Ai2SA Petrus Klopper Biography

PETRUS KLOPPER (SENIOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECT)

After completing compulsory military services as a signal man Petrus completed his ND Electrical Engineering Light Current in 1994 at a Technicon in Johannesburg close to were he grew up. While studying he obtained 18 distinctions for various subjects and won the certificate for the highest marks in Power Electronics.

In 1995 Petrus joined a supplier of Automation and Drives equipment through which he gained his practical experience and proceeded to be employed as a service technician responsible for attending to client plant breakdowns and providing telephonic support.

In 1997 Petrus joined a System Integrator (SI) and was responsible for automation on Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) machines. These were mainly packaging machines and his responsibilities included designing, automating and supporting these machines.

In 1998 the SI and OEM separated and Petrus became part of the SI that was active in a broad market segment, from Food & Beverage through to mining. Here he was mainly involved in research and development related projects that often had high levels of complexity or risk to them.

In 2001 a listed ICT company acquired the SI. Petrus became responsible for standards, methodologies, training, research and development and managing the complete engineering team (from a projects perspective).

In 2002 Petrus moved into consulting to complement the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) team and focused on strategies for clients.

In 2003 Petrus was called upon to become the consulting engineer on the biggest automation project ever undertaken by the ICT Company.

Early 2004 Petrus was tasked to manage the Pre-Sales department and to set best practice for tendering.

At the end of 2004 Petrus was made responsible for the consulting portfolio were the main aim was to add long term strategic value to clients and focus on areas such as strategy, bleeding edge reviews, etc.
In February 2006 Petrus joined a newly formed SI as an employee with the title Consulting Director. Here he was responsible to grow the portfolio while also being responsible for the delivery of various consulting projects.

In mid May 2007 Petrus started AI2SA after realizing that for various reasons it made more sense to add value to more than one entity at a time.

Currently Petrus is tasked to grow the business and is also responsible for all aspects from idea generation up to and sometimes beyond implementation.

Some of the memorable events were a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assist in the working relations with our partners. A visit to Germany to learn a specific brewing system as well as visits to Sun City and Swaziland to attend supplier conferences. Also most recently a visit to Italy to review a certain suppliers manufacturing suite offering comes to mind...

The continuous improvement process conducted at the ICT Company taught Petrus a lot about improvement, specifically when people are at stake and have a chance to loose their employment.

Having completed over 50 reasonably sized projects in different industries while performing functions from sales to support as while being on different sides of the table (client, supplier, SI and OEM), has provided Petrus with an in depth understanding of the different aspects of business.

Some of the other prizes received were Petrus was personally involved include Best DCS Project for the Brewery Project, Best ROI project from a specific SCADA vendor, 2003 Team Billable for largest ever automation Project, Best Standards Project from another SCADA vendor and finally the prize won by ICT Company for their ISO Certified Methodology.

Petrus has also successfully completed various courses both technical and non technical. The focus was specifically on management ranging from a one day MBA and assertiveness to various leadership related courses.

Petrus has also published a range of articles on varying topics and has been a key note speaker to various conferences.

On a personal level Petrus is also responsible as a complex chairperson were he has turned around the finances over the past few years. Petrus is also an active member in the community and a member of the Nature Friends Non Profit Organization in the area that he resides.

In the near future Petrus hopes to register for a degree in Operational Research, which provides mathematical means to solving a range of complex problems.

So in conclusion Petrus is an analytical factual individual focused on planning and achieving a positive outcome, mitigating risks, setting exceptional high standards and has strong business and personal ethics.