Open letter to the SAIMC Chair sent on Monday 24 June 2002
I read with both interest and shock the article by Michael Brown on page 36 of the June issue of SA Instrumentation & Control. The article describes the author's findings at a mining plant. These should be ringing alarm bells for our manufacturing sector.
These same alarm bells should be ringing even louder in the ears of the chairman and his committee that uphold the profession, instrumentation and control, in South Africa. It does not bode well for our industry when one reads of such shortcomings in an organisation such as that mentioned. It prophesies even a worse fate for our profession, in this, our much-loved country. Where are the maintenance procedures? Where are the skills that would normally affect solutions to problems such as those mentioned?
To further illustrate the severity of the situation, let me tell you that on interviewing prospective candidates for the vacancy of Trainee Instrument Technician at our factory, I was stunned to discover that two, multidistinction S4 graduates from a well known KZN Technikon, did not even know what a thermocouple was, let alone how it worked or compared in performance to an RTD. These same candidates could not explain the operation or principle of a bourdon tube pressure gauge.
Is the course curriculum so bad? Or is it for some other reason? These are facts that should not be overlooked, nor ignored. How long before our national drive for increased growth rate and manufacturing competitiveness flounders? Would it be presumptuous to ask whether, we, as SAIMC members should be offering to sit around a table and come up with a master plan for maintaining the skills level in our profession in this country? Certainly, I believe that we have the enthusiasm and passion to make a start.
Charles Palmer, Instrument & Electrical Engineer, Umfolozi Mill, Illovo Sugar
Tel: 035 550 0045, Fax: 035 550 0042, Cell: 082 325 5573
SAIMC response
The SAIMC shares the concerns raised by Charles Palmer on the issue of skills shortage and competency in our profession, we also have a shortage of trained persons which no doubt compounds the first statement. It is important to identify these two factors, as not only is the quality of instrumentation personnel diminishing but also the quantity. This sentiment is endorsed across all sectors of our profession, from the equipment supplier or vendor, project engineering companies, construction contractors and the end user, ie our industry, which needs to be very efficient in this highly competitive global market of today.
Our profession has seen a marked drop in personnel and skills competency levels over the past several years, as indeed has many other technical engineering trades and related professions. This has been due to a number of factors both political and economic. However, one critical area has been the decline in apprenticeship and training programmes across our industry for the skilled artisan and technician, which are the ones at shop floor level that keep our industry running safely and efficiently. Hopefully this trend will now reverse with the skills levy contribution that all organisations have to pay based on their payroll and the subsequent claim that can be made against specific training costs through their respective industry Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA).
So what role is the SAIMC playing in this emerging situation? It is clear that we must first get students interested in engineering and a career with measurement and control. This starts with getting pupils at high school and in their early years of Technikon or University aware of the many interestedly diverse and challenging career paths available in our profession. Members of SAIMC Council together with a number of Branches have attended various Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) career guidance weeks and have stands at our major industry exhibitions. Together with a number of Patron members, we sponsor education grants to individuals and tertiary institutions to assist with related work and specific projects. Through our Patron members, we are also able to donate instrumentation equipment and training to education organisations free of charge or at minimal cost. We facilitate and endorse various industry training courses and workshops. We have a representative involved with the engineering Standards Generating Board (SGB) and via our membership with the Federation of Scientific, Engineering and Technological Societies and Allied Professions (FEDSET), have a path to the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). The SAIMC would like to take on a greater professional role in our industry, however, as with all voluntary organisations, we have constraints on available resources. As with all professional bodies, membership levels and individuals time availability have slowly declined over recent years due to electronic networking and company personal workload priorities.
So what is the path forward? Over the coming months we will be talking with major organisations in the South African education and industrial sector to identify specific skills shortages and education/training requirements for our foreseeable future industry needs. We will also be asking our industry for financial commitment to support regular identified training courses and workshops organised or facilitated by the SAIMC. Should the SAIMC via practical and written examinations by an independent body, certify measurement and control artisans and technicians at different grades in our industry? It is clear that for these requirements to be successful, we need a committed full time professional body to organise and manage such programmes, this can be done but will need support and financing by the industry it serves.
Dick Perry, SAIMC Council Member and Chairman of the Education and Training Committee
Comments are welcome at [email protected]
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