July 20, 2022
Shutdown planning – the importance of defining its objectives When planning to shutdown, a conundrum faced by all asset owners is how to compress the duration of the shutdown, and maximise the planned uptime of the assets – all without sacrificing the shutdown’s objectives. If the objectives, scope and deliverables are not clearly defined at […]
June 23, 2022
Maintenance shutdowns are frequently required to carry out maintenance (and other) activities that can only be done while the process is offline. Maintenance shutdowns are costly to implement and require intensive planning. A solid plan ensures that quality work gets done within scope, budget and the agreed timeframe. Bad planning and scheduling amplify costs, risk […]
June 15, 2022
Proper and consistent maintenance can make or break businesses. The headline in a local newspaper, Business Day – dated 13/06/2022, reads “Poor performance and degradation of rail and port infrastructure have seen SA’s coal exports drop 20% from about 80 million tonnes in 2017 to about 64 million tonnes in 2021”. All around us we […]
May 11, 2022
In a recent webinar on clarifying solution-based EAM system integration, members of Pragma’s On Key team laid out several facts that businesses need to consider in order to achieve successful integration. Dirk Janse van Rensburg, Managing Director of On Key Software Solutions, highlighted one of the primary drivers, which is that integration is imperative if […]
April 11, 2022
Preparing a new or refurbished plant ready for commissioning is no small feat. The anticipated honeymoon phase of a newly commissioned plant with equipment operating optimally, production being at the required rate, and no unplanned stoppages can be short-lived if the vital element of asset care is not in place. To avoid performance and operational […]
February 17, 2022
Mining reserves in South Africa are vast. According to statistics from the South African Department of Mineral Resources and the US Geological Survey our ore reserves amount to a value of more than US$2.5 trillion [1]. Conversely, the industry is in crisis – why? Costs have become prohibitive, primarily due to years of lack of […]
December 13, 2021
As of October 1, 2021, Henk Wynjeterp has been appointed director of Pragma Netherlands. He succeeds Luc de Laat, who stayed as CMS Asset Management’s director after Pragma acquired it in 2018. The integration of the two companies has been ongoing for the past two years, laying a solid foundation for Pragma’s European growth aspirations. […]
December 10, 2021
Retail branch managers have a broad set of responsibilities. Some of these responsibilities include staff management, keeping optimal stock levels and ensuring that the branch expenditures stay within budget. Ultimately, the retail manager’s responsibility is to create and maintain a welcoming and satisfying experience for customers. Maintenance is part and parcel of this important customer […]
November 22, 2021
The impact of ongoing power cuts on the SA industry Load shedding has become an ever-present reality in South Africa. It has a massive effect on South Africa’s GDP, specifically in the manufacturing industry. In a study conducted in 2018, it was established that load shedding is costing the industry in excess of R 2bil […]
November 17, 2021
Wave after wave of load shedding has hit the country, as you would have experienced, no doubt. This has resulted in incidents where service providers and businesses in all industries have been unable to operate at full capacity. Initially, when all of this started in 2020, we ourselves suffered a generator failure at our head […]