For the past three decades, the RTS Group has been introducing pioneering solutions to South Africa's various industrial challenges. At the recent Africa Automation Fair held at the Ticketpro Dome in northern Johannesburg, the company joined the 124 other exhibitors in a quality exposition of control and automation.

"South Africa needs to grasp the new wave of global automation more firmly," says RTS Africa group MD Ian Fraser. The advantages of automation, he explains, are considerable and include higher production rates, better productivity, better use of materials improved product quality and consistency, increased safety and the elimination of mindless drudge work.

"We were keen to seize the opportunity provided by the Africa Automation Fair to present the latest addition to our RTS Africa Technologies division’s suite of solutions," he adds. RTS Africa's brand-new offering to the gas analysis market is in the form of multiple channel online gas analysers and monitoring recording equipment as well as a range of very effective portable instruments from the US-based company IMR.

"We also wanted to highlight our Procon boiler tube leak detection system, the use of which is topical in South Africa with our principal power producer experiencing periodic boiler failures. With the Procon system, it is possible to catch pinhole size leaks in steam tubes, preventing them from developing into major ruptures and having plant or generation capacity going off-line.

"We also had some good enquiries on the stand about our Neo Monitors product," he continues. The ability to have non-intrusive stable analysis of gas streams is a major advantage in ensuring product quality and consistency and lowered processing costs. Plant technicians can take advantage of the real-time data being fed to them by Neo Monitors instruments to respond promptly to changing plant conditions.

Hydrogen is playing an increasingly important role in industry and ways of harnessing its energy are being explored ever more intensively. For this reason the ability to accurately monitor hydrogen levels is crucial. "Our U.S.-based principal H2scan provides hydrogen specific monitoring solutions that are uniquely able to detect and measure hydrogen against a wide range of background gases – without false readings," he continues.

"We had many fruitful discussions with potential clients at the Automation Fair as all of our various solutions interface seamlessly with existing IT control systems such as SCADA," Fraser continues.

"The African Automation Fair for us highlighted the importance of automation and the increased role it could potentially play in boosting South Africa's competitive position in the international trade market," he concludes.