Manufacturing Excellence Programmes
South Africa’s manufacturing industry has to keep evolving to remain competitive in the face of global competition in recent years. While there has been a longstanding battle between effectively producing products against demand and maintaining a sustainable cost base, a key modern day challenge remains — the reality that agile manufacturing is becoming more cumbersome […]
SAIMechE Appoints CEO
The South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering announces the appointment of Uncel Mhelembe as the new Chief Executive. He has taken up the role, effective February 2023, a year after the departure of the previous CEO, Vaughan Rimbault. Uncel was appointed to the Institution as General Manager in February 2020. He comes with a great […]
23 Business Tips for 2023
The end of a year and the beginning of the next is when thoughts turn to New Year’s resolutions – time to lose weight, return to the gym, improve one’s health. The same applies to small business owners, according to Denzil Steyn, president of the Durban Chapter of the global peer-to-peer network, the Entrepreneur’s Organisation […]
Fastest Train-maker
Gibela produced a staggering six train sets in August and another six in September, the most it has produced since the start of production in 2018, crowning it one of the fastest locomotive manufacturers in the world. In the past three years, the company has ramped up production, from one train set every two months […]
From Invention to Medupi
A recent visit to the Medupi Power Station at Lephalale, organised by SAIMechE and Eskom, reminded me of how long it takes to take your invention to the marketplace. In 1995, the late Prof Detlev Kröger filed one of his last patents on Air-cooled Heat Exchangers and Cooling Towers during his academic career at Stellenbosch […]
Manufacturing Sector’s Readiness for Industry 4.0
The fortunes of our members and readers are closely allied to the manufacturing sector. A recent report from PwC provides some insights. The manufacturing sector is South Africa’s fourth largest sector and a key driver of economic growth. However, industrialisation challenges in recent decades and the relatively slow adoption of new technologies have hampered the […]
Real-world Capability of Hybrid-Electric Aircraft
The Ampaire hybrid-electric EEL demonstrator aircraft completed a 1 880 statute mile mission in July from Los Angeles to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where it will be on display at EAA AirVenture’s most prominent location, Boeing Plaza. The journey included the single longest nonstop flight ever made by a hybrid-electric aircraft of 1 135 miles. Ampaire test […]
World-first Rotomoulded Teardrop Camper-trailer
South Africa has taken centre stage in the international design industry when EdgeOut, a South African-designed and world-first rotomoulded teardrop camper-trailer designed for use on tar and gravel roads, was awarded the prestigious Red Dot Design Award 2022 in the category Product Design in Germany in June this year. A total number of 7 900 […]
“Driving Localisation” Partnership
This month, we draw attention to the welcome developments in support of the growth of the automotive sector in South Africa. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed a partnership agreement with the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam), the industry association for automotive component manufacturers, to develop an automotive database to […]
World’s First Urban Bike in Plastic
While sitting on a beach on holiday, the idea of a plastic bike first came to Frank Blase, igus CEO. In conversations with employees of a bicycle rental company on the beach, he found out that their beach bikes were continuously exposed to sand, wind and saltwater and sometimes only lasted three months before they […]
