Africa has an historic opportunity to accelerate growth and development by tapping into the potential that new technologies hold, ABB Asia, Middle East and Africa region president Dr Chun-Yuan Gu said on Tuesday.

Delivering the keynote speech at the ABB Customer World Africa 2018 conference in Johannesburg, he noted that the digital revolution had already transformed the lives of millions of people through mobile phone and Internet access, adding that these technologies have allowed Africans to leap over fixed-line telephone usage and use financial services without “setting foot in a bank”.

“Now, those technologies are transforming industry, and Africa is the place that stands to benefit most, by leapfrogging older technologies on to a sustainable path to growth and development,” he said.

Underlining Africa’s opportunities and ABB’s key role in unlocking value for its customers through automation is the 40% rise in the group’s 2017 orders across all its divisions, sub-regions and channels, Gu said.

“Africa has the world’s most youthful population. This, combined with improving economic fundamentals, makes the continent ideally positioned to take advantage of new technologies. Training and preparing the next generation of engineers is pivotal.”

He pointed out that Africa had the tools and the means to compete in global markets, adding that by taking advantage of ABB’s digital offering, ABB Ability, Africa would be capable of building robust industries that can compete with rivals in other parts of the globe.

ABB Ability, which was launched last year, works by gathering and analysing data from customers’ operations and applying to that data, knowledge and expertise gained from ABB’s vast global installed base of 70-million connected devices and 70 000 control systems.

“It helps customers in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure develop new processes and advance existing ones by providing insights and optimising planning and controls for real-time operations,” Gu said.

The results can then be fed into control systems to improve key metrics such as factory uptime, speed and yield.

Digital offerings provided by ABB Ability include performance management solutions for asset-intensive industries, control systems for process industries, remote monitoring services for robots, motors and machinery and control solutions for buildings, electric-vehicle charging networks and offshore platforms.

“On the power side, renewables, high-voltage transmission technologies, digital grids and microgrids are extending access to electricity. The microgrids can be monitored and controlled remotely via an ABB Ability wireless network,” he noted.  

Gu pointed out that automation and robotics were driving productivity increases in various industries helping businesses to be competitive in regional and global markets, while digital technologies are providing access to those technologies and markets.

He further noted that new technologies were improving transport links both within Africa and with the rest of the world, as well as making transport and infrastructure more sustainable and efficient.

“With the resulting intelligence, ABB’s customers not only optimise their operations, they can use the insights to develop new business models, for instance by using digital technologies to overcome distance and operate across borders,” he said