For South Africa to compete successfully within a 4th Industrial Revolution economy, stakeholders across all sectors must work together to drive progress in the country.
This is according to Prof. Marcia Mkansi, an associate professor at the Department of Operations Management at UNISA. She is also one of the organisers of the upcoming African Operations Management Conference, to be held alongside Africa Automation Fair in June 2019. Prof. Mkansi says South Africa still lags behind world automation leaders such as Germany, China and even fellow BRICS country India in terms of industrial automation progress. “We shouldn’t fall behind and become consumers and adopters of foreign intellectual property. We need to see sectors such as mining, agriculture, manufacturing and healthcare innovating to address challenges unique to our continent.” Prof. Mkansi added that South Africa has made some progress but there are still significant opportunities for progress. “There is still a chance for South Africa to take the lead in Africa, but it needs a national effort,” she says. To make 4th Industrial Revolution progress, South Africa needs to embrace a triple helix approach in which government, industry and academia make a coherent commitment to work together to support the country’s ambitions, she says. “Automation is the future – it is the basis of the 4th Industrial Revolution. You see it in the service industry, for example, where airports use scanners instead of staff to check passports, and where restaurants have automated payment terminals.“We need more emphasis on STEM skills and innovation development at grassroots level. We need industry and academia to collaborate to ensure that skills meet industry needs,” she says.
UNISA is currently collaborating with the Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Measurement and Control (SAIMC) to introduce South Africa’s first formal automation qualification, to be delivered through UNISA’s department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. “Our partnership with Africa Automation Fair is another example of us being proactive in bringing together stakeholders across academia, industry and government to improve collaboration.” The African Operations Management Conference will run alongside Africa Automation Fair for the first time this year, allowing conference delegates access to the Africa Automation Fair exhibition area and networking opportunities. The African Operations Management Conference will bring together over 100 industry giants and experienced academics to exchange ideas, concepts, and research. The 2nd African Operations Management Conference will be held from 4 – 6 June 2019 at the Ticketpro Dome in Northgate, Johannesburg. Running alongside Africa Automation Fair, the African Operations Management Conference will be presented by UNISA and supported by the National Research Foundation. The theme for this year’s conference will be ‘Competitive Operations Management for Driving Automation in Africa Forward’.
