On the morning of 5 May, Africa Automation Fair opened its doors and delivered emphatically on its promise to be the largest most comprehensive showcase of industrial control technology in the southern hemisphere. A record number of nearly 4500 local and international delegates were treated to an exhibition of the latest instrumentation and automation technology from the some 79 exhibitors who had set up shop in the 6000 square metre display area. It was a cosmopolitan melting pot that brought smart people together for a three-day feast of technology and networking opportunities.
Yokogawa was there to celebrate its centenary and launch the latest version of the Centum VP DCS solution. Version R6.01 features a versatile new I/O module designed to handle multiple signal types on one device. Yokogawa South Africa managing director Johan Louw told delegates that in combination with the FieldMate Validator software and Automation Design Suite platform, this can dramatically reduce the time required to install and configure a control system. It is the next crucial step in the evolution of the VigilantPlant offering – Yokogawa’s vision for an ideal process plant.
Among the other vendors to promote an enterprise-wide vision was Rockwell Automation. The name of the Rockwell game is Connected Enterprise, which managing director Barry Elliot describes as a philosophy for value added manufacturing through open connectivity from the shop floor to the top floor. He says that the strategic alliances with Cisko and Endress+Hauser have made it possible to collect big data from the instrument level, which can then be securely transported upwards through the enterprise over an Ethernet/IP backbone. When it reaches the analytics level, it gets transformed into the information that powers Rockwell’s enterprise-wide manufacturing optimisation solutions. It was good to see the ideas of IIoT and Industrie 4.0 reaching Africa’s shores at last.
Speaking of Endress+Hauser, the People for Process Automation were out to showcase a few innovations of their own. One that stood out was the new tuneable diode laser spectroscopy gas measurement system. The TDSL technology fills a void in the company’s ability to deliver online analytical gas measurement solutions. Endress+Hauser South Africa managing director Rob Mackenzie believes this changes the game in terms of a complete solution offering to the oil and gas industry. Local evidence of this is the implementation of E+H’s largest project to date at South African producer Sasol.
Siemens, on the other hand, brought a futuristic feel to the Fair through its 3D virtual reality technology. The Walkinside Immersive Training Simulator (ITS) fully immerses operators in a life-size virtual reality representation of their plants. It simulates real-life scenarios and supports multiple avatars to test team performance and communication. To increase the training realism, the 3D model may be enriched with all the details of an existing real-world plant. 3D objects can be added to the virtual reality model to show evacuation routes, emergency and fire-fighting equipment, signs, etc. Escape paths are represented in their full length for rehearsal of evacuation procedures and sound effects complete the realistic setting. Little wonder that Siemens scooped one of the best stand awards up for grabs.
The cherry on the top of the technology parfait though was provided by the FIRST Robotics Open African Championships, which ran in parallel with the exhibition. The competition is designed to create an opportunity for future young engineers and innovators to display their talent and passion for robotics. It was a first in Africa, and so good to see the level of interest with 84 local and international teams participating. The idea of running the events in parallel was to encourage more collaboration between the school children and the engineering community. It was encouraging to see how well this worked out in the end – on the morning of the first day, a bunch of school kids walked in; and on the afternoon of the last day, a bunch of innovators walked out.
Thumbs-up to the organisers of Africa Automation Fair 2015 and to everyone who supported it, local industry was in desperate need of a world-class exhibition like this. It is an event that must grow from strength to strength in the future, in order that Africa’s manufacturing competitiveness may flourish and elevate itself to be right up there with the best in the world.
Congratulations to SAIMC president Vinesh Maharaj for winning the Fair’s Industry Personality of the Year award.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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