Innovation is heading to Delmas and the Faculty of Engineering at the North-West University (NWU) is at the helm.

The German-based conglomerate Siemens, in conjunction with Eskom, approached Hasan Darwish, an industrial engineer at the Faculty of Engineering, early in 2018 to assist with a project that will introduce industrial engineering to a new audience.

This project, known as the Log Lab V2, comprises of two laboratories. One is a standard computer lab while the other is aimed at more innovative and engineering uses. The project will serve about 2 000 learners from Mdumiseni Primary School in the Botleng community of Delmas, Mpumalanga, and 12 000 to 15 000 in the larger community. With an Eskom power plant close by, the community is also of great importance to the energy giant.

The aim of Log Lab V2, which will be launched in June, is to give learners in the community exposure to important technologies that were once foreign to them. Faculty students and staff members will also play a major part in the initiative. 

“Persistence creates miracles,” quips Hasan, who has envisioned this project for a number of years. This all forms part of a larger initiative to address a crucial societal need in the country. 

“If we look at engineers throughout history, they are society’s problem solvers. They try to make life better and have that ingenious factor. I think during the Industrial Revolution the focus shifted somewhat to mass production when the main aim was to make more money. That is still the case. For example, you’ll have 100 engineers working on making the screen of the latest S8 smartphone bigger, but just five working on solving Africa’s water shortage problems. It should be the other way around. We should be looking to use our skills to address issues such as food security. Our skills should once again benefit society,” Hasan explains.

According to him these skills are of special importance to South Africa. 

“When you look at the South African context, industrial engineers over the past 100 years have done an admirable job of creating industrial sectors, but we now need to look at the bottom part of the pyramid, or what I like to call the ‘outer network of society’. We need to ensure that a person in a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal has the same access to opportunities as someone in upper-class Johannesburg, and we as industrial engineers can do that. We are partially responsible for solving problems and suggesting solutions.”

It is a responsibility the faculty does not shy away from.

“Industrial engineering is a scarce skill and we have a shortage of industrial engineers in the country. That is where our executive dean, Prof Liezl van Dyk, saw an opportunity to rectify the scarcity by establishing this field in the faculty. The country produces about 200 industrial engineers a year, but we need between 500 and 600. A while back we had an influx of mechanical engineers to cope with the needs of the mining sector, and now we need that same influx of industrial engineers,” says Hasan.

“Industrial engineers are ideally equipped to change sectors and jobs to hold more long-term economic prospects.” 

 The Log Lab project will introduce industrial engineering to a new audience.