The Pumps, Valves & Pipes Africa (PVP) 2019 international trade exhibition and conference is expected to welcome more than 10 500 industry professionals at this year’s event.

The 2019 PVP Africa event, which will take place from June 11 to 13, in Johannesburg, at the Gallagher Convention Centre, is the first event to co-locate with the African Construction Expo and the Totally Concrete Expo.

“The expo is set to be boosted by sharing the stage with two chief construction events,” says international exhibitions and publishing company dmg events marketing manager Sean Osterloh.

“The co-located event of the African Construction Expo and the Totally Concrete Expo jointly attracts about 9 500 construction professionals a year. The 2019 edition introduces this event as part of ‘The Big 5’ portfolio of construction events,” he says.

Co-locating with these two expos confirms that PVP can expect more than 10 500 industry professionals from more than 45 countries for all three events, compared with 1 200 industry professionals from 16 countries at the 2017 edition of the PVP event, which is biennial.

Osterloh adds that sharing the stage with two chief construction events will enable the PVP expo to connect with a broader audience and will provide a larger platform for the involved industries to engage and do business with other industry professionals and entities.

“We welcome attendees from all over the world to our expo. In 2017, we were pleased to have attendees from Germany, Finland, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey and Spain, with the majority of our attendees coming from South Africa and the Southern African Development Community.”

Besides a renewed focus on new growth opportunities, continuing from the focus of the 2017 event, Osterloh says PVP 2019 will address issues of localisation, and new innovations and technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), among others, to elevate Africa’s pumps, valves and pipes sectors to international standards. Subsequently, this year’s event will showcase some of these technologies.

“Decades of engineers’ knowledge are now being accumulated through IoT and Big Data. “With billions of physical devices around the world now connected to the Internet, collecting and sharing data, these technologies will ensure better visibility, forecasting and maintenance planning.”

While Osterloh encourages industry professionals from a broad range of industries to attend the event, he adds that an increased representation from the mining, construction, food and beverage, water and energy sectors is expected.

People planning to attend the event can expect more product showcases, including free-to-attend, strategic and technical workshops. These workshops will have an interactive element, as relevant case studies will be studied, and they will also include panel discussions.

“An elite expert advisory panel is being selected and invited to provide their expertise and advice to ensure that a most relevant and current programme is delivered – designed by the industry for the industry,” says Osterloh.

A call for papers was released to the market only recently, he highlights. Industry professionals who are interested in hosting technical workshops or delivering presentations are invited to submit their proposals for the event. “We are seeking thought-provoking, innovative, futuristic and problem-solving abstracts.”

Moreover, Osterloh indicates that, in the current climate and context of Africa’s infrastructural development, the event could play an important role in contributing to the pumps, valves, pipes and related industries, which contribute significantly to service delivery.

“Africa has enormous growth potential in infrastructural development. “Efforts to augment economic growth by creating more jobs through skills development and localisation are necessary for Africa’s economy to evolve to the next level,” he concludes.