The Johannesburg branch held its Technology Evening on 8 June, where Gary Friend, chairman of the Foundation Fieldbus Southern African Marketing Committee (FFSAMC), presented an overview of Foundation fieldbus and the efforts of the FFSAMC to ensure that there is proper training available so that users and potential users gain maximum benefit from this technology.
Johan Grobler (l) with Bjorn Matthews of the University of Pretoria, recipient of the Schneider Electric/SAIMC award for his thesis on robots and artificial intelligence
Foundation fieldbus has been around for many years, but has not had much publicity in South Africa until recently. Part of the problem is lack of knowledge about the advantages that the technology can offer.
It is an all-digital, serial, two-way communications system that serves as the
base-level network in a plant or factory automation environment. Based on an open architecture developed and administered by the Fieldbus Foundation, it is targeted for applications using basic and advanced regulatory control and for much of the discrete control associated with those functions, mostly in the process industry.
Foundation fieldbus was originally intended as a replacement for the 4-20 mA standard and today it coexists alongside other technologies such as Modbus, Profibus, and industrial Ethernet. Today it enjoys a growing installed base in many heavy process applications such as refining, petrochemicals, power generation, food, beverage, pharmaceuticals and nuclear applications.
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.
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