Leading supplier ElectroMechanica (EM) will exhibit at the 3rd STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) Conference & Career Expo from 4 to 5 October at the Ticketpro Dome Blue Wing in Johannesburg.

EM recently teamed up with Polytech Africa, a B-BBEE Level 4 start-up engineering consultancy/projects and training specialist, to assist in developing critical skills necessary for Industry 4.0 to be adopted successfully in South Africa.

The STEM Conference & Career Expo aims to meet the challenge of a shortage of STEM skills combined with a high level of youth unemployment. It provides students with critical information about leading companies and their requirements.

Addressing the official launch of the Mechatronics Academy at EM’s Wynberg Campus at the beginning of the year, Polytech Africa MD and Founder Astrid Straussner stressed that “Educational institutions cannot be islands on their own, and require the cooperation of both the government and the private sector.”          

EM Director Andrew Nobbs explains that the Mechatronics Academy goes far beyond the definition of a traditional training facility. “We are upping the ante on the usual product training to offer a fully-accredited and recognised Academy that give learners a skills-based education to prepare them for the workplace of the future.”

The Mechatronics Academy is the first training facility of its kind to be accredited by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (merSETA). It will focus on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 2-5 learnership. This is based on essential aspects of precision mechanical engineering, electronics, and computer design systems used to control and automate mechanical products with electrical signals.

Certificate holders will be able to gain entry to highly-skilled sectors such as mechanical and electrical engineering, pneumatics and hydraulics, robotics, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Computer Numeric Control (CNC), industrial Information Technology (IT), the automotive sector, and also precision welding.

As a sign of EM’s commitment to developing the leaders of tomorrow that South African industry requires to usher in Industry 4.0, the company is offering a limited number of bursary applications for the Mechatronics Academy NQF 2-5 learnership programme. Interested candidates can apply at mechatronics-academy.breezy.

For more information about the 3rd STEM Conference & Career Expo, visit www.stembusiness.org