My recent business trips to Gauteng and Germany have left me feeling very positive despite all the woes and problems that load shedding brings us. We, as South Africans, are known to adapt our lives and deal with the situation. Home life and work life have had to change to cope with high stages of load shedding. Power cuts are inconvenient and frustrating but compared to the worst-case scenario that load shedding is designed to prevent, the rolling blackouts that we have to contend with are child’s play. If load shedding fails to protect the national power grid, South Africa runs the risk of a complete national blackout. Eskom says the chances of this actually happening are exceptionally remote, but they are there.

Load shedding has come to shape everyday life and thank goodness for the app that informs us when our area is scheduled to go off as this allows us to at least plan our lives around the cut. Not so long ago, without warning, we would sit in the ‘darkness’. For individual homes it was, and still is, a BIG inconvenience. However, imagine the losses it causes to a foundry that had just charged a furnace full of metal. Other examples are where machines do not like to be shutdown suddenly. Software has now been developed that will reverse the spindle on a machine tool if it detects a drop or spike in energy. There are many examples that highlight how we have adapted and have invested in the alternative power supply equipment to smooth the curve. Many are using generators, solar power systems and the like to supply sufficient power for their requirements.

Load shedding is also changing consumers’ purchasing behaviour and food retailers are being impacted. Consumers are adapting where they shop depending on load shedding schedules, shopping more regularly and shifting the mix in their baskets from fresh to more ambient food products to avoid food waste at home.

Trying to transform the misery into some sort of convenience that minimises disruptions to daily life is generator manufacturer and supplier Elegen, whom we visited recently to report about his new Amada fiber laser with rotary index. “Backup solutions help to maintain productivity and comfort. However, an on-site power source can be a matter of survival for some companies. For airports, hospitals, military bases, emergency workers, businesses and manufacturers, generators provide an indispensable standby power supply. Even when the unpredictable forces of Mother Nature disrupt power supply, generators can be used,” said Elegen founding Director Christopher Hinckley. Hinkley certainly chose the right direction when he decided to invest in the business before load shedding became a problem. Many are now using his product and many more will be talking to him in the future.

But it is not just generators that are being purchased. The amount of sheet metal equipment, metal removal and related equipment that I know has been purchased recently by South African companies is very encouraging. CNC equipment importers and sellers are saying they are heartened by the machines they are delivering. Even the tooling manufacturers are saying that South African orders are very much on the upward trend and we are outperforming many other established counties, where apparently there are many cost-cutting exercises that are being put in place.

I also attended the GIFA foundry exhibition, which only takes place once every four years, in Dusseldorf, Germany in June. There were 150 other South Africans that I know of that visited the exhibition as well. This was despite the R130 for a cost of a beer. Many were there to research and consider buying equipment. Well done guys – it gives us positive thoughts.