Everybody is talking about the South African power shortage. To be in vogue, here is my contribution.
Vivian MacFadyen
There is an untapped natural and indestructible resource that is available countrywide. If harnessed, this force will almost eliminate household reliance on electricity for heating purposes. There is however, a challenge for engineers to capture this energy whilst active. It is elusive, and is only fully appreciated by the masses. It is the blast of hot air expelled from the mouths of those intent on self-advancement or empowerment, and individuals avoiding responsibility for their inaction. They conceal their ignorance and hide their incompetence by making illogical statements. At the same time, they score points with the masses by having the last word irrespective of legitimacy.
I have repeatedly highlighted the skills shortage (drain) in South Africa, and the power situation is purely a symptom of this loss. The next casualty will possibly be the petroleum supply; already there have been serious accidents in refineries. This will be even worse for the average person than the electrical power crises. Those few fortunate persons who have diesel generators to overcome the electricity shortage will have no diesel for their expensive alternatives.
We are now so deep into the mess that it will take many years to get ourselves out of it. If we do not do something urgently, the future of our offspring will be subsistence farming on barren land.
It is high time we relinquished the ties of ignorance and prejudice, so that we can recover from this dismal situation. Education and experiential training is the answer, but this will take 20 years to achieve. We need to bring to an end the evacuation of skilled persons and shrewdly use our remaining resources. We have many highly skilled individuals who are being blocked from participation in the recovery, we have reached a point where we need to start thinking…
Read more...SAIMC: Johannesburg branch SAIMC
SAIMC
Jenine Jansen van Vuuren from Comtest delivered a presentation at the SAIMC Johannesburg technology evening, focusing on electric vehicle charging stations and the key metrics that govern their functionality.
Read more...SAIMC: Durban branch SAIMC
SAIMC
At the monthly meeting of the Durban branch of the SAIMC, Smunye Memela, project manager and switch gear specialist at Gubhuza 3 Trading presented on the subject ‘From sensors to insights: predictive maintenance in action’.
Read more...SAIMC knowledge sharing event SAIMC
SAIMC
SAIMC will host a technical knowledge-sharing session by Hendrik Spies from SICK Sensor Intelligence, who will share his insights into ‘From Condition Monitoring to Predictive Maintenance: The Digital Journey’.
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SAIMC
: At the SAIMC Durban monthly meeting, James Adams from Adroit Technologies presented to a full house on the subject of ‘The intelligent factory: AI, digital twins, zero-defect production, and cybersecurity in modern automotive manufacturing’.
Read more...SAIMC: From the office of the CEO SAIMC
SAIMC
AI has become part of our productivity platforms, our operations and our decision making environments. The SAIMC NPC Power Hour series is one such initiative.
Read more...SAIMC: Johannesburg branch SAIMC
SAIMC
The March SAIMC Johannesburg technology event was proudly hosted by Matech and focused on business intelligence made simple.
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