Over the last six years we saw the firming of the rand and the lowering of interest rates and our economy has now entered its seventh year of expansion. Residential property developments have been mushrooming, but we can see the economic acceleration bleeding off and the property price skyrocket begins to look spent.
According to the experts the full effects of the lowered interest rates should have worked themselves through within a two-year period. A year or so back the economy was at full throttle and now the thrust is subsiding. Two of the factors believed to be contributing to this throttling back include the reaching of the end of the above-mentioned two-year period - and the increased efficiency of tax collection. It seems that while the acceleration has wound down, the economy still has momentum and is heading in the right direction.
China, that monster of cost-effectiveness, has had a most profound effect on the local clothing and textile industries. Already a force to be reckoned with, China looks set to continue becoming more efficient at making many modern, high-quality products. We have yet to see the full impact that China could have on the I&C industry.
I would say that for the South African industry things are looking positive, we are working on addressing the educational concerns and we have significant potential - but we need to be mindful that in the near future there will be less and less room for any inefficiencies. We need to be concentrating on developing a leaner and meaner industry. Those who are complacent will be left on the side of the road - unless they are positioned in sheltered niches.
Pinto's Points
If you are keen to get an idea of where instrumentation and control is headed, you could spend days scouring the Web - or you could read Jim Pinto's book!
Jim has a writing style that is very easy to read. He has taken his writings over the last five years and packaged together a tidy bundle that contains information that would take a lot of time for the average person to dig up on the Web. Much of his material I have come across during the course of my job, but there is some stuff there that I have seen little of - he has done a good job of collecting information and rumblings that people in the game should be aware of. The book discusses many aspects and is a valuable source of leads for further investigation on the Internet. I would strongly recommend the book to anybody wanting to keep ahead in the I&C arena.
2005 has been a terrific and exciting year and 2006 looks set to begin with the economy still moving nicely in the right direction. All of us from the SA Instrumentation & Control team and Technews Publishing wish you a pleasant and blessed festive season, and a great start to 2006.
John Gibbs - editor, john@technews.co.za
Online business directories:
Instrumentation & control: www.ibg.co.za
Hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical drives, etc: www.mcbg.co.za
Electronic components: www.ebg.co.za
IT (Information technology): www.ictweb.co.za
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