Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 16 December 2025

Dennis Swanepoel of WearCheck’s reliability solutions division has just made history when he became the very first Master Vibration Analyst in South Africa after he met all certification requirements, and also passed his CAT IV exam recently held through the Mobius Institute in South Africa - with flying colours, to boot.

As a Master Vibration Analyst, Dennis is qualified to lead condition monitoring teams, and has deep insight into the dynamics and failure modes of machines. He can design tests to solve complicated problems, and no rotating machine problem is too difficult for him to solve. In short, with his qualification, Dennis carries the highest regard in the field of machine condition monitoring.

The Mobius Cat IV course covered advanced measurement signal processing techniques, torsional vibration and cross-channel measurements, dynamics including mass/stiffness/damping and natural frequencies, modal analysis and operating deflection shapes, orbit and centreline analysis, rotor dynamics, correction techniques including isolation, damping, and tuned absorbers, and other advanced topics.

Dennis, you have done WearCheck proud… huge congratulations, we are extremely proud of you!

WearCheck runs a wide selection of training courses. For more info and a training timetable, please click here

WearCheck Bloemfontein now has a convenient sample drop box attached to the front gate, making life simpler for local customers. All they need to do, is drop off filled sample containers into the box, which is cleared several times per day. The box is extremely secure and sample bottles can only be removed by someone with a key to unlock it.

Pictured here is WearCheck consultant Don Geyer next to the sample drop box in Bloemfontein

WearCheck has plenty of exciting news to share – the acquisition of a company which spells good news for the transformer industry, investment in brand new laboratory instruments, the launch of the new WearCheck app, and plenty more interesting snippets. Read all about it in the latest issue of the Monitor newsletter.

Also featured in Monitor are tips on the effective management of lubes and other fluids, which often makes up a large portion of spend for companies.  Therefore, good TFM (total fluid management) is critical in order to safeguard the investment.

You will also find other technical tips, information on WearCheck’s training courses and much more…

To read the latest issue of Monitor, please click here

WearCheck pioneers condition monitoring app

The launch of WearCheck Mobile, our brand new interactive condition monitoring application (app), enables customers to have vital information about the condition of their components at their fingertips 24/7/365.

Managing director Neil Robinson believes that WearCheck is one of only a handful of condition monitoring companies in the world, and possibly the first in Africa, to develop and launch an app of this nature. He is confident it will substantially improve customers’ benefits from their condition monitoring programme by allowing them to make virtually instantaneous maintenance decisions based on reliable data which is highly accessible.

Our customers can now download WearCheck Mobile and, at their fingertips via their mobile device, access a host of critical information pertaining to machinery condition. This data is immediately available even while patrolling the factory floor or inspecting mining machinery on-site.

To download the free app, visit either Google Play Store or Apple Store and search for WearCheck Mobile. 

WearCheck’s IT manager Eddie Perumal outlines some of the app’s features. ‘Customers can access reports and view their current samples list. As an optional feature, this keeps track of unread web/app reports, and notifications about items on this list are sent out as reminders.

‘Sample reports can be viewed on the mobile device as either one page (“concise”), or two page (“full”) pdf documents. Single or multiple pdf reports can be emailed to different recipients simultaneously.

‘Sample data can be submitted, either via the equipment/component search option (recommended), or via the “submit samples” option, where equipment/component verification is needed for currently-listed machinery. Where applicable, new equipment/components information is created in the WearCheck system. Customers can also view their five-day submission history.

‘One of the highlights and unique features of the app is the interactive key, where customers can ask a diagnostician about a specific sample, and receive an emailed reply on their mobile device.’

WearCheck IT manager Eddie Perumal shows off some of the devices onto which the brand new WearCheck app has been downloaded – it is compatible with Android and Apple (iOS) systems and gives maintenance managers immediate access to crucial data about machinery components, at their fingertips.

WearCheck will be at the 17th annual African Utility Week, which takes place from 16 – 18 May in Cape Town. This will be the first time that WearCheck attends this global meeting of African power and water utility professionals.

Ian Gray, from WearCheck’s newly-formed transformer reliability services division, will be based at the Doble Engineering stand at booth number J12.

The primary function of the new transformer division is the promotion of transformer health through the regular assessment of insulating fluid and diagnosis of the results.

Please come and meet Ian and chat about how we can help you reduce maintenance costs for your transformers, as well as boosting their availability and improving productivity.

