Sasol first partnered with Omniflex, known as Conlog in the 1960s, marking the beginning of a long-standing relationship that continues to this day. During its relationship, Sasol has expanded production that encompasses three sites and is now transitioning from fossil fuels to the clean energy sector. Ian Loudon, international sales and marketing at remote monitoring specialist, Omniflex reflects on the longevity of the partnership with Sasol, key technology milestones along the way and the most recent project in South Africa.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Sasol approached Conlog to supply instrumentation and interface equipment. Conlog provided the key alarm Logic equipment as the company had developed a credible reputation in engineering as Sasol expanded its chemical production to include fertilisers and solvents.
Expansion
The partnership would strengthen further in the 1970s as global oil crises boosted interest in alternative energy and independence from global oil supply chains. To increase production, Sasol built plants Two and Three, and Conlog was tasked with supplying over 22 000 critical alarm points for the plant, as well as the entire logic control and plant marshalling interface system, making the company the second largest contractor on site behind Honeywell.
Much of the plant interface system was designed by Halliburton in the USA, using Conlog personnel to ensure technological independence for Conlog and Sasol. When Anglo American acquired 50% of the Conlog shares, the company was able to scale up its offering, becoming the largest local manufacturer of industrial electronics and positioning it to tackle large scale projects.
This laid the technical and relational foundations still supporting the partnership today. Sasol 2 and 3 became operational in the 1980s, with Conlog’s support instrumental in the design and supply of the logic and interface systems. The Conet network, one of the world’s first industrial local area networks, was shaped in part by the needs of Sasol’s industrial sites of high-integrity and long-distance requirements. The system is still in operation today.
Omniflex era
In 1997, Conlog’s industrial division became Omniflex. Though under a different name, the partnership continued with remote monitoring off site and has seen the offering progress from hardwire alarm annunciators to remote, high-volume real-time monitoring across entire plants.
The familiarity with Sasol’s people and systems led to the company approaching Omniflex to provide solutions to improve productivity and maintenance responsiveness. Omniflex offered real-time monitoring of electrostatic precipitators across 17 substations. This meant that Omniflex was trusted with installing Maxiflex monitors for motors, auxiliary equipment, panels and alarms to provide wider visibility of the plant.
This removed the need for manual inspections across its East and West sites, allowing one person to monitor the plant remotely from a control room and conduct a full inspection within five minutes, compared to the previous inspection method requiring 48 field controllers over the course of five hours.
“I’d rate the project a nine out of ten. It’s doing exactly what we wanted. My bosses are happy, which means I’m happy too,” says Sasol maintenance electrician, Johan Oosthuizen. “What impressed me most was how helpful and responsive Omniflex was. Even though they weren’t on site, we always got the support we needed.”
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