At a gala dinner marking the final judging of the 2008 Siemens Cyber Junkyard competition, it was a clean sweep for South African tertiary institutions. Top honours went to the North West University, closely followed by the Free State’s Central University of Technology and the Durban University of Technology. As part of the annual Siemens Industry Sector TIA User Forum, the awards ceremony was held at the Birchwood Conference Centre in Johannesburg on 28 October.
From a total of 10 institutions – seven from South Africa and one each from Zambia, Botswana and Namibia, North West University was judged to have best met the project criteria to design and build a hot and cold beverage manufacturing machine incorporating complex elements such as HMI, wireless communication, visualisation, system status monitoring and PLC programming.
“With the proviso that all the equipment provided by Siemens and Festo had to be incorporated in the project, additional specifications included single and batch order entry and delivery capability, the quality of the end product, consistency and order accuracy, speed of delivery, hygiene and safety,” says Devendree Karuppanan, Cyber Junkyard project manager at Siemens Industry Automation and Drive Technologies. “In the opinion of the judges, the project from the North West University not only met these criteria but displayed exceptional levels of creativity, innovation and ingenuity that made them well deserving of this year’s first place.”
All participating institutions in the competition get to keep the R150 000 worth of Siemens equipment used to build the project and in addition to this, Festo also supplied equipment to the winners. For the winners however, the prizes – including electronic equipment – are particularly welcome.
“With an emphasis on building and developing practical skills that engineering students can immediately apply in a working environment, this year’s prizes for all finalists also include several weeks training at the Siemens training centre in Midrand,” says Des Burrows, Siemens’ business manager for training.
North West University received R50 000 worth of Siemens equipment for the university, three weeks training at Siemens training centre in Midrand for all the team’s students, six Fujitsu Siemens laptops, a floating trophy plus individual trophies for all team members.
The team from Free State’s Central University of Technology received R30 000 worth of Siemens equipment, two weeks at the training centre, six Tom Tom Navigators, and trophies for all participants. The Durban University of Technology won R20 000 worth of Siemens equipment, one week’s training, six 80 GB Ipods and trophies for all participants.
With growing levels of enthusiasm year after year from tertiary institutions across southern Africa, the Siemens team is already looking forward to next year’s project, says Karuppanan. “The Cyber Junkyard not only provides an exciting way for students to apply their theoretical knowledge but also goes a long way in helping the region meet the demand for the engineers of the future who have the practical skills and applied knowledge of concepts and equipment that make them immediately effective, creative, innovative and productive in the modern working environment,” she concludes.
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