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Manufacturing News South Africa

Formation of Wonderware 2013 User Group Committee

Invensys, a supplier of industrial software, systems and control equipment to various industries, has announced the formation of the Wonderware South African User Group Committee (UGC) for 2013.

Elected at the Invensys X-CHANGE 2013 User Conference held at Sun City in April, the UGC appointed its office bearers and declared its objectives at its first meeting on 5 July 2013.

The Wonderware UGC in Southern Africa represents the largest faction of industrial automation and MES end-users and system integrators in the region who are involved in the mining and manufacturing industries.

The committee member all hold positions of responsibility at leading South African companies and have a collective depth and breadth of experience spanning many decades and virtually every aspect and discipline of production and associated business processes.

The committee members are:

  • Erol Cacouratos - Johnson Matthey
  • Gawie Reyneke - Lonmin Platinum
  • Jaco van Heerden - African Rainbow Minerals (ARM)
  • James Mbewe - Rand Water
  • Jonathan Meyer - Exxaro Resources
  • Kevin Lawrence - Nestlé South Africa
  • Lucia Beukman - The South African Breweries Limited (SAB)
  • Wiseman Magagula - CONCO (Coca-Cola Swaziland)

    The committee appointed Jonathan Meyer, senior solution architect, MES and Plant at Exxaro Resources as chairman and Kevin Lawrence, senior technical advisor at Nestlé South Africa as secretary.

    The main roles of the UGC include:

  • Providing a platform for conversations between industry users of Invensys Wonderware software and Invensys Southern Africa;
  • Allowing industry to voice its business and user requirements in terms of application knowledge and product functionality;
  • Acting as an information channel to relay these requirements to the Invensys Wonderware product development teams so as to improve the overall industry experience with the technologies in which they have invested and
  • Providing a win-win situation between Invensys and industry users.

    "Invensys ranks South Africa near the top of the list for the professional and innovative deployment of its solutions and that's why input from this region is paid particular attention," says Deon Barnard, MD of Wonderware in Southern Africa.

    Other responsibilities of the UGC include collaborating on the contents and format of events such as the annual X-CHANGE User Conference and the partner (system integrator) conference as well as the topics for the winter and summer breakfast road shows which cover up to 13 national venues annually.

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