Arnold Perumal, Chairman of the Association of Representatives for the Electronics Industry (arei), has issued a statement highlighting some of the association’s recent achievements and offering a glimpse into what the rest of this year has in store.
He started by recognising 2015 as the year of AREI’s birth and the first showing of National Electronics Week (NEW) in KwaZulu-Natal. “In January this year we launched the association formally, with a cocktail evening at the Kyalami country club, and since then we have been moving ahead with activities at breakneck speed!,” he stated.
“In May this year, arei successfully concluded the Durban show in conjunction with NEW UK, and we were really honoured to have the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and TIKZN (Trade and Investment KZN) both present at the expo, to witness the electronics industry in action,” he went on to say. “Encouraging talks were delivered by both DTI and TIKZN and sponsorship of the event was also welcomed by TIKZN for which we are really grateful. By all accounts the show was an overwhelming success and visitors to the show were greeted with a buzz of technology from their first step into the stadium.”
“arei was also privileged to be able to exhibit at the Manufacturing indaba in June this year and we attracted much interest from the manufacturing sector, and succeeded in spreading the word about the electronics industry to over 300 contacts that were established over the two days.”
The association has also formed a strong partnership with the DTI and TIKZN, both of which now sit as non-voting members on the arei committee. “Our partnership with DTI and TIKZN has opened many new doors for us to succeed in the electronics sector,” said Perumal. “Our partners are sharing with us much needed information on access to funding, for our various members, for various programmes.
“arei has also engaged on inputs to the Electronics Roadmap which will be published via government soon. We are in discussions with various universities in the hope that some of them will also join our membership; in this way we will reach to the root of engineering education, to see what synergies can be created between industry and education.”
Perumal concluded by announcing that arei has successfully launched its official website, and that planning for the next NEW expo is well under way. It will once again be hosted in Johannesburg but at a new venue in Emperor’s Palace, and will take place sometime in early March 2016.
For more information visit www.arei.co.za
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