System intergrator's plans for growth in ever changing automation market
Jan 2000
System Integration & Control Systems Design
Adroit Technologies
Edenvale turnkey process automation supplier Craigcor Engineering has completed a restructuring phase that has repositioned the company in the ever-changing automation market. Established in 1980 as a contracting firm, the company is now well known as an automation specialist in the steel and power generation industries. "We are being kept busy - at a time when the market is fairly quiet - by large projects such as Mozal, where we are automating power control and metal management functions" comments MD Matthew Lingenfelder. "Our decision to become an Adroit system integrator (SI) two years ago during a project for Scaw Metals has since paid off handsomely.
"The strong local support that comes with the South African supervisory control and data acquisition (scada) software has enabled us to tender successfully on several challenging projects such as KSB Pumps in Gauteng," he says. "When we started on the KSB project, Adroit was the only scada system capable of tying all the different automation aspects and third party programs required for the task together.
"As a very flexible open system scada package, Adroit is easily configured to slot in seamlessly with the other systems used in the automation of KSB's test plant," Lingenfelder explains. Commenting on the South African economy, Lingenfelder says it was necessary to sell off Craigcor's installation division and separate high-tech functions from low-tech areas that can be out-sourced when required.
"I expect a revival in the automation industry in South Africa in 12 months' time," he says. "If not, we might shift more of our focus outside South Africa, where our close ties with companies like Adroit and Rockwell will be a strong advantage. "We already have clients as far as Saudi Arabia. "Lingenfelder believes that the nature of SI's in South Africa is changing.
More and more companies are separating their construction divisions from pure automation and project management. Several SIs are also no longer restricting their activities to the PLC/scada side of automation, but are branching out to higher level automation functions such as management execution and enterprise resource management systems. "The focus is now to deliver total turnkey solutions rather than involving several individual companies," he says.
"While this does translate in increased competition overall, it will ultimately result in the survival of the fittest, which will benefit industry as a whole. "It will also result in cross-pollination between automation and management tiers to speed up modernisation in South Africa."
Adroit
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