presented the topic 'Industrial Ethernet Solutions in the convergence of the IT and plant floor/mining environments'. Lorè Holzhauzen graphically explained the differences between traditional IT equipment such as hubs, switches and routers, and the industrial specifications for the equivalent devices in a factory type environment. The information related to redundant network configuration as well as prioritising of important data streams over less critical data was excellent and everybody (even those less IT-enabled) found the presentation informative. It is clear that Industrial Ethernet is advancing tremendously.
Left to right – John Owen-Ellis (SAIMC), Loré Holtzhausen (Phoenix Contact presenter), Stuart Hall (Phoenix Contact DBN), Brett Randall (Phoenix Contact DBN), Dean Trattles (Chairman – SAIMC Durban Branch)
Our April meeting was kindly sponsored by Jaako Poyry and the topic was titled 'The Virtual Mill - ProElina 3 Mill information management'. The graphics were exceptional and everybody present was impressed by the 3D capabilities of the software as well as the seamless movement between a 3D rendering of the plant itself, and the data related to each discrete component. While 'walking' through the mill, one can simply click on a pump to view the data sheet, pump curves and other related information. It demonstrated the extent to which engineers now rely on a powerful database to store relevant information regarding a project as well as the ease of use of the Web enabled tools. The line between CAD software and document management tools is becoming more and more blurred.
Left to right – Bernard Chadrou (J-P), Barrie Skinner (SAIMC), Tomi Lonka (J-P), Warren Wootton (J-P), Keith Forrest (J-P), Brett Boswell (J-P)
The Durban branch continues to host top class speakers with interesting and informative topics and we look forward to your support. We would also like to thank those companies that continue to sponsor the evenings - your support is appreciated.
Warren Sachs
Branch PR
[email protected]
Further reading:
SAIMC: From the office of the CEO: Recognising winners
SAIMC
SAIMC
The Africa Automation and Technology Fair proved to be another successful event – and that is before any formal figures have been released.
Read more...
SAIMC: Durban branch
SAIMC
SAIMC
The Durban branch of the SAIMC was pleased to welcome Vusi Sithole, managing member of Hybrid Control Corporation in Richards Bay, who presented\on the very pertinent topic of ‘Infrastructure monitoring and control for water loss management’.
Read more...
SAIMC: Sunshine, swings and smiles: Durban Golf Day hits a high note
Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control)
SAIMC
We say it every year, and we’ll say it again: May in Durban is hard to beat; but 9 May, when the Durban Golf Day teed off at Kloof Country Club, was something else. With sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 20s, it was a fantastic day, full of fun and great energy.
Read more...
SAIMC User Advisory Council KS4I event: Bridging the industry/education divide
SAIMC
Horst Weinert, head of Didactic at Festo Southern/Eastern Africa, will be sharing some of Festo’s Didactic experiences of working across industry and education. He will cover training for productivity and employability in the public and private sectors, discussing especially the potential for inter-company training centres.
Read more...
SAIMC: From the office of the CEO: Understanding the Engineering Profession Act
SAIMC
SAIMC
For a full and detailed explanation of whether you are doing engineering work, I recommend visiting the ECSA website and looking up the IoEW Gazette. Meanwhile, here’s a simplified breakdown to get you started and hopefully encourage you to explore further.
Read more...
SAIMC: Johannesburg branch
SAIMC
SAIMC
The local Johannesburg Branch of the SAIMC recently hosted a Technology Evening at Bryanston Sports Club on 9 April 2025.
Read more...
SAIMC: Durban branch
SAIMC
SAIMC
The April technology meeting for the Durban branch of the SAIMC was kindly sponsored by ProRisk, a subsidiary company of the Proconics Group of Companies. Process safety engineer, Guillaume de Swardt gave a fascinating presentation on the power of operational risk control by utilising CFD software.
Read more...
SAIMC User Advisory Council KS4I event
SAIMC Supplier Advisory Council
SAIMC
The SAIMC User Advisory Council started 2025 with its first event in the ‘Knowlege Sharing 4 Industry’ event series on the 19th of March.
Read more...
Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry
SAIMC
In proud partnership with Innomotics, SAIMC will be hosting the first Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry event for 2025.
Read more...
Getting your OT data into the cloud – the why and the how
SAIMC
As users recognise the benefits of a digital transformation strategy for their industrial plants and systems and start to adopt it, they soon face the challenge of getting operational technology data securely and reliably to a cloud service provider of their choice.
Read more...
printer friendly version