The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering celebrated its Projects Evening on Thursday, 09 November 2023. This prestigious event showcased some of the best final-year projects of 2023. We are proud to mention that the event had good attendance with about 420 guests.
Mrs Anthea Venter, the Mistress of Ceremonies (MC) for the evening, extended a warm and enjoyable welcome to all the guests and participants. She extended her heartfelt gratitude to the following committees and adjudicators who ensured the success of the event:
Poster Exhibition Committee: Mrs Huda Hussain, Mrs Ratidzo Nyakudya, Miss Monique Bester, Miss Tadiwa Mangwandi
Poster Adjudicator Committee: Prof Olufemi Adetunji, Mrs Ilse Doyer, Dr Michael Ayomoh
Presentation Committee: Prof Marne de Vries, Dr Makoena Sebatjane, Prof Wilna Bean, Mr Thabang Ngwenya
Presentation Adjudication Committee: Prof Olufemi Adetunji, Dr Makoena Sebatjane, Mr Brian Ndlovu
Audio Visual and Power Committee: Mr Brian Ndlovu, Mr Matthew Baldwin, Mr Kyle van Zyl
Guest Entry Committee: Mr Robert Gumba, Mr Brighton Baloi, Mr Babatunde Aina, Mr Tshinangi Kapya
Best Project Document Adjudicator: Dr Pieter Conradie
Presentation Adjudicators: Christelle vd Heever, David Crewe-Brown, Freddy Tshikala, Ninette Hesse, Wessel van Heerden
Projects Evening Coordinator: Prof Marné de Vries
IE Staff: All academic staff who supervised the students
SAIIE TUKS: Mr Eishamma Kandoro, Miss Juani Snyman, Miss Kayleigh Teeling, Miss Lebogang Monareng, Miss Pearl Ndala, Miss Sharon Dumba, Mr Luthando Kunene
The baton was then passed to Mr Thanbang Ngwenya, who introduced the evening's star students. Thank you to the Project Donors, Pragma, Adcorp, FNB, Quinxi, RSC, Multi-Media, Bidvest International Logistics and DSV, Flysafair, Optix, Solution Architecture, Siemens, Imperial, Ingenious Group, Toyota Empowerment Trust, Trans Nove, Smollan, PPS and Signal Hill Products, as well as all the Industry Partners who sponsored the project topics for 2023.
The first round of selections consisted of fourteen participants. From these fourteen participants, the final six students were selected to present their projects. The presenter finalists were (in no particular order): Chirag Beekrum, Mikaela Erasmus, Christiaan vd Merwe, Suné Jacobs, Byron Meij and Nicola Theron.
Presentations of the students:
|
Presenter
|
Project Topic
|
|
Chirag Beekrum
|
Conducting market and financial feasibility analysis to inform the facility lay-out of Jesmondene’s real estate development
|
|
Mikaela Erasmus
|
Identification of the most common errors resulting in a downtime state within an automated manufacturing cell
|
|
Christiaan vd Merwe
|
Optimising production planning in an injection moulding environment
|
|
Suné Jacobs
|
Simulating self-service bag drop system at OR Tambo International Airport
|
|
Byron Meij
|
Establishing a standardized process model for product development at an audiometric medical device specialist company
|
|
Nicola Theron
|
Optimising a pharmaceutical manufacturing process
|
Prof Sarma Yadavalli, the Head of Department, thanked the final year students for their participation in presenting their final year projects and proceeded to announce the 2023 IE final year project winners in the following Categories:
Category 1: Best Project Poster
Category 2: Best Project Document
Category 3: Best Project Presentation
The top three students in Category 1, Best Project Poster were:
*Click on the name to view posters*
The top three students in the 2nd Category, Best Document adjudicated by Dr Pieter Conradie were:
In Category 3, Best Project Presentation, the top three students were selected by a panel of adjudicators and the winners were:
-
1st place: Mr Christiaan vd Merwe
-
2nd place: Mr Chirag Beekrum
-
3rd place: Miss Suné Jacobs
Prof Yadavalli announced that he will be stepping down as the Head of Department and introduced the incoming HoD Prof Olufemi Adetunji who will assume his position as Head of Department in January 2024.
In conclusion, Mr Roland Röhrs paid tribute to Prof Yadavalli. He highlighted Prof Yadavalli’s success as HoD of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Pretoria. He journeyed through his career path, and his unwavering commitment and dedication to the University of Pretoria. Prof Yadavalli extended his heartfelt gratitude and profound appreciation to his wife, Dr Lalitha Yadavalli for her dedication, devotion and patience during his career. As a token of appreciation Mr Röhrs presented Dr Yadavalli with a bouquet of flowers.
Prof Yadavalli thanked Mrs Hanli Helm, Ms Sehaam Brey and all the role players that ensured the success of the event.
We would like to thank the parents and guardians of the students for their support and encouragement and congratulate all the final year students.
The evening concluded with viewing of project posters and socialising with students, networking with project sponsors, donors and guests. Refreshments were served in the Rautenbach Hall.
We would like to thank the supervisors, and external examiners for guiding the students to success, and all the Industry Partners, Alumni, UP Staff and Students who attended the celebrations.
The feedback received from the Industrial Engineering community was extremely positive.
Virtual Campus
Get Social With Us
Download the UP Mobile App