SAIMC Durban Branch News

December 2001 SAIMC

Another year almost gone! A good time to sum up the Durban Branch's activities for the second half of 2001.

At the July monthly meeting Howard Bingham of Rockwell presented a talk on 'Process management for batch manufacturing.' The talk was well received and a follow up with more technical specifics will take place in the near future. August saw a talk by Willie Van Wyk of CT Labs, on 'Power quality instrumentation' which, though not a traditional 'instrument' area, provided visitors with a very useful look into the power quality monitoring field. Septembers meeting, held early October, saw a talk by Russell Armstrong on his experiences as an instrument engineer on the Angolan offshore platforms. Some interesting discussion ensued with local refinery engineers! It seems there is usually more than one engineering solution to a problem.

During October, the branch held its Annual Dinner at the ICC, Durban. The move to the new venue was strongly supported by all present and the success of the evening was reflected in the number of 'count us in for next year!' comments that the committee got. Tables were sponsored by, in alphabetic order, Adroit, Honeywell, Krohne and Orsi Siemens, as well as the Durban Branch.

The year is likely to end with an industry visit and a paperette evening.

Carl Reinecke (Chairman)

carlr@ntech.ac.za

Further reading:

SAIMC: From the office of the COO
SAIMC SAIMC
The recognition of mechatronics and computer engineering has created both an opportunity and a responsibility. Recognition means little without participation, professional registration without professional conduct, and technical knowledge without the mentorship, implementation and measurable value that industry needs.

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SAIMC: Johannesburg branch
SAIMC SAIMC
Hendrik Spies of SICK Automation Southern Africa presented at the SAIMC Johannesburg Technology Evening on 12 August 2026, covering the digital journey from condition monitoring to predictive maintenance.

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SAIMC: Johannesburg branch: Distilled to perfection: Women’s Month gin experience
SAIMC SAIMC
The SAIMC Johannesburg branch celebrated Ladies Month with a gin tasting event.

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SAIMC: Durban branch
SAIMC SAIMC
The SAIMC Durban branch hosted S’yabonga Langa, systems performance engineer at eThekwini Electricity, who presented on applying substation automation to improve operational efficiency and service quality in modern power distribution networks.

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SAIMC INSPIRE conference extends abstract submission deadline
SAIMC SAIMC News
Following requests from our sponsors, the SAIMC INSPIRE conference has officially extended the abstract submission deadline to 28 August 2026.

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SAIMC: From the office of the COO
SAIMC SAIMC
Recognising practical engineering talent is a missing link in the South Africa’s skills pipeline.

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SAIMC: Durban Technology Evening
SAIMC SAIMC
The SAIMC Durban branch hosted a Technology Evening on mobile machine automation.

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SAIMC: Eastern Cape branch
SAIMC SAIMC
The SAIMC Eastern Cape Branch co-hosted a satellite viewing site for ICRA 2026 at Nelson Mandela University, giving postgraduate students, academics and local industry professionals access to premier international robotics and automation keynote sessions.

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SAIMC: Johannesburg Technology Evening
SAIMC SAIMC
The SAIMC Johannesburg Branch July Technology Evening, hosted by WIKA Instruments, covered key level measurement technologies and featured live product demonstrations from area sales manager Anthony Terblanche.

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International robotics conference streams live to Africa
SAIMC
The SAIMC hosted five live-stream viewing events across South Africa for the IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation in Vienna, bringing global robotics research and technology directly to local industry and academia.

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