A recently established Chair, co-funded by Weir Minerals Africa, at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Asset Integrity Management (C-AIM) is expected to play an important role in teaching and researching advanced design methodologies in the arena of maintenance engineering. “For several years Weir Minerals Africa has offered pre-graduate bursaries to engineering students and created opportunities for the experiential training required by these degree courses, where students work alongside our engineers on a variety of projects,” Christian Stehle, engineering and development manager at Weir Minerals Africa, says. “We sponsor final year mechanical engineering student awards at the University of Pretoria, as well as final year student design project awards at the University of the Witwatersrand.

“We’ve now intensified our investment into the future of South Africa’s engineering sector by co-funding this academic research position which we believe will greatly benefit local industry. At the same time we’ll be contributing to the imperative training of engineers at Masters and PhD level. Some of these post-graduate students could eventually join Weir Minerals Africa, while others will move into the greater South African engineering sector. Over and above this agreement, we’ve also offered to supply C-AIM with the necessary equipment to assist in the research.

“More than ever before, our customers’ productivity depends on maintenance accuracy and we believe the research generated by this Chair, guided by the Weir Minerals Africa engineers on the research committee, will help us develop future systems that will support this objective in a highly scientific manner, beyond current industry practice. The fact that we’re investing in this fundamental research reflects our continuous commitment to improve our product offering in order to offer our customers cutting edge solutions over the lifecycle of these products.”

Condition monitoring and mechatronics systems are becoming the norm in many industries and Weir Minerals Africa has identified the need to provide these systems with its products. These disciplines fall under the banner of Asset Integrity Management, which takes a strategic, operational and technical approach to the management of physical assets to ensure they are fit for purpose, perform optimally and reliably, with due consideration for cost, health, safety and the environment.

The University of Pretoria’s C-AIM focuses on developing in-depth understanding of asset management principles and processes, enhanced by specialised technical knowledge and techniques related to aspects such as asset design analysis, data acquisition, condition monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics and finite element analysis within the context of asset life cycle management. C-AIM is considered to be unique in that it integrates its analysis and testing capability in assessing the structural integrity and performance of physical assets, with sound scientific research to inform asset management decisions.
Weir Minerals Africa’s investment into the research Chair reflects the commitment within its parent organisation, The Weir Group plc, to advance the industry by supporting and collaborating with academic institutions around the world. In 2011 The Weir Group contributed several million pounds to the establishment and operation of a dedicated research facility, The Weir Advanced Research Centre, at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, a leading international technological university. The opening of this Centre is expected to provide a pipeline of new product innovation and significant improvements in existing product performance.