Click to download and read pdf
With sponsorship from Afrox, ESAB and Wits University’s School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering (CHEMET), the SAIW held its 71st Annual Dinner and Awards ceremony at Emperors Place in Gauteng on October 25, 2019. African Fusion reports.
As the incoming executive director, it fell to John Tarboton to deliver the 2019 keynote address at the 71st SAIW Annual Dinner and Awards. “It is an honour to be here tonight celebrating the Institute’s 71st annual dinner with the welding and fabrication industry,” he began.
“Despite its long legacy and rich history, the reality is our industry is under immense pressure and has shown successive contractions over the past five years. The slowdown in public infrastructure spending and falling private sector capital spending is contributing to this lack of demand as well as a host of other issues that have all lead to a deterioration in the competitiveness of South African fabricators,” he continued.
Despite this, however, John Tarboton is encouraged by the ongoing support from industry and particularly grateful for the contributions received from the event sponsors. “From my side, a big thank you. Without your support this event would not have been possible.
“I would also like to extend special thanks to Jim Guild for coming to the assistance of the Institute to stabilise the ship and for agreeing to a three month hand-over period to ease the transition,” said Tarboton.
Turning his focus onto some of the SAIW’s achievements in the past year, he first highlighted the work being done by the SAIW Foundation, in particular the 15 apprentices from ArcelorMittal who are receiving training and “making excellent progress”, with feedback from ArcelorMittal’s management being “highly positive”.
“Work is also being completed by our Business Development manager Etienne Nel on a brand new occupational qualification supported by the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO),” he continued. “This will be implemented in our two centres of specialisation in welding, Boland and Uitenhage, with the aim of putting employers back in the seat of driving artisan training,” he noted.
He went on to congratulate SAIW training manager, Shelton Zichawo, who has completed his MBA in which he identified key areas of improvement in SAIW. “We look forward to harnessing these insights to ensure that we are able to delight our students through the whole SAIW experience as we equip them for a career in welding,” he said.
“We are also embracing the 4th Industrial Revolution, with a state-of-the-art Yaskawa robot welding system being installed at the Institute. This machine has the latest 4IR technology to bridge the man machine divide and will form the lynchpin of our new robotics course to be launched in 2020,” Tarboton announced.
The reintroduction of the SAIW Levels 1 and 2 Inspection courses has also been well received as “they assist with career development and allow our students to start earning sooner”. In addition, NDT training manager Mark Digby has established the SAIW Phased Array training course, which was launched in February this year in collaboration with the German NDT Society.
“Our quality and systems manager Harold Jansen reports that the International Committee for Non-destructive Testing mutual recognition agreement was granted earlier this year, which ensures that our SAIW-qualified and certified personnel enjoy international recognition,” he continued.
SAIW Certification CEO and Qualification and Certification Manager, Herman Potgieter, is also reporting good growth in company certifications, despite tough economic times. “This shows that companies are ready and willing to adopt international standards to produce quality products,” suggested Tarboton.
“Lastly, we have also received our ISO 17021 accreditation from SANAS which ensures the competence, consistency and impartiality of SAIW certification when providing audit and certification of management systems,” he said before turning attention to the awards part of the evening.
SAIW 2019 Awards
Before presenting the SAIW Awards in four categories, Tarboton made special mention of Stefan Lottering who entered the SAIW Youth Welding Challenge held at the SAIW in January 2019. “Having undergone extensive training at ArcelorMittal in Vanderbijlpark, he and four other candidates were sponsored by the CHIETA to train at the SAIW under the supervision of our lecturer Samuel Mnguni and CHIETA representative, Etienne Nell,” he said.
During the subsequent SAIW competition, Stefan excelled by winning almost all the metal categories and achieving the highest mark overall. He entered the South African World Skills competition, held in the last week of February 2019 in Durban, and again outperformed the other competitors by winning in all the categories. Stefan was then selected to participate in the international event which was held in Kazan, Russia, during August 2019. “Lincoln Electric made its demonstration area available to Stefan to be trained on the equipment to be used in Kazan, once again generously sponsored by CHIETA,” he added.
During the competition in Russia, Stefan proved to be a formidable competitor by outperforming some of the best candidates in the world and achieving a remarkable 17th position out of candidates from 39 countries. “For the first time since South Africa’s return to the international arena for welding, a South African was honoured with a medallion of excellence,” announced Tarboton before asking Stefan Lottering to come forward to receive the medallion from SAIW stalwart and Board Member, Joseph Zinyana.
SAIW Presidents’ Award for NDT and the Phil Santilhano Memorial Award
The Presidents’ Award is made in the name of the past Presidents of SAIW who have helped guide the Institute to become a prominent part of the local welding industry and South Africa’s reference point for high quality training in welding and NDT. The award recognises the top NDT student on Institute courses.
The Phil Santilhano award is another student award that remembers Phil Santilhano, one South Africa’s leading submerged arc and electro slag welding technologists who became the Institute’s first full time employee when he was appointed Technical Director in 1977. The Award is presented to the best student on the Welding Co-ordination or Welding Inspectors’ training courses.
The 2019 Presidents’ Award and the Phil Santilhano award were both awarded to an exceptional student, Quinton Richard Ayres, who achieved, for his NDT courses, distinctions in Magnetic Testing Level 1; Penetrant Testing Level 1 and Ultrasonic Wall thickness Testing Level 1 and, combined with Visual Testing Level 1, an overall average of 90% for all NDT examinations undertaken from August 2018 to July 2019.
In addition, he completed his Welding Inspectors Level 1 qualification during the same time period with distinctions in all three Inspectors Level 1 examinations. A remarkable achievement!
Best IIW ISO 3834 Manufacturing Certification Company Award
This Award is made is recognition of a company that has excelled in SAIW’s ISO 3834 Certification Manufacturing Scheme by recognising the excellence of a manufacturing company with respect to the implementation of the ISO 3834 welding process control system.
Nominees for the award included CMP Aljym Engineering; FP Engineering; Hi Tech Pressure Engineering; ND Engineering; and Plant Design and Project Services.
Some of the evaluation criteria for this award include:
- Compliance with the requirements of the ISO 3834 scheme.
- Implementation and involvement of the management team in the quality process.
- Continuous improvement of the welding quality processes.
- Production of high quality products.
- A high degree of customer satisfaction.
All nominees showed extremely high levels of involvement and engagement for the various tasks and responsibilities of top management and the welding coordination team members. This lead to excellent management of the different projects producing high quality, traceability and the documentation required for all stages of production.
All nominees were also engaged with continuous improvement projects to further enhance their daily operations. The adjudicator, Riaan Loots, recommended to the SAIW Certification governing board that Hi-Tech Pressure Engineering be the recipient of the Best SAIW Manufacturing Certification Company Award for 2019.
The SAIW Gold Medal Award
The Gold Medal Award was introduced in 1966. It is the Institute’s highest award and can be made to a company or an individual in recognition of outstanding contributions to welding technology or to the Institute.
For 2019, this award went to the Sasol Secunda Inspection Authority ‘for the outstanding opportunities made available to young local school leavers to prepare for a career in the inspection field’.
With stand-up comedian Al Prodgers as master of ceremonies and the Idols singer, Boki Ntsime entertaining guests, the SAIW Annual Dinner and Awards was a highly enjoyable and relaxing evening. African Fusion congratulates the award winners and looks forward to reporting on steadier progress in the welding industry.
