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Investing in exposure delivers dividends

July 2023 News

Jan Grobler, managing director of GHM Messtechnik South Africa, says that the company received quality leads from both potential new customers and existing clients during its three-day exhibit at the Africa Automation and Technology Fair (AATF), recently held at Gallagher Estate, Johannesburg from 6-8 May 2023. “The high interest in our range of flow, level, temperature and pressure instrumentation more than justifies the GHM Group’s investment in trade shows, not only in South Africa, but also globally,” he said. “It allows GHM Messtechnik South Africa the opportunity to hear about the challenges and requirements faced by the industries we service, and to feed this customer information back to our R&D; divisions in Germany. This allows for tailored solutions to be explored by customising our instrumentation to meet the needs of our customer base. Our presence at AATF reconfirmed our belief that direct interaction with visitors to the stand and our ability to show in real time the quality and performance of our specialised instrumentation delivers dividends. This was also the case when the GHM Group exhibited at the Sensor+Test Trade Faire in Nuremburg earlier this year.”

Christian Unterberger, who was appointed as CEO for the GHM Group in 2022, made his first visit to South Africa to attend AATF. Unterberger was impressed by the quality of the exhibitors, delegates and visitors to the show who visited the GHM Group stand. “The South African market offers much potential for growth in the specialised instrumentation sectors. I was impressed by how industry has embraced new and advanced technologies across all elements of measurement and monitoring. It is an exciting market to be part of,” he said.

These were some of the highlights:

Smart sensors for Industry 4.0: Industrial processes are becoming increasingly digital, networked and complex. To ensure high efficiency, product quality and safety – in addition to precise measurement and control – sensors are needed that are intelligently connected and able to communicate with higher level systems.

The products that the GHM Group exhibited at Sensor+Test under the motto ‘IQ Inside’ demonstrate this, with intelligent electronics and a digital IO-Link interface. As one of the leading manufacturers of high-quality industrial sensors and industrial electronics, the Group is addressing the requirements of increasing digitalisation and Industry 4.0.

Intelligent ‘multi-talents’: Grobler said that the new OMNIPLUS devices were highlighted at both exhibitions and were a huge attraction for visitors due to their ability to be configured in a variety of ways, thanks to their new transmitter electronics. Whether current value, total volume or various operating states, the user has quick and easy access to all relevant information and configuration options via the rotatable multifunctional ring – without the aid of a manual or PC. In combination with the high-resolution illuminated graphic display, the user benefits from increased operating comfort, even under difficult conditions. Added to this is the robustness of the mechanical design, which ensures a high level of operational reliability.

With its different measuring principles, the OMNIPLUS model series offers perfect solutions for flow measurement and the monitoring of water, cooling lubricants and other viscous media – all with maximum convenience, as a result of the safe and simple configuration and easily identifiable process values. A common characteristic is the digital interface (IO-Link), which makes the OMNIPLUS devices a future-fit investment.

CONDIX and LINEAR LCD-S: Additional smart sensors and industrial electronics were also showcased, for example the digital conductivity converter, CONDIX, used for determining the conductivity of liquids. The measured ohmic resistance provides information about the ion concentration in the electrolyte. The integrated converter subsequently transforms the signal into a digital process value, which eliminates the need for further scaling in the higher level system.

The LINEAR LCD-S level sensor/transmitter was also on show. This is made entirely of stainless steel. The operating principle of the continuous float detector is based on the step-by-step disconnection of a chain of resistors and reed contacts. In this case, the measurement result is displayed with a resolution of 5, 10 or 20 mm on the four-digit local display.

“The Group’s stance is always to be proactive, and we will have a presence at future major trade shows, where we believe we can make a difference through our instrumentation solutions. We believe that our focus on specialising in customised solutions puts us a step ahead of the competition. Our investment in research and development enables our engineers to support our customers in finding the best solution, and if need be we can adapt our products to meet their specific application requirements, whilst still delivering the quality that we are renowned for,” concluded Grobler.


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