Windhoek
At an international software conference held in South Africa during May, Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) was crowned the overall winner of the category ‘Best Plant Information Management System Application’, beating various international participants. The conference, hosted by Wonderware Southern Africa, saw CEOs, vice-presidents and directors of global companies from the United States of America (USA), Europe and the Middle East present at the conference.
NBL Manager: Industrial Control Systems, André Engelbrecht says: “NBL makes use of Wonderware Southern Africa’s data management software with which we developed our system. We were given the opportunity to present our solution in front of an international audience. We competed against companies like Cennergi Power Solutions, Egoli Gas, Hulamin Aluminium as well as a few system integrators. This award proves that NBL is up to date with international technology standards. The purpose of our presentation was not only to demonstrate our technical capabilities, but also to show the world that NBL cares about the environment and our carbon footprint. This is part of our commitment as part of the O&L Group to our goal of reducing the group’s carbon footprint with 20% by 2019.”
NBL’s plant information management system application is used as a tool in its utility data management system in the production environment. It automatically captures and records consumption details of all utility plants on the use of carbon dioxide (CO2), water, air, chemicals, thermal and solar energy. According to Engelbrecht it is a great application for managing losses and/or excess consumption, and it contributes significantly to keeping record of water and electricity usage, thus playing a critical part in water and energy saving initiatives.
“Receiving recognition on an international stage and seeing our name displayed for all the world to see is an amazing yet humbling experience. A special word of thanks to our team for their hard work. The project team included Johann Mouton (Automation Engineer), Renaldo du Pisani (Engineer in Training), Ricco Jankowski (Junior Automation Engineer) and Annemarie Kruger (MES/MIS Specialist),” Engelbrecht concluded.