On 13 June, Chris Petschel and Kegan Smith from PREI Instrumentation presented the monitoring and prediction capabilities that Industry 4.0 can offer with regards to rotary machinery.
Johan Maritz (left) thanks Kegan Smith (centre) and Chris Petschel (right) for the presentation.
“Industry 4.0 is a name given to the idea of smart factories where machines are augmented with web connectivity and connected to a system that can visualise the entire production chain and make decisions on its own.” – Wikipedia.
PREI Instrumentation brought along a physical simulation rig in the form of a scaled motor-driven compressor circuit, connected to a set of controllers and servers, to demonstrate the power of Industry 4.0 type integration between controllers, data loggers, historians and data processors.
Not only did this enlighten members more about Industry 4.0 and how it can be used in the factory environment, but it also demonstrated the amount of data that is available to the end-user from existing equipment. All this information can be gained by obtaining the necessary skills and knowledge to extract and process this data to enable predictive and intelligent maintenance.
The branch thanks Chris and Kegan for their informative presentation.
Golf Challenge winners team WMS (left to right) Henry Engelbreght, Johan Kruger, Johan Maritz (Secunda branch chairman), Louis Hatting and Francois Pretorius.
Golf Challenge 2019 – WMS takes the crown
It was a case of mixing business with pleasure during the 2019 SAIMC Secunda branch Annual Golf Challenge held for the first time at the Graceland Country Club.
“We hosted a corporate golf day, consisting of 30 teams from various companies who played against each other,” said branch chairman, Johan Maritz. “This was not only a fundraising event, we also used the opportunity to expose our profession to this wonderful sport.”
The day was a prodigious success thanks to the weather, which started with an ice-cold foggy morning but as the day progressed it became warm and sunny. Heinrich Britz and his staff at Graceland did a great job and the course was in an outstanding condition.
Winners this year, were team WMS, and will have their name added to the trophy.
High Tea 2019
The branch will be hosting its fourth annual Ladies High Tea on the 1 November. Should any ladies like to attend the event they are welcome to contact Lezahn Meiring on lezahnmeiring@gmail.com or 084 440 7787. Anyone wishing to contribute to the event is also invited to contact Lezahn.
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