Valves manufacturer member association the Valve and Actuator Manufacturers Cluster of South Africa (Vamcosa) launched its Discover your Career in Valves pilot project in association with Discover Develop and Deploy Services (D3), in September last year.

The Discover your Career in Valves initiative is the first project from the transformation-working group of the cluster and has been tailored to address critical skills shortages within the sector.

The aim of the initiative is to take industry to high school learners and expose the type of career opportunities and potential career paths, from training as an artisan through to potentially, a business owner.

“The initiatives aim to encourage learners to stay in school, to do core mathematics, to consider a career as either an artisan or engineer, both of which have different disciplines. Ultimately, we want to start attracting our next generation workforce and the country’s future industrialists,” says Vamcosa champion Gregory Walker.

The school identified for the September 2014 launch, Fumana Secondary School, in Katlehong, was chosen owing to its close proximity to Vamcosa members, the technical training and workshops the school offers students, as well as the number of students passing core mathematics. Overall, the school has more than 2 400 learners of which just over 1 000 students meet the requirements set by Vamcosa.

The event was structured into two sessions in order to accommodate 1 000 learners and was well attended by industry members. The event included the Maths in Practice presentations by Vamcosa member companies Premier Valves manager Roelf Frauendorf, AZ-Armaturen South Africa fitter and turner Thabo Motholo and PSV Mitech mechanical engineer Chris Nethononda.

Meanwhile, the foundry sector plays a pivotal role in the valves value chain and, as such, South Africa Institute of Foundrymen CEO John Davies provided the learners with insight into the foundry sector highlighting potential careers.

“The learners enjoyed engaging with industry leaders after the formal presentations and those interested registered with Vamcosa through the D3 database. Of the 1 000 learners, 448 registered a career interest, of which 248 learners have expressed a direct interest in following a career that would benefit Vamcosa members,” says Walker, adding that the next step is to establish a framework to further mentor the learners and guide them into the industry.

About Vamcosa
Vamcosa was formed in July 2011 and works within the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) designated cluster parameters. Vamcosa’s focus is to bring local valves and actuator manufacturers together in order to create a common focus and goal for the respective industries. Vamcosa provides an effective platform for its members to lobby government through designated channels of the DTI and the South African Capital Equipment Export Council (SACEEC) with regard to industry specific concerns.

One of the main goals of Vamcosa is to grow the South African valves and actuator industry and encourage localisation, which will, in turn, improve job creation and skills development. Vamcosa promotes the manufacture of products in South Africa with locally produced castings, forgings and materials, which will, in turn, create jobs through local procurement, increasing the value chain both upstream and downstream and promote growth and sustainability.

The Vamcosa platform provides the opportunity to promote interaction between the local valves and actuator manufacturers and State-owned companies (SOCs) and municipal-owned enterprises (MOEs). Through this effort, it becomes easier to define what the SOC’s and MOE’s require from local valves manufacturers, as well as to compare their requirements equally with the products offered by local and international manufacturers.

Vamcosa in conjunction with the SACEEC will continually develop export marketing strategies which will provide the opportunity for the local valves and actuator manufacturers as a whole to present their products at appropriate international trade shows and encourage the development of relations with key export markets.

Using this platform, Vamcosa plans to promote transformation within the valves and actuator industry by looking at enterprise development in valve-orientated businesses.

Vamcosa aims to improve and maintain standards and specifications and create ones that are uniform throughout the SOCs and MOEs. Vamcosa is continually looking for ways to improve our collective technology through research and development and to work closely with the National Foundry Technology Network and the local foundry industry to this end.

About D3
D3 provides soft skill development to students from disadvantaged and impoverished environments that have the potential academically to change their lives but need hand-held guidance to navigate the challenges of becoming a young adult.

An essential component of the D3 programme provides learners with life skills that Vamcosa believes will have a significant impact on not only building and equipping them for tertiary education and their careers thereafter, but also impact on the reduction of HIV infections, unplanned pregnancies, drug abuse and violence.

Further, the programme seeks to target and manage talent, through the D3 career identification and mentoring programme which is done on behalf of funders, contributing to meeting the country’s critical scarce skills through to general skill’s shortages.

The vision and mission at D3 is to engage, enhance and nurture, enabling the generation of today to discover, develop and grow into the leaders of tomorrow.