The training of Electrical Engineering students in the field of Process Instrumentation will be taken to a new level with the donation of Siemens LOGO training equipment to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, yesterday, Wednesday, 29 April. In future, students will be trained on the equipment, which is said already to have more than a million installations residentially, commercially and industrially, among others.

“The technology is mainly used for micro-automation, for example in packaging machines or any smaller automated processes in the industrial sector, and is much more cost-effective since it limits the use of individual components,” said Joseph Ploch, Micro-Automation Promoter at Siemens. He demonstrated the use of the training equipment.

Emily Molefe, Head of Corporate Social Investment at Siemens, said that the education sector was one of the three pillars upon which the global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering’s corporate social investment initiatives rested. Siemens’ other corporate social investment initiatives are focused on public welfare and the arts and culture.

To date, Siemens has partnered no fewer than ten electrical and electronic engineering faculties across the country. Bursaries to study engineering are awarded to top performing students with a special focus on those from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. It contributes to the further development of these faculties through the purchase of laboratory equipment to aid and improve the learning experience. In all cases, a Siemens ambassador is appointed to engage with these institutions and facilitate the transfer of industry best practice and knowledge to the students.

Also speaking at the handover ceremony, Prof Ben van Wyk, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, said that Siemens had been a longstanding partner of the University, in particular the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, and that a lot of Siemens equipment was already being used in laboratories of the Faculty.

Mari Booysen, Development Manager at the TUT Advancement Office, was instrumental in securing the donation.