Supplied by Zutari www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I November 2024 27
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Personality Profile Sponsored by :
ANDREW PERKS ’ CAREER IN AMMONIA
Supplied by A . Perks Enterprises
Andrew Perks is a subject expert in ammonia refrigeration .
Since undertaking his apprenticeship in Glasgow in the 1960s
Perks has held positions of contracts engineer , project engineer , refrigeration design engineer , company director for a refrigeration contracting company and eventually owing his own contracting company and Low Temperature Cold Store .
He is now involved in adding skills to the ammonia industry , is Merseta- and Ceta-accredited and has written a variety of unit standards for SAQA that define the levels to be achieved in training in our industry . He is involved in drawing up Ammonia Plant Audits of refrigeration systems to quantify their compliance with the legal requirements of SANS 10147 among many other services to the ammonia industry . He is a SAQCC Gas registered inspector / designer .
Scotland : Perks was born in Glasgow in 1947 . He studied in mechanical engineering where he was involved in plant layout and design . During his time in Glasgow he completed his City & Guilds Certificate and a Higher National Engineering Diploma . After completion of his training at L . Sterne & Company he worked for four years at Howden , a large engineering organisation in Glasgow , and was involved in compressor design and manufacturing in process plants travelling to Europe liaising with clients .
South Africa : He emigrated to South Africa in 1974 and worked for Grenco as a project engineer with food processing plants and refrigeration systems in Cape Town . He was transferred to Johannesburg in 1975 to manage the contracting branch returning to Cape Town at the end of 1977 . In 1981 he joined Cool Engineering as the technical manager and was involved in the fruit and process industry . He was appointed the technical director in 1983 .
In 1986 he went into partnership with Epping Handling to form a subsidiary company called Coldpak Engineering . This company was involved in the packaging industry , specialising in pack sheds and mechanical handling equipment and refrigeration systems . In 1989 Perks purchased the remaining shares in Coldpak and ran the company until 1999 .
It became evident that as the demand for his independent technical skills increased , he was required to become more engaged in consultancy work and in 1996 he formed A . Perks Enterprises . During this time , he has assisted various clients with technical appraisals , insurance and asset valuations of plant and equipment .
Perks designed , project managed the construction of and owned the Montague Gardens Cold Storage Facility from 1995 to 2000 .
In 2004 he withdrew from Coldpak to concentrate on the activities of A . Perks Enterprises , with training in the refrigeration industry being the main focus . Understanding the need to be accredited Perks undertook an assessor and moderator training culminating with full accreditation with Merseta of A . Perks Enterprises as a service provider which has subsequently lapsed .
“ That ’ s me and Gary Smith from ASTI .”
Since then , A . Perks Enterprises have been involved in a variety of activities as follows :
• Drawing up of 14 SAQA unit standards for the refrigeration industry
• Ammonia responses training for site incidents
• Refrigeration plant audits for SANS 10147 compliance
• Project management
• Refrigeration plant design appraisals
• Refrigeration plant enrichment courses
• SABS sub-committee on re-write of next edition of SANS 10147
• Application to DOL concerning amendments to the Pressure Equipment Regulation for the refrigeration industry
• Setting up Ammonia Training Solutions as a separate training entity
• Involved with Merseta in drawing up the apprenticeship training curriculum for the Ammonia industry in South Africa
• Ceta service provider
• Member of the Global Cold Chain Alliance
• Writes a monthly column in Cold Link Africa
• Affiliate of Ammonia Safety Training Institute US
The above are some of the activities that Perks is currently involved in and while the focus has always been refrigeration he is seen as a specialist engineer involved in producing PowerPoint presented training courses in the engineering industry . RACA
Supplied by Zutari www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I November 2024 27