Farewell Norman
It is with regret that we at Technews say goodbye to Norman Hall. We have enjoyed working with him over the years and his presence will be missed. He made a huge contribution to SAFPA and we wish him everything of the best in his new career.
Making a contribution
I was recently at the official prize-giving ceremony for the 2013 PneuDrive Challenge and was blown away by the standard of the contributions, the enthusiasm of the students and the innovative way in which SEW-Eurodrive and Pneumax are addressing the problem of giving students the skills they need to make it in the workplace.
Plenty of other companies are doing the same. Siemens recently financed and built the Mandela School of Science & Technology, the first highschool in Mvezo, Mandela’s birthplace. Another initiative comes from the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) which we feature in this issue. ECSA’s Engenius programme aims to inspire youngsters to make engineering a career. We also have a story about the international programme, FIRST Lego League, which generates an interest in maths and science in kids from 9 to 16 through the use of educational robots and Lego. Bringing robotics technology to students in disadvantaged communities can have a huge impact. Seeing the kids’ pride on being sent to compete overseas was an inspiration for me.
More robots
Another impressive launch I recently attended was that of DCD Rolling Stock, to mark its huge recapitalisation programme. Since 1944, the company has produced over 130 000 wagons, 1000 surface locomotives, 4000 underground locomotives and over
278 000 bogies. The highlight was the demonstration of its high-tech robotic welding cells for welding bogie frames, and we have a story on that. Far from cutting jobs, DCD says that this technology will enhance staff skills and upgrade jobs.
Welcome Beckhoff
A new contribution from Beckhoff describes a sophisticated CNC machining centre developed for a French window and door manufacturer using PC-based control technology from Beckhoff. For Koch Maschinenfabrik, PLC-controlled machines became a thing of the past quite some time ago.
Meanwhile our cover story from Tectra Automation highlights its range of frequency converters as well as its state-of-the-art test bench, backed up by full service and support. We also have a thought-provoking article from Price Engineering in the USA on the changing role of system integrators in that country and the factors affecting the fluid power industry.
Something new
Technews is always interested in new technology and one of the things we are introducing is the use of QR scanning to link the print and online versions of our magazines. A QR scanner app can be downloaded to your phone in a few seconds and this can then scan over the code and link to online content. We are trying this out with the Beckhoff web exclusive as well as Axiom’s QuickDesign design tool.
Bearings International has more new technology with its groundbreaking ironless printed linear motors from Schaeffler. A couple of years ago we ran a story on 3D printing at which stage it was still a relatively new concept. Since then it’s gone mainstream and is being rapidly adopted by powerful industries such as aerospace and healthcare. 3D printing is one of Gartner Group’s top 10 strategic technology trends for 2014.
Seeing it’s a new year I have to also mention Jim Pinto – better fasten my seat belt while he takes a look into the future. Jim talks a lot about the Internet of Things, or the industrial Internet, which relates to assets and machines; and Gartner in another of its technology trends refers to the Internet of Everything, where connectivity and intelligence are part of just about any device.
Meanwhile there are some interesting things happening at Google. The company’s latest acquisition is artificial intelligence firm, DeepMind Technologies. Over the past year, Google has snapped up at least seven robotics firms, including Boston Dynamics, which is known for developing super-fast, animal-like robots. Last month Google bought Nest Labs, which develops smart home appliances like thermostats and smoke detectors that can program themselves and communicate with smartphones.
Not everyone is excited by these developments. The Economist’s ‘The World In 2014’ predicts that there will be a 'tech-lash' against the cybergeeks, who have turned out to be some of the most ruthless capitalists around while ruthlessly violating personal privacy – putting them in the same dubious category as bankers; but somehow I don’t see too many people giving up their smartphones and tablets.
Kim Roberts
Editor
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