There was a record attendance at the June Durban SAIMC technology evening to hear Malcolm Heathfield of Adroit teach us how to take the strain out of information gathering and transform real-time data into an OLAP data cube. Malcolm runs the Scada Intelligence Products business unit at Adroit, driving the new product range including Adroit Scada Intelligence and Alarm Analysis, making him well qualified to tell us about this process. As he explained, most of us probably have an information overload because we get fed ‘data’ and not ‘information’.
Malcolm Heathfield being thanked by branch chairman John Owen-Ellis after the presentation
Data analysis is the process of gathering, modelling and transforming data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions and supporting decision-making. Raw scada data is flat or unstructured so it cannot be grouped easily to give itself meaning in contexts such as shifts, specific process areas or items of equipment.
The solution is a multidimensional data warehouse that lends itself to online analytical processing (OLAP), enabling users to extract and view data from different points of view both easily and selectively.
Before supper was served, DUT instrumentation lecturer, Carl Reinecke, shared information about the proposed changes to the technology university’s engineering curriculum. Feedback from industry will be requested – watch the press for details.
Carl Reinecke addresses the audience
Forthcoming attractions
The July Durban SAIMC technology evening will see Evan Dent present a proposal for a monitoring and targeting strategy that will assist utilities identify the energy saving potential in industrial processes. He will take us through the process from the basics of energy policy and examples of potential savings, to the three key elements of an automatic Monitoring and Targeting solution (aM+T). He will investigate the concept of Energy Accountable Centres (EACs) and discuss these using examples of typical utility systems by considering the monitoring solutions as a cycle of energy-saving strategies. Included will be the methodology of targeting, benchmarking, reporting and action required to realise sustainable savings. He will back this up with an overall conclusion based on industry experience both locally and internationally.
(Please note the date change from the usual first Wednesday format!)
Wednesday 20 July: 17h30 for 18h15.
Venue: Westville Country Club.
1 Link Road, Westville.
Please contact Jane van der Spuy with any queries [email protected] or +27 (0)31 764 0593.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The Durban branch of the SAIMC was pleased to welcome Vusi Sithole, managing member of Hybrid Control Corporation in Richards Bay, who presented\on the very pertinent topic of ‘Infrastructure monitoring and control for water loss management’.
Read more...SAIMC: Sunshine, swings and smiles: Durban Golf Day hits a high note Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control)
SAIMC
We say it every year, and we’ll say it again: May in Durban is hard to beat; but 9 May, when the Durban Golf Day teed off at Kloof Country Club, was something else. With sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 20s, it was a fantastic day, full of fun and great energy.
Read more...SAIMC User Advisory Council KS4I event: Bridging the industry/education divide
SAIMC
Horst Weinert, head of Didactic at Festo Southern/Eastern Africa, will be sharing some of Festo’s Didactic experiences of working across industry and education. He will cover training for productivity and employability in the public and private sectors, discussing especially the potential for inter-company training centres.
Read more...SAIMC: Johannesburg branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The local Johannesburg Branch of the SAIMC recently hosted a Technology Evening at Bryanston Sports Club on 9 April 2025.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The April technology meeting for the Durban branch of the SAIMC was kindly sponsored by ProRisk, a subsidiary company of the Proconics Group of Companies. Process safety engineer, Guillaume de Swardt gave a fascinating presentation on the power of operational risk control by utilising CFD software.
Read more...SAIMC User Advisory Council KS4I event SAIMC Supplier Advisory Council
SAIMC
The SAIMC User Advisory Council started 2025 with its first event in the ‘Knowlege Sharing 4 Industry’ event series on the 19th of March.
Read more...Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry
SAIMC
In proud partnership with Innomotics, SAIMC will be hosting the first Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry event for 2025.
Read more...Getting your OT data into the cloud – the why and the how
SAIMC
As users recognise the benefits of a digital transformation strategy for their industrial plants and systems and start to adopt it, they soon face the challenge of getting operational technology data securely and reliably to a cloud service provider of their choice.
printer friendly version