Chairman’s address to the year-end function
2010 has been another very successful year for the Durban branch.
Membership has been growing steadily over the year with an average of five applications per month. It is heartening to see both new graduates and professionals with more than 20 years’ experience applying to join our organisation.
Attendance at our monthly technology evenings has also been steadily increasing. Our talks have included students, members from statutory organisations such as ECSA, recognised experts and vendors. We have tried to enable all participants in our engineering discipline to have a voice. Topics this year ranged, from a presentation on the Best Student Engineering project, to fuzzy logic control of boilers, to the serious issue of compulsory Professional registration and the Engineering Council of South Africa.
During the second half of the year we continued with methods to add more value to our members. To this end we tried a new venue, the Westville Country Club where we had a very well attended talk on air compressors in September. The facilities at the country club enable members who want to network after the presentations to do so at their leisure, without time constraints on refreshments etc. We are trying out this venue for the remainder of the year to gauge member response.
Our second change in the interests of our members was to charge non-members a token amount of R50 to attend talks. This is in keeping with other organisations such as the Computer Society of South Africa. The R50 does not cover the cost per person at the venue; however, it does encourage non-members to join and provides members with the tangible benefit of free entry. We piloted this system at our October talk on Intrinsic Safety Systems and had an attendance of 42. Our future talks will continue in this way.
Website
In another exciting development to make the organisation relevant to its members and society at large, a new website has been launched: www.saimc.net. The Durban branch had two members on the committee that provided the specification and all the recommendations are being implemented gradually. We are particularly excited about the interactive features of the website such as the forums where issues can be debated at a national and branch level. Please visit the site and give us feedback.
Site visits
Our plans for site visits were disrupted by the FIFA World Cup this year, so we only had our annual Oktoberfest Brewery visit and this time the venue was a midlands brewery on 14 October.
We are very proud to announce that the Durban branch has hosted its first golf day in a number of years. This was held at the Amanzimtoti Golf Course on Sunday 7 November, with tee-off at 11h30, followed by a braai. We must emphasise that this was not a fund raiser, but an opportunity for members to relax and have a fun, family day together.
Tertiary institutions
One of the aims of the SAIMC is to provide linkages between industry and tertiary institutions. This year we continued to increase cooperation with the IIG and the UKZN and DUT. As you can appreciate this is not a simple process and negotiations are ongoing. In order to keep closer contact with the students at both these campuses there are now notice boards for the SAIMC activities at both these institutions.
Richards Bay branch
Last year we announced the launch of the Richards Bay sub-branch. I am very pleased to announce that it is growing very well under a committed team. The branch has had well attended talks throughout the year and is currently preparing for its AGM. I would like to acknowledge Wilson Mannini who is their representative this evening. Thanks to you and your team for your great efforts Wilson!
150 years of Indians in SA
In parting, some of you may be wondering why my suit has a bit of an Indian look. Well, as a person of Indian origin I am proud to inform you that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indians in South Africa. Celebrations have started during the course of the year, with November 16 being the official day of commemoration. I invite everyone to join the Indian community in celebrating this historic occasion.
November technology evening
On 3 November members and guests of the Durban Branch gathered at the Westville Country Club, where they were treated to a very informative and entertaining talk on the subject of ‘Flow measurement solutions for different industry sectors’. Nico Marneweck put his 30 years of experience in industry and, more recently, training to good use and provided a captivating presentation on the topic, using audience participation to great effect and keeping everyone involved in the learning and discussion process.
Nico’s presentation provided an overview of theoretical principles of many flow measurement techniques most frequently used in industry; namely electromagnetic, vortex, Coriolis, ultrasonic, variable area and differential pressure. He gave some insight into recent developments and highlighted some of the relative advantages and limitations of each method, and some indication of their cost Unfortunately there was insufficient time for him to cover other methods of measuring flow, so that will have to wait until Durban can persuade him to return and complete his coverage of the topic.
Robson’s brewery
Recently, the SAIMC Durban branch arranged a visit to Robson’s Brewery in Shongweni. This is a true micro-brewery, cocking a snoot at modern high volume production techniques and marketing its products on their individuality. Reinforcing the theme was a noticeable absence of any modern control systems!
Our guide and brewer Johannes explained that great care is taken with selection of imported malt, barley and hops and to ensure the flavours from the house recipes remain unique. Each brew takes 7-10 days and the beers are unfiltered, leaving a little ‘life’ in the bottle for final maturation.
Forthcoming attractions:
Ralf Hesse, from Wika Instruments will be presenting at the December SAIMC technology meeting.
Ralf has a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from TWR. He joined WIKA in 1995 as a trainee and has worked his way up to his current position as general manager for the Temperature Department and Machine Shop (incl. Thermowells) and performance officer for Continuous Improvement. His many years of experience in this industry ensures he is well qualified to present a paper on Thermowell Design and flow-induced WAKE calculations.
He will go through the main differences between the ‘old‘ ASME PTC 19.3-1974 and the ‘new‘ ASME PTC19.3-TW2010, and its implication on the thermowell calculation program failure modes.
Date: Wednesday 1 December.
Time: 17h30 for 18h15.
Venue: Westville Country Club, 1 Link Road, Westville.
Visitors welcome.
Queries: Jane +27 (0)31 764 0593, [email protected]
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