On the 4th of June 2010, Pragma celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Hard work, innovation and a dedicated team have been the underlying
factors in Pragma’s development into a successful international
business.
Pragma started off in a small office in Mark Street, Stellenbosch. The
founder members were Adriaan Scheeres (current CEO of Pragma Holdings),
Arnold Botha (current head of ACC Development in Pragma Products), Dries
van Zyl and Gerhard Ackerman.
Over the past 20 years, the company has grown from a small engineering
consultancy to a fully fledged asset management service company. The
company’s footprint has expanded beyond the borders of South Africa,
with various global partners enabling companies to improve the
performance of their physical assets.
Our Technology
On Key was initially developed on request from a client. Further client
needs paved the way for the growth and development of On Key into a
world-class product that today competes in the international arena. From
its initial “Dos” days, On Key is now developed in C Sharp and is
browser based. On Key is a best-of-breed Enterprise Asset Management
System (EAMS). What sets it apart from other ERP modules on the market
is Pragma’s focus on the needs and requirements of the asset care
fraternity. The system is designed with a single-minded aim – to make
the effective management of physical assets as fast, easy and painless
as possible. On Key boasts numerous unique features that support this
objective.
Our Methodology
From pure maintenance consultancy, the team started developing an
outsourced service model, initially called the Buro service. Research
and development led the way for the development of our own Asset
Management Improvement Programme (AMIP) with which maturity assessments
and improvement projects were done for clients. The Asset Care Centre
(ACC) was established in support of our expanded asset management
service concept. With this, the need for formalised Business Processes
arose, and we invested in a special department focusing on the
development of Business Processes, best practices and supporting
material. A fully fledged Enablement department saw the light and
partner enablement training kicked off, ensuring that all engineers
understand and deliver the ACC to the same standard. We now find
ourselves in an arena where our professional service is in demand due to
the high success rate in terms of improved performance, cost reduction
and risk containment at our clients.
The Pragma Academy
In the late ‘90s we realised that tertiary institutions did not
adequately equip engineers for the field of asset management. Due to the
continuous need for training at client sites, we launched our own
academy to fill the gap. The Pragma Academy has grown to a competitive
Seta-accredited training centre, hosting scheduled public training
throughout SA and onsite training for clients.
The Physical Asset Management Thought Leadership Conference
What started off as a client user conference in the early ‘90s grew to a
fully fledged independent asset management conference. The PAMTLC is
benchmarked as one of the most successful asset management conferences
in SA, annually attracting 120+ delegates to come and listen to
international as well as South African speakers on asset management and
other challenging thought leadership topics.
Our partnerships
Through the years, we have built close partnerships with Value Added
Resellers and Pragma Partners across the globe. These entities have
helped us to take our products to the international market and to grow
our client base.
What’s in store for the next decade?
Our international expansion is high on the agenda with our focus on
Original Equipment Manufacturers and Large Asset Owners. Setting up
asset management best practices that are coupled to formal business
processes, and thereby helping manufacturers enable their end users to
take good care of their assets, is one of our missions. Centralised
asset registers, a consistent asset management strategy, proper
maintenance plans and schedules, and good work planning and control
procedures, can save Large Asset Owners millions. We know that we can
help them standardise asset management at their plants. Locally we have a
large role to play to help our own municipalities, hospitals and
government institutions with their asset management in order to improve
service delivery to our nation. We have state- of-the-art facilities, a
host of mines and various manufacturers that must still improve their
output and we can contribute by offering them our ACC solution that has
already enabled hundreds of clients to do just that.
For the longevity of our planet, we all have a role to play to ensure
that we take good care of our environment by cutting down on waste and
pollution. If we all join hands and do our bit, we can all globally
contribute to the wellbeing of mother earth.
