Sparks Electrical News January 2015

contractors’ corner 3

Personality of the Month

Sometimes I sits and thinks …

Sparks: Name three things on your‘bucket list’(things you want to do before you‘kick the bucket’). JC: A 4x4 trip through the Namibian desert is top of my bucket list. I also want to experience the great wildebeest migration and I’d like to weigh less than 100 kg.

the NBCEISA crack teamwill solve this problem. Sparks: What do you enjoy most about your job? JC: Lunchtime. Seriously though, I am always happy when I’ve completed a job, the lights are working and the customer has paidme. I also get a kick out of solving a problem for a customer – and in a way that he never thought possible. Sparks: How do youmotivate your staff?

manager. During 1998 Elkoin was established and was awarded the tender for electrical mainte- nance at UP until 2007. Sparks: What are the greatest changes you have seen over the years? JC: We have gone fromhaving enough electric- ity to a point where we all have to seriously think about using energy efficiently. Automation has become commonplace and technology is evolv- ing so fast that it’s a real challenge to keep up with all the new innovations. I definitely believe that technology has changed the way people think and do business. Sparks: What major projects have you worked on and what is your greatest accomplishment? JC: Elkoin has done a series of emergency genera- tor installations. In some installations there are up to three gensets in parallel. This translates to a lot of cables – 12 x 300 mm four-core plus sensing cables) and trenches more than 2 mwide. Some of the generators were a distance away from the buildings and this meant that roads had to be closed for the trenching and cabling, whichmade JC: I`ve wonmany awards but the best one so far has been‘Clown of the Day’on the golf course! Sparks: Who has been your inspiration or have you had a mentor who has influenced your career? JC: I’ve always been fascinated with electricity and, when I was a little boy, I used to open up electrical appliances to find out how they worked. But my momdidn’t like that toomuch because I wasn’t able to put themback together again. I haven’t had any specific mentors and have always drivenmyself to succeed. Sparks: What, to your mind, is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry at this time? JC: Eskom’s challenges have become everyone’s problem and it’s worrying that there is no immedi- ate solution. The other problem facing the electrical industry is that illegal contractors are taking a lot of work away from the legitimate contractors. The ECA(SA) and the National Bargaining Council for the Elec- trical Industry are doing a great job and hopefully the planning extremely important. Sparks: Have you won any awards?

JC: I pay themwhat I believe is a good salary – that is a good motivator in anyone’s books. I also keepmy cool even if they drive me up the wall! Sparks: If you could‘do it all again’, would you change any- thing? If so, what would that be? JC: I would have listened tomy mother and studied harder. And I would not have worked for all those people who never paidme for the work I did. Sparks: Would you advise a person leaving school to enter the electrical industry? And why? JC: If someone has a passion for electricity, they should become an electrician – and not because their father is an electrician or it’s the only job available. And I would never advise anyone to leave school before Grade 12. As an electrician, you can derive great satisfaction from a job that has been well executed. Sparks: What is your advice to electrical contractors and/or elec- trical engineers? JC: Take the time to plan each job well and, when the job has been completed, make sure that you are proud of the installation. Sparks: What is your favourite quote? JC: “Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits ...” – A AMilne..”

Johnny Cunniff.

All children deserve to be able to smile JC: I startedmy apprenticeship at the post office in 1983 and qualified in 1987. In 1988 I started Cunniff Electrical – a one man showwith that one man working 24/7. But then, with a new baby and the financial constraints that come with a‘little bundle of joy’, I took a permanent position at the University of Pretoria (UP) as an electrician and ended, after ten years, as a project WHEN Johnny Cunniff, the first vice-president for the ECA(SA), walks into a room, everyone sits up and takes notice. At just under 2 m tall and with the build of a Springbok rugby prop, Johnny looks like the kind of person no one would want tomess with – but he’s actually a BFG (big friendly giant). He’s one of those principled peo- ple – there’s a right way to do things so there’s no other way, boet – and to have himon the ECA(SA)’s executive committee augers well for the future of the association. Sparks: Where were you educated? JC: I went toWonderboomHigh School in Pretoria. Sparks: How long have you been involved in the electrical industry? JC: I startedmy apprenticeship in 1983 so that’s 31 years, but it actually feels as though I’ve been in this industry forever. Sparks: When and where did you start your career?

DURING 2014, Crown Publi- cations supported theWits Students’Surgical Society in its bid to raise funds for the Smile Foundation, a non-profit South African charity organisation that sets up resources to enable chil- dren with severe facial deformi- ties to receive the treatment and care that they need to be able to eat, speak and develop normally. As part of the fund-raising effort by theWSSS, a group of students climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro from 21 to 29 November. Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcanic mountain inTanzania, is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing

mountain in theworld at 5 895m above sea level. The Kilimanjaro Challenge 2014 formed part of the Society’s community outreach project and Crown Publications was“delighted”to be part of the initiative says director, Jenny Warwick. The funding will be used to support the surgeons in the Department of Plastic and Re- constructive Surgery to operate on as many children as pos- sible who need reconstructive surgery, psychological support, speech therapy and dental as- sistance. The students, who aimed to collect R500 000, exceeded their target by over R100 000.

Graeme Moore and Matthew Grant at the top of Africa's highest peak.

sparks

january 2015

ELECTRICAL NEWS