Electricity + Control July 2015

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Editor:
Wendy Izgorsek
Design & Layout:
Adél JvR Bothma
Advertising Managers:
Helen Couvaras and
Heidi Jandrell
Circulation:
Karen Smith
Reader Enquiries:
Radha Naidoo
Publisher:
Karen Grant
EditorialTechnical
Director:
Ian Jandrell
Published monthly by:
Crown Publications cc
CnrTheunis and Sovereign Sts
Bedford Gardens
PO Box 140, Bedfordview 2008
Tel: (011) 622-4770; Fax: (011) 615-6108
e-mail:
Website:
Printed by:Tandym Print
Quarter 1 (Jan - Mar 2015)
Total print circulation: 4737
The views expressed in this publication are
not necessarily those of the publisher, the
editor, SAAEs, SAEE, CESA, IESSA or the
Copper Development Association Africa
Electricity+Control is supported by:
We have always promoted Electricity+Control as a
magazine that effectively focuses on the two com-
modities of modern industry – Energy and Informa-
tion. Describing the magazine as ‘a collection of
articles on the use of electrical energy to produce
a product or deliver a service’ neatly encapsulates
the content. This would include the flow and use
of electrical energy at any site, and the way energy
must be managed and controlled in a system de-
signed to produce a product.
In the past, measurement focused largely on man-
aging and monitoring variables in an automated
or controlled environment. Increasingly, however,
thesemeasurements have been extended to include
almost every aspect of the electricity supply system
at the plant.
We have seen measurement moving rapidly – and
rightly – into the energy component, ensuring that
the information we are accessing to better man-
age our systems includes that which defines and
quantifies our energy usage. This shift has come
about because the cost of energy has become an
issue of which manufacturers and businesses need
to be cognisant.
I am convinced that the key to any successful indus-
try is not only the use and management of Energy
and Information, but how these integrate into a
coherent system where each input is a monitored
and measured part of the system, recognised as
having a real impact on the final product or service.
The delineation between power, and instrumen-
tation specialists is becoming blurred. While we
have argued all along that such differentiation is
fictitious; today competence needs to cut across
these traditional divides.
We require people with a real systems’ attitude
towards a plan, and an ability to see into all the
existing silos with a view to breaking them down
– at least partially.
At Electricity+Control, we continue to strive to en-
sure that the technical feature articles we publish,
in this magazine and on-line, will be of interest to
you and will enable you to peer into the ‘silos’ that
define our industry with an increasing breadth of
vision and appreciation for how best to manage the
system that is the modern plant.
In meetings, I often find myself adding to my tradi-
tional Venn diagram, depicting the two intersecting
circles representing Energy and Information with an
all-encompassing circle called Systems – emphasis-
ing the need to design, build and maintain coherent
systems that encompass both commodities in their
fullest sense.
I will do a Face Value around this theme in the near
future – and I invite you to join the conversation on
trends that are emerging in our industry. At a later
date I will comment on how I see these impacting
on research in the southern Africa context.
Ian Jandrell
Pr Eng,
BSc (Eng) GDE PhD,
FSAIEE SMIEEE
COMMENT
1 July ‘15 Electricity+Control