The May technology evening was hosted by WIKA where product specialist Lloyd Townsend presented on the purpose and significance of calibration. Lloyd discussed the purpose and significance of calibration and he unpacked how validity, tractability and uncertainty play a critical role in quality outcomes.
He focused on calibration and explained how this is often viewed as a secondary task in plant operation. Against the backdrop of the demands imposed by quality management systems, he also touched on a new guideline from the German accreditation body (DAkkS) and current efforts to push the limits of plant efficiency even further with an emphasis on viewing calibration from a different angle.
Lloyd provided an overview and in-depth technical insight on the subject matter. The branch thanks him for this informative and well received presentation.
In July, the technology evening was hosted by Yokogawa. Kallie Bodenstein has over 26 years’ experience in the systems environment and currently holds the position of system facilitator at Yokogawa South Africa, where he is responsible for all Centum VP (DCS) and Stardom (PLC) training courses.
His presentation focused on the differences between DCS and PLC systems. Kallie discussed the origins of the PLC and the evolution of the many programming languages. He explained how these programming languages may be used depending on the type of device and user preference. Examples of some of the different programs and how PLCs can be networked to a remote scada were demonstrated with real hardware.
The evening was well attended and the topic was both interactive and interesting.
The new committee (from left): Theo Potgieter; Lebo Vries; Juaandre Heyneke; Dirk van der Walt.
Committee
A new committee was elected as follows: Juaandre Heyneke (chairman), Dirk van der Walt (vice chairman), Lebo Vries (treasurer) and Theo Potgieter (secretary). We wish them good luck in their new positions.
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