THE condition of South Africa’s government-owned assets and deteriorating infrastructure is a serious challenge that frustrates citizens and businesses daily. But key issues like water management, hospitals and logistics in the country can be turned around using locally-developed solutions, according to South African-based enterprise asset management company Pragma.
The South African government manages over 93,000 buildings and 74 hospitals. Many of these assets, belonging to municipalities and state-owned enterprises, have tremendous potential for improvement and revitalisation.
Bani Kgosana (pictured), chief revenue officer at Pragma, explains, “Scheduled maintenance enables best outcomes. Eskom has shown the impact of maintaining its electricity generation and transmission fleet over the last year which has led to more than six months without loadshedding.
“Pragma has developed advanced solutions for maintenance and asset management issues which are being implemented locally and exported beyond our borders. These homegrown solutions have the potential to not only improve maintenance for government-owned assets but optimise them for the greater good of South Africans and our economy.”
Pragma is a specialist enterprise asset management business headquartered in South Africa with enterprise clients in 46 countries. With roots in engineering consulting, the company helps industrial businesses and municipalities maximise their return on asset investments to support highly functional and reliable operations.
“Pragma’s On Key enterprise asset management software enables the end-to-end management of maintenance processes and resource allocation. Resources, including third-party contractors, are tightly managed to remove the risk of work falling behind, jobs completed poorly, or work dragging out due to unprepared or poorly skilled teams not being able to complete the work. An added benefit for contractors is that work is allocated to the most suitable contractor closest to the job. This ensures contractors can respond quickly, complete the job and conclude administrative processes in On Key to get sign-off and submit their invoices. This saves time and costs,” adds Kgosana.
Pragma’s network of contractors is located across the country. A stringent accreditation process ensures that contractors with the right set of skills are identified and trained to legislated standards. Aspects such as hourly rates, the time required to perform a job, and best practices are agreed upon with the client and contractors and set up in On Key.
Spare parts are also specified to ensure that the correct spares are used to prevent re-work due to poor quality. Doing the job properly eliminates the need to revisit sites, saving time, fuel and costs.
“With this approach, Pragma administers the efficient and quick distribution of work to smaller contractors. Instead of a big behemoth making money from government, much maintenance work is outsourced to smaller businesses, ensuring much-needed business for smaller contractors. Our approach has created significant job opportunities for regional SMEs,” says Kgosana.
Positive outcomes
Several municipalities, as well as public-private partnerships in the healthcare sector, have seen positive results from using Pragma’s services. “We are the technology partner for Tsebo on facilities management at Albert Luthuli Hospital in KZN, for instance, one of the best-run public hospitals in the country and this showcases the potential for broader application.”
With Pragma’s active engagement, the electrical support services department of a large metro reported a 2,500% increase in operational output, with accurate asset data driving improved decision-making and reporting. Centralised communication streamlined scheduling, job tracking, and bottleneck identification, while standardised work planning enhanced control.
Managing the tyres of a fleet at a metro’s refuse management department resulted in improvements that saved the metro R10 million a year. The metro’s solid waste department reported a 90% reduction in overdue vehicle services.
Pragma’s On Key offering focuses on:
- Intelligent asset register: Creates a detailed asset register with scalable maintenance plans.
- Work management: Streamlines operational processes to ensure timely maintenance and repairs.
- Supplier material management: Manages suppliers, spares and spending to enhance service delivery and efficiency.
“If the same commitment to planned maintenance that we eventually saw at Eskom can be implemented by water management, healthcare, the building management sector and other utility management sectors, the impact on our country will be immense.
“I invite industry stakeholders, government officials, and potential partners to join us in revitalising our nation’s infrastructure,” concludes Kgosana