For more infomation on the show and to activate your exhibition free pass please click visit http://www.african-utility-week.com

WearCheck recently bought out Transformer Chemistry Services (TCS), adding an already-established transformer analysis and maintenance division to the company’s condition monitoring portfolio.

Coupled with our Africa-wide network, the expertise of TCS and a general growth in the number of transformers across the continent, WearCheck is now poised to provide large-scale and widespread comprehensive transformer reliability services.

The primary function of the newly-formed transformer division is the promotion of transformer health through the regular assessment of insulating fluid and diagnosis of the results.

We now offer the transformer tests done by TCS to our existing transformer oil analysis programme, increasing the number of available fluid and non-fluid tests, such as Insulation Paper Quality Testing.

TCS was established in Westville, Durban in 1992 by Ian Gray, who has run the company for the past 25 years.

Offering the full spectrum of transformer reliability solutions by one condition monitoring company – this is one of the key benefits of the merger of TCS into WearCheck. So says WearCheck MD Neil Robinson, who constantly strives to provide customers with value-for-money services that reliably boost plant availability.

Says Robinson, ‘The transition of TCS into WearCheck is already underway and is an extremely smooth process, particularly since the two companies share an absolute dedication to the integrity of data and a parallel commitment to customer service excellence.

‘From WearCheck’s side, we extend a very warm welcome to all the current TCS customers, and we look forward to taking new transformer clients on board to experience our new one-stop transformer maintenance shop.’

Shaking hands on the deal – WearCheck MD Neil Robinson (right) and TCS MD Ian Gray discuss the details of the merger of TCS into WearCheck.  For customers operating transformers, the merger means all transformer maintenance needs can now be met under one roof.

Just plane condition monitoring . . . the WearCheck brand reached new heights recently where the company logo holds pride of place on the fuselage and wings of one of the aircraft of an air acrobatics team sponsored by holding company Torre Industries. Look out for the plane flying over various sporting events in the greater Gauteng area!

We recently invested in excess of R1.7 million in new high-tech equipment in both the transformer and fuel sections of our Joburg-based Speciality laboratory.

The Kruss K11 tensiometer, an ADU 5 distillation unit, a SVM3001 stabinger viscometer as well as the PMA 5 Pensky-Martens closed-cup flash point tester are among the new pieces gracing the countertops in the lab.

These highly accurate, sophisticated instruments - which have boosted the lab productivity by offering new tests and saving time on existing ones - have also reduced the turnaround time to generate customers’ sample results.

Pic 1: Senior laboratory technician at WearCheck, Lizzy Chabangu, operates the condition monitoring company’s brand new PMA5 Pensky Martens closed cup flashpoint tester in Johannesburg recently.

 Pic 2: WearCheck recently invested in a range of sophisticated new laboratory equipment to boost productivity. Here, laboratory technician Msutu Nyokana operates the new Kruss K11 tensiometer.

Pic 3: WearCheck continues to lead the way in the condition monitoring arena and boost productivity, this time by investing in the latest international laboratory technology in the form of several new instruments. Here, the new ADU5 distillation unit is operated by senior lab technician Lizzy Chabangu of WearCheck. 

WearCheck was once again present at Mining Indaba 2017 recently, where many people came to the stand to chat about condition monitoring. This year, WearCheck shared a stand with sister company Set Point Laboratories (SPL), which is also part of holding company Torre Analytical Services.

Standing by to discuss the latest trends in oil analysis and other reliability solutions techniques were (from left) WearCheck MD Neil Robinson and technical manager Steven Lumley. With them (right) is Johan Botes, CEO of Torre Industries, which owns Torre Analytical Services

From small beginnings as a soil-testing business based in the garage of founder Lesley Crawford and her business partner Gary Brown over 40 years ago, WearCheck has grown into one of the leading condition monitoring companies on the African continent today.

Lesley, who now lives in France, made a special visit to the company on a recent trip back to South Africa. As many of the current employees in the Pinetown branch were already employed by the time Lesley left the company in 2005, her visit was a happy reunion for these folk. Newer staff members enjoyed getting to meet the amazing lady whose foresight, scientific knowledge and business acumen helped set WearCheck onto a growth course that still hasn’t ended.

Managing director Neil Robinson presented her with some WearCheck memorabilia to celebrate the company’s 40^th birthday, including a book on the history of WearCheck, a commemorative latte glass and, of course, some cake.