Earlier this year, an agreement was struck to integrate MESA Africa (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) into the SAIMC (Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Mechatronics and Control). The merger was on proud display at Electra Mining Africa 2022, with the two organisations sharing a stand with SA Instrumentation & Control as the official publication of the SAIMC.
Under the terms of the merger, MESA Africa will retain its name as a group within the SAIMC, and will continue to be responsible for all MES/MOM (manufacturing execution systems/manufacturing operations management) activities, while benefitting from the added clout that a body like the SAIMC brings to the table.
Daniel Spies, chairman of MESA Africa, likens the current state of the transition to an engagement between the two parties, with the marriage set for early 2023. “Thus far, we have announced our intent to combine synergies and structures, and are busy planning to formalise the integration and establish joint working teams. Next year will see the formal merger and integration of resources and structures take place.
“The merger comes with the blessing of MESA International, with which MESA Africa has been closely affiliated since its inception and will continue to do so. In consultation with MESA International we have managed to obtain, in a world-first offering, a superb range of MESA International membership value package offerings that is of particular benefit to the developing SME manufacturing sector. These benefits are now exclusively available to members of the newly merged SAIMC/MESA Africa organisation,” he stated.
Speaking to the role MESA Africa plays in the grand scheme of things, Spies continued: “Traditionally, the world of manufacturing automation has existed for well over half a century, while MES is a younger discipline that only came into force around the beginning of the new millennium. Automation always had a distinct engineering orientation whilst MES had a distinct data processing and information technology orientation. In the industrial universe, these two worlds have existed side by side for a long time and were frequently connected or integrated within manufacturing businesses to enable efficient and successful production operations. In time, the MES discipline evolved into MOM, which extends even deeper into the folds of the manufacturing enterprise.
“The merger between SAIMC and MESA Africa will ensure that the two organisations are able to combine synergies and strategies, and leverage the unique resources and skills of each discipline into an enhanced organisation, with a combined vision of a smart manufacturing future to unfold within the framework of Industry 4.0 and other significant technological advancements.”
For SAIMC’s part, the goal has always boiled down to making its members successful and contributing to the industry’s success by extension, according to Johan Maartens, CEO, SAIMC. “MESA Africa has a strong management team experienced in ANSI/ISA-95 Level 3 MOM. With MESA Africa joining the SAIMC, our gap between ISA Level 2 (monitoring and supervising) and Level 4 (business planning and logistics) is closed. This will enable the SAIMC to address automation all the way from the sensor to the business management level.”
The directors of MESA Africa will remain in place until the end of 2022 when the auditors step in to establish its closing financial status in preparation for the merger. Two of the SAIMC exco (executive committee) members are also MESA Africa exco members, and Maartens said MESA Africa’s strategic goals slot in perfectly with those of the SAIMC – all of which will allow for an easier integration process. Now begins the process of integrating the MESA Africa team members into the various initiatives of the SAIMC, and introducing MESA Africa to the inner workings of the SAIMC.
Maartens summed up by highlighting some of the benefits that members of the manufacturing community will enjoy through the merged entity: “Enterprise integration will grow in criticality as competition heats
up and industrial processes are further optimised. This is classified, formally, as ‘engineering work’. However, few MESA Africa members are able to register with ECSA (Engineering Council of South Africa) due to their training and experience being mostly computer-oriented. SAIMC has already registered ‘Enterprise Integration Practitioner’ as a specified category with ECSA, which allows these individuals to register with ECSA and continue with the important work they are doing. This will also have a positive impact on the SAIMC’s drive tobring education institutions’ curricula closer to industry requirements as we work on getting them to produce graduates with industry-relevant knowledge and skills.”
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