Several stories in this June 2026 issue of Electricity + Control highlight the engineering expertise that South Africa holds in the fields of machine building, process automation, renewable energy and industrial sustainability, measurement and instrumentation, and electro-technical power solutions.
We see, for example, how SEW EURODRIVE South Africa assisted Jendamark Automation, based in Gqeberha, supplying the advanced servo-geared units and motion control software to enable the precision operation Jendamark requires in its shrinking machines – which it exports to manufacturers of catalytic converters around the world.
We see how South African automation specialist Adroit Technologies has assisted Sovereign Foods, one of the country’s leading poultry suppliers, in implementing its MAPS automation system, a project that has delivered significant gains in efficiency, traceability and operational control.
And we see Bühler Southern Africa sharing its SmartMill concept with the South Africa milling community. This approach incorporates digitalisation, automation, and data-driven decision-making to improve efficiencies, consistency and competitiveness in the milling industry.
On the renewable energy front, we see continuing successes in the rollout of renewable energy and here, industry leaders – from RenEnergy and SAPVIA, from SPS and from EXSA – share their insights on what to look out for on the road ahead.
In Measurement + instrumentation we see how South Africa’s National Metrology Institute, NMISA, and the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications, NRCS, interact with other metrology organisations regionally and worldwide to maintain the measurement systems we rely on in almost every aspect of industry, in global trade, and in our daily lives.
And looking at electricity supply networks, as just one example, we see how South Africa-based Trafo Power Solutions was appointed to supply dry type transformers for e-houses that form part of the electrical power infrastructure on a new mine site in Pakistan.
When, at times, we start questioning the country’s status and how we reach the future we want to achieve – it is important that we remind ourselves of South Africa’s well-established capabilities, its readiness to innovate where innovation is needed, and the opportunities the country presents.
Mervyn Naidoo CEO of the ACTOM Group, the largest electro-mechanical firm in Africa, points to the opportunities South Africa’s Transmission Development Plan presents – and the potential for private sector participation in the new transmission build programme – in power lines and pylons, transmission substations and more. In parallel, he emphasises that aligning policy and procurement is essential to realise the much vaunted idea of localisation – and through localisation, South Africa can achieve the reindustrialisation needed to generate economic growth and higher employment.
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