The 2009 CT AGM was well attended by the usual group of core individuals that are driving the SAIMC vision and mission in the region. The evening was kicked off by Johan van Jaarsveld who gave the group an update of the SAIMC activities and initiatives within the southern African region. It was exciting to hear of the new sub-committees formed ie, Education, Innovation and ECSA, each focusing on an important aspect of the C&I engineering discipline.
It was great to note that the SAIMC can now provide accreditation for CPD points. We can now endorse most C&I training courses, ensuring correct, current and valuable training is provided to both industry and individuals. This is an important value offering as training provides the building blocks for the future sustainability of technology. We had to cut Johan short as the sun was setting by the time he moved on to point number 2 on his speech! Apologies Johan – we will arrange for more time at the next AGM 2010.
The AGM was conducted within the rules of the constitution and nominations were endorsed by the various members present. The following are the results of the nomination and election process and represents the 2009 committee members:
Chairman: Theo Schmidt
Vice Chairman: Selvan Murugan
Secretary: Noxolo Kunene
Treasurer: Clyde September
It was noted that no committee member shall occupy the same position for more than two years, as per the constitutional requirement.
Theo provided the chairman’s address, which he claimed was worked on overnight, but the detail of the content clearly represented days of hard work! And it was in English! The main highlight was the actual revival of the branch, which was dormant for a few years and the new drive to establish the SAIMC and technology links with various local industry specialists. Having said that, focus was placed on the CT branch’s second objective ie, how to add value to our current Ladies Night initiative. We plan on franchising this event to other branches in the near future.
The night ended with an excellent supper and group socialising. It became apparent that engineering people do not really socialise, they enginise! A healthy debate ensued around technical knowledge, know-how, innovation and how newer systems are virtually negating the need for engineering staff to think on their feet and innovate.
A passionate plea was made for engineering staff to understand the basics (nuts, bolts and op-amps) of their profession thus ensuring that South Africa has the skills required to engineer, perfect and innovate when required to. This was also apparent in Jim Pinto’s prediction for the future of automation companies when asked what nations can do to be winners in the new competitive environment, his response was: “Knowledge and innovation. Do something that nobody else has done. It requires new thinking.”
The new committee members thank the membership for their continued support and look forward to our new initiatives to engage the C&I community in the Western Cape region. These initiatives include opportunities for further collaboration and social gatherings.
A client satisfaction survey has been compiled and circulated amongst the membership. The idea of this survey is to highlight potential areas of improvement in the value offering of the SAIMC in our area – basically asking our membership what they would like more of. Please take the time to complete and submit this survey, it takes 2 minutes to fill in but can add relevant input into how the branch is run.
Finally: Please update your membership details on the website www.saimc.org.za so that we can send you more content. There is a cost benefit for early registrations as communicated previously.
| Tel: | +27 11 312 2445 |
| Email: | ina@saimc.co.za |
| www: | www.saimc.co.za |
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