Plant maintenance, test + measurement
In workshops, plants and pits across Southern Africa, the cra of machinery maintenance is changing faster than many teams can keep up with. Ever-tightening production targets, increasingly complex asset fleets, and the rising cost of getting maintenance wrong all contribute to industrial ineiciency. Maintenance training boosts uptime
O ¡en, the people charged with keeping mission-critical machinery running safely and eiciently have had limited access to structured, modern training. This results in skills gaps in maintenance disciplines – the skills that determine whether a gearbox lasts through another overhaul cycle, whether a transformer runs cool through summer, or whether a vehicle is parked idle to avoid component failure. Condition monitoring specialist company, WearCheck, which this year celebrates 50 years of service to industry, addresses the skills need with a wide range of practical, hands-on courses covering various topics related to condition monitoring and maintenance. Technical Manager for WearCheck, Steven Lumley, who oversees the company’s extensive training programme, emphasises that the courses are designed to be practical, current and immediately useful.
before a certificate is issued. Many of the courses also carry CPD (continuing professional development) points, giving those who complete the training successfully, and their employer, external recognition. WearCheck’s courses range from general oil analysis to transformer maintenance, thermography and many other reliability solutions services. Courses are presented by WearCheck experts who are skilled in each field. The company has run oil analysis courses for more than 20 years and since 2015, it has been accredited to run Mobius courses. (The Mobius Institute is a global organisation that provides training and certification in reliability improvement, condition monitoring, and precision maintenance.)
Critical maintenance programmes Oil analysis
“For customers, our goal is that their newly trained employees add measurable operational gains, ensuring positive returns on investment in upskilling their maintenance crew.” Heavy industry in the Southern African region, including mining, manufacturing, power generation, transport and logistics, relies on rotating machinery and electrical assets that fail in predictable ways.
Oil analysis is the gateway condition monitoring discipline for many plants because it touches lubrication, contamination control and wear detection in one system. Courses start with fundamentals – tribology basics, lubricant types and functions – and move through sampling technique (the most common source of error), contamination control, and the interpretation of lab reports. Vibration analysis and precision maintance (Mobius courses) Mechanical reliability is won or lost at installation. Precision alignment, balancing and basic vibration know-how reduce destructive forces before they start. WearCheck delivers Mobius- aligned training from Categories I to III, plus short, focused modules in precision sha¡ alignment and balancing. Infra-red thermography Heat is a universal language. Thermographic inspection helps maintenance teams find overloaded electrical connections, failing bearings, fluid blockages and insulation breakdown, without having to dismantle equipment. Transformer oil testing and electrical asset health For plants with their own substations or distributed generation, transformer reliability is essential. WearCheck’s transformer oil training demystifies dissolved gas analysis (DGA), furan testing and moisture control. Good habits increase uptime Across multiple industries, the pattern is consistent: when crews adopt a few good habits, equipment uptime improves and costs stabilise. Lumley outlines below some typical improvements that customers attribute to training and follow-through. Cleaner oil, longer life. After sampling and contami- nation-control training, a mining customer tightened decanting practice and added simple breathers to
Steven Lumley, Technical Manager, WearCheck.
Translating analysis into action Many crews excel at corrective tasks and heroic breakdown response but are less confident in the ‘prevention toolkit’: condition-based lubrication, oil sampling and interpretation, precision alignment and balancing, basic vibration screening, thermographic inspection, and the ability to translate instrument readings into action. Add to that a generation shi¡ – with experienced artisans retiring and younger technicians stepping into responsibility quickly – and the skills gap widens. When basic skills are uneven, plants lean more heavily on OEM callouts and run-to-failure habits, driving cost and risk. WearCheck has trained thousands of technicians, artisans and engineers across Africa in the fundamentals that keep assets healthy. Courses are built around real plant scenarios, live demonstrations and hands-on exercises. Delegates graduate with real know-how they can apply on the next shi¡. Lumley makes the point that continual advances in condition monitoring and reliability practice mean teams need structured, ongoing training. And she adds that WearCheck’s programme design is anchored in practical, applied material that is constantly revised and updated in line with the latest developments in technology. To ensure delegates gain maximum value from completing the training, many of WearCheck’s courses finish with a competency-based assessment, which must be completed
Shesby Chabaya, Head of operations at WearCheck Zimbabwe, conducts training for customers’ teams there.
18 Electricity + Control MAY 2026
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