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Business meets Science seminars South Africa great success!

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Last week the Business meets Science seminars on Spare Parts Management took place in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We started with the official signing of the partnership between Gordian Logistic Experts and Pragma in presence of Dutch Prime Minister Rutte during the Dutch Trade Mission reception. It was a special moment, a real coronation of our work so far.

Different industries, such as Manufacturing, Mining and the Public sector, joined our seminar on Wednesday in Johannesburg. We met in the Turbine Hall, a remarkable industrial monument.

We started the day with science. Professor Henk Zijm of Twente University presented an overview of successful innovations in Western Europe. After that Professor Stephan Heyns of University of Pretoria gave his view – both scientific and practical – on condition based maintenance. After a brief break the business component started. Kervin Ali shared challenges at PPC from a procurement’s perspective, a clear and interesting story. Managing Director Attie Nieuwoudt of Pragma Africa continued with his talk about the impact of good spare parts management on successful asset management. Jan Willem Rustenburg (CEO Gordian Logistic Experts) ended the morning session with a  practical deep dive into spare parts management and optimisation.

The afternoon was reserved for an interactive session, in which the delegates shared their challenges in spare parts management. This session was considered very valuable to the delegates, as we heard afterwards. The fact that more companies are dealing  with the same challenges created a feeling of brotherhood which we consider as very valuable.

On Thursday, the Business meets Science seminar flew to Cape Town. The group was a bit smaller but that made this day more intimate and personal. The set up in Cape Town was the same as in Johannesburg. The science part was covered by Wyhan Jooste of Stellenbosch University addressing opportunities for research collaboration between academia and business. Chester Joubert continued with a very energetic presentation on the relevance and challenges in Spare Parts Management at Mercedes-Benz SA.

All in all, the seminars were successful, illustrated by the following – frequently stated – remark from the participants: “when can we expect the next event on this topic?”

The presentations of the seminars can be found here:

Thank you BMS

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