Page 21 - trends in automation
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One more question
trends in automation:
South Africa is a regional
economic power on the up internationally. Why is
the country’s water supply and wastewater disposal
infrastructure in such disarray?
Horst Weinert:
South Africa is a country of extremes.
Its habitats range from deserts to subtropical forests.
On the one hand we have vast, virtually unpopulated
stretches of land and on the other we have metropolises
such as Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. These
three cities alone are home to around a fifth of the
population of 52 million in South Africa. Setting up an
efficient water supply and wastewater disposal
infrastructure here and keeping it operational is a huge
challenge. We are delighted to be able to take an
important step towards resolving the existing problems
with a new joint project for the basic and further training
of qualified personnel. With more properly trained
employees, South Africa could have a state-of-the-art
water supply and wastewater disposal infrastructure in
just a few years.
Horst Weinert,
Head of Didactic,
Festo South Africa
Sharing knowledge:
Workshop participants
get to grips with the processes of water
management.
by Peter Maurer, water industry expert from the University
of Stuttgart, at Festo in Johannesburg. Among the key issues
discussed were level monitoring, the correct use of process
valves and instruments, the control of surface run-off, metering
technologies, oxygen saturation and the efficient use of chlorine.
In the coming months, UP, TWA and Festo Didactic will be
expanding their training course and seminar programme with
new training modules.
Automation strengthens infrastructure
The need for well-trained personnel in South Africa is evident
from the excellent investment potential in the South African
water sector. According to Dr. Eckhard Roos, Head of Process
Automation Management at Festo: “If we look into the future of
the urban infrastructure of our world, we see the huge
opportunities created by modern planning concepts to help
reduce the burden on global resources. At the same time, we
see the huge risk presented by the complexity of this
infrastructure.” The automation expert believes that there is an
enormous need for investment in infrastructure for energy,
transport, water and telecommunications in Africa. This need
could be met with increased automation.
Issue 24
trends in automation
Impulse
18
–
19
