Cape Town
On 10 September we held the annual spring golf day. A fantastic time was had by all participants - and it was well agreed that this annual event just gets better and better. Keith Shaw of the CT committee arranged the day and due to his efforts the players had a most enjoyable time. This year was the most successful year financially for the branch and thanks go out to all of those that supported us. The four-ball of RS Instrumentation won first prize and the floating trophy. PLC Direct has kindly agreed to sponsor the floating trophy for this year and 2001 and 2002. John Mentz of PLC Direct officially presented the trophy to Roger Adriaanse of RS Instrumentation at our latest branch meeting (see photo).
Special note goes out to the team from Heating Element Technologies. This team really got into the spirit of the day and arrived dressed in clown suits!! They have in recent years won prizes for most golf played, however, this year the organisers felt it fair to combine the prize with best dressed. To their credit, they remained in their suits for the entire event.
Our meeting held on Tuesday 26th September was hosted by Sanpeople. Sanpeople have recently returned from a successful visit to the USA where they exhibited at the ISA show in New Orleans. Richard Theron of Sanpeople gave the attendees some feedback on the show and showed some pictures of some of the stands at the show. Richard Theron then gave a presentation of the Industrial Automation Open Networking Alliance (IAONA).
IAONA is a new trade group that intends to encourage the growth of open networking in industrial automation. There has been a splinter group from IAONA called IDA - Interface for Distributed Automation. IDA are trying to fast-track some of the work IAONA is doing in an attempt to get potential users of this technology to install and use it. Richard explained the issues that these groups are dealing with and trying to resolve. There were other members of the Sanpeople team at the meeting and they were:(see photo) Left to right - Anton de Beer, Richard Theron, Glenn McKay.
Derwyn Oxley
Zululand
The big news from Zululand concerns our annual Dinner Dance. This glittering event was once again held at the Richards Hotel and 60 couples representing a broad cross-section of users and vendors in our industry kept the staff on their toes well into the small hours! The highlight of the evening was the draw for prizes and the luckiest couple of all were the Uljees, who won the surprise package. This was a weekend for two at a Protea hotel, and Avis car and... BIG SURPRISE!... a return flight with our newest airline... 'Fresh Air'! Yes, this operation will shortly be starting up in Richards Bay, offering travellers another option on the RCB/JNB sector.
And so to more mundane things... Why do I&C activities come to mind? Yes, our sponsors have been hard at it, seeking topics to grasp our members' imaginations!
Andre Hoffmann (yes, he of SAIEE Durban fame and also known in Telkom circles) gave us a wonderful insight into the origins and future of telecommunications. This was followed by an impromptu and heated discussion on the merits of owning a modem capable of data rates exceeding 1,4 kilobaud!
The guys from CS Systems Solutions recently presented an excellent paper on a case study they had conducted on Knowledge Management.
Future plans include a paper on Valve Husbandry and the Branch AGM will (to beat the Christmas rush) be held on November 30.
John Crossland
Johannesburg Branch
The Johannesburg Branch has been so busy this year that we managed to lose one of our committee members along the way. Quentin Richardson very suddenly decided to end his short stay with us due to reasons still unknown, but in any event, his departure left a vacuum in our committee that will be very difficult to fill. We therefore appeal to anyone out there who might consider themselves up to the task and who are willing to assist us in taking the Johannesburg Branch to even greater heights, to contact us at the address below.
As previously advertised, at our November meeting the Johannesburg Branch Committee will be hosting the Editor of FHM, Neil Bierbaum, to talk to us on men's magazines and what makes them tick. Take note that this meeting will take place on 15 November, the third Wednesday of the month and not the second as is the norm. This one is for you guys, do not miss out!
The November meeting will also be the last of this year, with the next meeting scheduled for 7 February 2001. This will be the Annual General Meeting of our branch and the new Branch Committee for 2001 will be announced on this date.
Johan Steyn
www.saimc.org.za
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