Johannesburg Branch
As you read this, the annual Business Breakfast is something of the past and hopefully the members of our Branch Committee are still sane and looking forward to the next big event on our calendar, the Golf Day! This event, scheduled for 3 November 2000 is one of the highlights of our calendar and once again promises to be a very special experience for all.
Scene at the Johannesburg Branch Breakfast
Team bookings and sponsorships are now available, 'if you snooze you lose!' Contact Quentin Richardson at (011) 444 1386 or Morne Maree at (011) 266 1698 for more detailed information. Alternatively, you are welcome to contact me at the address below.
At the recent SAIMC Council meeting I was reminded of the old saying, "what if they held a war and nobody came?" What if we had an institute and nobody bothered to pay their annual subscription fees? It was shocking to see how many members have not paid their subs for 2000. The Johannesburg Branch is the biggest branch in the country and we also have the dubious honour of having the highest percentage of unpaid members.
Those of us who have not paid must please do so immediately. Our institute secretary, Rhoda Jacques, can be contacted at (011) 487 3003 between 09h00 and 12h00 if you are not sure how much you owe or where to send your payment. Please people, let us get our act together.
The next Branch Meeting will take place on Wednesday, 13 September, where we will learn more about SOAP and even SOAP on a ROPE. SOAP is an acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol and makes use of XML to enable different applications to communicate information and execute functions without any run-time library bindings.
Speaking about the Business Breakfast, can someone tell me how it is possible, out of a membership count of more than 400, to sell only 19 tables? And please do not tell me you are too busy to attend functions like these or that it costs too much. That Time Management course your company sent you on last year cost much more and besides, the Business Breakfast will be the most cost-effective networking opportunity you will ever get anywhere.
Any comments from our members out there will be welcome.
Johan Steyn, (011) 675 0616, [email protected]
Cape Town Branch
We finally managed to get a meeting together in Cape Town! The good news for CT is we got off to a fantastic start again. Gary Cousins of Siemens gave us a presentation on telecomms. Attendance at the meeting was excellent and our collaboration with other institutes is working well. Gary spoke of all the new ways of communicating and communications implementation - how the old switched circuit public telephone systems are falling away and a whole new approach using digital networks, no intelligence within the networks and all the real stuff happening on the edges. Gary talked of new cellphone technology and the issue of WAP almost being dead before it has started. The talk gave everybody a great insight to the future of communications and some of the tools we can expect to see and use. Everybody who attended was extremely impressed and it was met with huge appreciation.
The Branch has arranged another spring golf day. For those of you who have not attended, you have missed out. This is a perfect opportunity to mix some business with pleasure. For all the 'out of towners', travel to Cape Town early Sunday 10 September. Spend what has become a most glorious day playing golf with us (no guarantees on the weather, however, the last four years have blessed us with unbelievable days). This is an opportunity to spend some quality time with those clients you normally flash past on your way back to the airport. It could also be an opportunity to spend a little social time with your branch staff or just get away from it all. The SAIMC golf day also provides an excellent advertising and marketing opportunity to customers you may not know about yet. Please come join us on 10 September 2000.
An upcoming presentation will be held on 26 September - SAN People will discuss Ethernet/serial communications links.
Derwyn Oxley, (021) 939 8694, [email protected]
Secunda Branch
In July Alpret Controls sponsored an evening for our get-together. Pierre de Klerk used the opportunity together with Frik Grobler to educate our members on bus topology. Some of us were surprised to find out that what everyone in the industry was talking about was not a PUTCO. Pierre was really put to the test with an avalanche of questions, but what can you say? If you know your subject, any question is just a formality. He answered them all.
The Chairman attended the council meeting on the 26th. A totally new experience, this is what you call part of the individual growth offered by the institution. For us as a young branch we certainly have a lot to learn to establish ourselves as a branch possessing some format. At this meeting our branch became the proud parent of a foster child in the name of the Newcastle Sub Branch. Our chairman has taken the challenge to bring them to full branch status. Anyone in the Newcastle, Volksrust and Majuba area interested in joining up with an institute of this status must please contact the chairman of the Secunda branch on cell 082 461 3434.
In August ABB came through again with a presentation on the principles of conductivity analysis. This is what we needed and surely the information received will help all of us. There are still a few events to come for the rest of the year including a dinner to conclude the activities for this year. Watch this space for more information.
Piet van Rensburg
082 461 3434
Zululand Branch
Technikon students see inside Richards Bay Minerals
The Technikon Student Tour of Zululand industries is an annual affair and the objective is to show the students how the theory they learn in college is applied in industry. This year there were only 14 students and three staff - a sad reflection on the declining enrolment for this course. At each plant they go to, a rep from a particular instrument company addresses the group and focuses on how a specific technique is applied in the plant. At RBM the students first had an overview of the process. Then Terry Bold from the Krohne Flowmeter Company told them how important the correct meter selection is in an aggressive application like slurry flow metering. After a talk by Dave Rowland on critical safety aspects in the plant, the group donned their PPE for Nhlanhla Khumalo and Graham Beukes to take them round the MSP, where many flowmeters are installed.
The next stop was the 'Robolab' where Lab Manager, Fenwick Walton explained the important role played by the instrument technician in the process team and how important accurate analysis is. Marius Combrinck shared some of his valuable experience with the group while demonstrating the robotic controls.
After a light lunch the group headed for their next session at RBCT where they discovered some of the intricacies of variable speed drives and control valve actuators. A mouthful for most of us, but all in a day's work for a wide-awake Technician!
John Crossland
(035) 901 3339
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