Speakers
Merryl Ford
ICT Emerging Opportunities Manager, CSIR Advanced Manufacturing
Day 1-Session 2: Smart solutions for industry session
Speakers
Merryl Ford
ICT Emerging Opportunities Manager, CSIR Advanced Manufacturing
Technical Manager, NCPC
Kevin is the Technical Quality and Standards Manager of the CSIR’s Industry Support Programmes – NCPC and NFTN. He commenced his career at the CSIR’s former Materials Science and Technology division in 1991. This provided the ideal springboard to move into the resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) domain. Kevin joined the NCPC-SA at its inception in 2003, focusing on developing internal capacity and knowledge of Cleaner Production within the NCPC-SA, for it to fulfil its mandate.
Kevin is a recognised RECP Expert, completing the UNIDO Cleaner Production Trainer programme in 2005, and facilitated the training of many Experts providing services to the Centre today. He led the NCPC-SA’s Industrial Water Efficiency Project, Cleantech SMME Accelerator Programme , and was a key content contributor for the development of the Centres
original RECP End User and Expert Level training courses.
He facilitated the launch of the NCPC-SA’s KZN Industrial Symbiosis Project in collaboration with Dept. of Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs and played leading roles in the Strategic Water Sector Cooperation Partnership Agreement between Denmark and the South African Department of Water and Sanitation. More recently Kevin provided strategic oversight to the Centre’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Project and facilitated its close-out after more than 10 years. Presently he is assisting the Industry Support Programme with formalising reporting of data and information pertaining to the various sectors supported.
ICT Emerging Opportunities Manager, CSIR Advanced Manufacturing
Merryl is currently a Digital Transformation Specialist at the Centre for Robotics and Future Production at the Manufacturing Cluster of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa.
Merryl’s particular passion is in the application of advanced and innovative ICTs that will lead to socio-economic development in South Africa and Africa. Over the past few years, she has led various multi-disciplinary ICT interventions, particularly in the education and skills-development environments. She has published widely on these issues and presented at many conferences and forums around the world.
Merryl’s current interest is in the use of emerging technologies such as distributed ledger technologies (blockchain), big data, AI and the Internet of Things, combined with promising new business models in stimulating and supporting technology innovation in Africa.
Neura Solutions
Dawie has been serving as Managing Director for the past 4 years. He is also an Independent Training Consultant on Sustainability Training and Implementation Support – 7by3 Wize (PTY) Ltd. He is an NCPC-SA qualified trainer in multiple disciplines and frequently facilitates the following courses for the NCPC-SA:
RECP Expert Training; EnMS Expert Training; EM101; EnPMI; EnMS End-User Training; RECP End-user training; and EnMS Energy Awareness Training
His academic and professional qualifications include:
MBA – Rhodes University
Dipl. Manufacturing Management– Rhodes University
Engineering Diploma – Chiba Polytechnic Centre, ILO Japan
CEM® Certified Energy Manager with the American Association of Energy Engineers (AEE)
CMVP® Certified Measurement and Verification Professional with the AEE
CEA Certified Energy Auditor with the AEE
CP EnMS and CP RECP with UNIDO IEE Projects; NCPC-SA
MDLZ International Lead Auditor ISO45001, ISO14001; Process Safety
Six Sigma Black Belt – International Federation for Six Sigma (IFSS)
Project Manager, NCPC
Mbali Moroe is a project manager in the Technical, Quality, and Standards Portfolio at the National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA). In this role, she ensures that the Centre outputs are both technically accurate and quality assured.
Holding a master’s degree in Operations Management, Mbali is also a certified UNIDO RECP and Energy Management System Expert. With over 15 years of experience in the manufacturing sector, she specializes in process engineering and project management.
Mbali has successfully led projects focused on resource efficiency and recently directed the Integrated Greening Operations (I-GO) initiative for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This initiative provides small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a self-assessment tool to evaluate and enhance their resource efficiency.
Passionate about sustainability and energy management, Mbali actively advocates for responsible resource use to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.
Associate Director & Smart Manufacturing Lead, PWC
Vinesh is a Director within the Operations Transformation department of PwC South Africa and has been working with clients in the Energy, Utilities, Resources and Industrial Manufacturing industries since 1995. He is the South African leader of the Smart Manufacturing practice. His experience covers a wide range of areas, with specific expertise being obtained in Industrial Automation and Control, Manufacturing Execution Systems, and IT/OT Integration. Vinesh is a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa and a Certified Director with the Institute of Directors. He serves on the executive committee of MESA Africa and is an advisor to the board of directors of the SAIMC.
Vinesh’s key areas of expertise / focus include but are not limited to: Digital Strategy formulation; Manufacturing Information Systems / Manufacturing Information Systems; Asset Management; Lean Manufacturing; 4IR Technology Roadmap development and Industrial Automation and Control