Johannesburg. – A community of excellence in industrial technology application is taking shape in Southern Africa, driven by IS³ and local industrial groups aiming to enhance their competitiveness through digital transformation.

This was evident at the annual X-Change User Conference where IS³ customers shared best practices in implementing AVEVA technologies to help empower other members of this dynamic community. IS³ also recognised companies who have showed exceptional creativity in their use of these leading industrial technologies through its prestigious Customer Awards. 

The company presented the Planning and Excellence Scheduling Award to systems integrator 4Sight OT Automation and Vulcan Minerals for their integration of value chain data for pit-to-port-optimisation. 4Sight and Vulcan implemented the AVEVA value chain solution for turnkey planning and operations management at one of the world’s largest coal operations in Mozambique.

“At this operation, the value chain solution has enhanced demand management, planning and scheduling, production, inventory and delay accounting, maintenance execution, and the calculation of performance and conformance KPIs,” said Charl Marais, Digital Transformation BU Manager at 4Sight OT Automation. “It has eliminated organisational silos and enhanced application functionality through automation of business processes.”

Q-Tech Industrial Solutions and Aspen also ascended to the ranks of winners by securing the Optimisation Excellence Award. The parties were recognised for leveraging AVEVA System Platform and Batch Management to deliver projects on time and as per specifications.

“Q-Tech developed a batch report that includes real-time critical process data and audit information for Formulation, SIP (Sterilisation-in-Place), and CIP (Cleaning-in-Place) recipes, available in PDF format. The system guarantees data integrity through robust measures such as access protection and audit trails,” said Louis Oelofse, director of Q-Tech.

In the realm of Operations Control Excellence, 4Sight and Zimplats clinched the award for enhancing efficiency and sustainability at the new Zimplats smelter and concentrator plant in Zimbabwe. The company deployed AVEVA's advanced System Platform and Operations Management Interface (OMI) tools to significantly enhance its operational capabilities.

ITCAN was honoured for its Engineering and Execution Excellence, demonstrating the remarkable potential of digital twins beyond the oil and gas sectors. The engineering and consulting company was instrumental in rolling out the AVEVA solution across diverse sectors to streamline processes, optimise resources and drive innovation.

IS³ also rewarded excellence in Industrial Information within its community. Systems integrator Saryx and EnerJ Carbon Management were honoured in this category for enabling the industrial digital backbone with AVEVA solutions such as AVEVA PI System, AVEVA Process Historian, and AVEVA Asset Information Management.

Nilen Bermal, Technical Director of IS³, said the company recognises and rewards exemplary use of AVEVA solutions at its annual X-Change Conference to help build a strong, collaborative industrial community.  

“Highlighting successful implementations of our AVEVA solutions provides concrete examples of best practices in applying these leading technologies. Our community’s exchanges empower businesses to advance the connected industrial economy on the continent.”

Figure 1:Planning & Scheduling Excellence Award: Sameer Allopi (IS)3, Tim Sowell (AVEVA), Charl Marais (4Sight OT), Rachid Camal (Vulcan International), Wilhelm Swart (4Sight OT), Nilen Bermal (IS3)

Figure 2: Optimisation Excellence Award: Sameer Allopi (IS3), Rieghardt Schultz (Q-Tech Industrial Solutions), Sharidan Fortuin (Aspen), Tim Sowell (AVEVA), Louis Oelofse (Q-Tech Industrial Solutions), Nilen Bermal (IS3)

Figure 3: Operations Control Excellence Award: Sameer Allopi(IS3), Tim Sowell (AVEVA), Wilhelm Swart (4Sight OT),  Willem du Preez (4Sight OT), Sivaprasad Chandran (4Sight OT), Danie Badenhorst (4Sight OT), Nilen Bermal (IS3)

Figure 4: Engineering Excellence Award: Sameer Allopi (IS3), Ban Fliti (ITCAN Solutions), Rob McGreevy (AVEVA), Ahmad Farshoukh (ITCAN Solutions), Shawki Bsat (ITCAN Solutions), Nilen Bermal (IS3)

Figure 5: Industrial Information Excellence: Sameer Allopi (IS3), Roland Verwey (Saryx Engineering), Rob McGreevy (AVEVA), Hugo Stewart (Solasynergi Pty(Ltd)), Nilen Bermal (IS3)