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Society seeks I&C recognition by end of 2015

VINESH MAHARAJ There is currently no standards body that regulates instrumentation and control equipment and practices in South Africa

SAIMC president Vinesh Maharaj discusses the state of the local instrumentation and control sector.

VINESH MAHARAJ There is currently no standards body that regulates instrumentation and control equipment and practices in South Africa

29th August 2014

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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South African measurement and control industry development promotion body the SAIMC aims to get the instrumentation and control (I&C) sector acknowledged as an engineering discipline by the end of 2015.

SAIMC president Vinesh Maharaj tells Engineering News that the society is lobbying for this recognition among several industry stakeholders, including the South African Council for Automation and Control and the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE).

The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) acknowledges mechanical, civil, chemical, electrical, metallurgical, industrial, aeronautical, agricultural and mining engineering, with I&C being grouped under electrical engineering.

Not being an independent engineering discipline negatively impacts on the I&C sector’s ability to influence the broader engineering sector, Maharaj says, adding that the onus is currently on the SAIEE to represent the sector at governmental level.

He points out that the SAIEE has more than 6 000 members and is “doing a great job dealing with matters in the heavy current electrical engineering sector”; however, they have limited focus on the I&C sector.

It has, therefore, been the SAIMC that has consistently pursued the matter of getting the I&C sector acknowledged as an independent engineering discipline by ECSA over the past few years.

Meanwhile, Maharaj says I&C companies do not have sufficient clout to influence engineering legislation and regulations on their own. “There is currently no overall standards committee that regulates standards for various types of I&C equipment and practices in South Africa,” he highlights.

Therefore, Maharaj notes, there are few I&C specific guidelines that standards, management systems, business improvement and regulatory approval information provider the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) can accredit for either imported or locally produced I&C equipment.

For example, burners, which are used to light up boilers, do not have any specific SABS certification requirement. Maharaj states that using defective or low-quality burner units “could easily result in an explosion occurring at a plant . . . which certainly poses a significant health and safety risk”.

He notes that the I&C industry as a whole is also not a member of any of the SABS’s main advisory subcommittees and is relegated to only having representation on “one, or two, of the lower-ranking advisory subcommittees”.

Therefore, the SAIMC is in discussions with the SABS to request that a technical committee, specifically for I&C matters, be established and that the SAIMC be represented on this committee through its members and patron companies.

“We are hopeful that, by the end of this year, the I&C sector will have its own technical committee to vet all standards that are pertinent to our industry,” Maharaj states.

He says this would be a major achievement for the SAIMC and the I&C sector, as there are many international standards that need to be implemented in South Africa.

Automation Importance

Maharaj says that developing automation control systems locally is becoming increasingly important, as large expensive labour forces are currently regarded as unviable, owing to the recent strikes in the metals and engineering, and mining sectors.

Additionally, he notes that increased labour and electricity costs have placed employers under pressure, forcing them to implement more mechanised and automated plants to reduce their workforce and improve operating efficiencies.

Maharaj points out that some countries, such as Australia, have been at the forefront of implementing mechanised and automated systems in its mines.

He adds that the US is currently implementing strategies for using automation to “bring jobs back to America”.

“The rationale is rather to have a few high-skilled jobs and local manufacturing than no local manufacturing at all!

“It has ensured that such countries remain globally cost-effective, worker-safe and highly efficient producers in the manufacturing and mining sectors. South Africa will have to follow similar models if it wants to remain a cost-competitive industrial goods producer,” Maharaj concludes.

Edited by Megan van Wyngaardt
Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

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