The tour on Tanzania was facilitated by GIZ in a bid to foster interactions between Project teams under the SIPS Project. The tour was characterized by exhibitions at the Saba Saba Grounds, Inter-Project Team interactions and a meeting at the Protea Hotel.

The Interactions were centered mainly on the work that each team was doing and how it can be done better, the role of grants as well as the challenges that have come along the way. The Policy Meeting started off by a Presentation from GIZ Representatives Mr. Shingai Gwatidzo and Sir Willie Siduna. the presentation featured a brief history of the GIZ SIPS Project, Its work and the projects which it had supported to then. The presentation then went on to touch on the future focus of the GIZ SIPS Project.

After the very insightful presentation a discussion was initiated on the work that each team was doing and the challenges therein as well as the successes to the project. Each representative from the various groups shared about their work as well challenges and successes. The majority of challenges were centered on issues to do with high manufacturing costs, which meant the small players would fail to undercut international suppliers of the various products, issues to do with lack of local policies to adopt local products in the Respective Countries. there was also a great mention on the issues to do with Shipping Channels and sanctions which collectively hindered the procurement processes in some entities.

The teams each took with them samples for exhibitions at the DITF Saba Saba Grounds. The busiest days of the whole week were Wednesday and Thursday, but overall the week went by very well with just enough activity at the exhibition Stands.

The DITF had a number of outputs beneficial to the team.

1. Collaboration with the Center for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing and Product Development Technology Station from Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein South Africa.

2. Discussions with INTERGROMED a Medical Devices Manufacturing Company in Egypt.

3. Interactions with other Project Teams under the GIZ SIPS Project, relative to grant management and their various but related work fields.

The team was also part of the discussions on Policy and how it can be adjusted to cater for the thriving of locally grown products.

The visit was necessitated by the meeting of the two counterparts in Dar Es Salam at the DITF in July 2022. the two parties were both exhibiting their work and there came out the initial discussions for possible collaboration with Medical Devices.

Engineer Letsoalo Letsoalo made two presentations on the work done in Rapid Prototyping with 3D Printing. The scope of their work goes beyond medical Implants to aviation parts prototyping and development with the scope of their market encompassing CSIR, CASSIDIAN, AERSUD, SAAB Technologies and Tellumat who are in the mechanical research and aviation space. The entity which was established in 1997 has over the years evolved into a center for rapid prototyping in South Africa. During the first presentation there came out the evidence of the work done. With Additive Manufacturing, the team has been able to work on custom body tissue replacements to cover dents left on people’s faces owing to Cosmetic Surgeries.

The team has worked with Doctors to replace cut out bone sections and retain the structure of people’s faces even after cancerous sections would have been removed. Engineer Letsoalo explained the process of Scanning structures into Solidworks and then generating the missing sections which they then make directly through Titanium 3D Printing or indirectly by making molds for injection of the relevant material.

All the work done by CRPM relative to medical devices is under non-active devices, which was explained as Devices that do not move or have an active interaction which with biological operations but rather are used for support. The team is ISO certified (ISO 13485: 2016) which gives them the ability to Design and Develop and Manufacture Titanium Implants, Contract Produce Implants and also Contract Produce Titanium Implants

During his second presentation. Engineer Letsoalo went on to showcase the equipment that they have and the technologies implemented by each. The team has 8 Plastic Material Printers and 2 metal printers. This gives the team the ability to work on both direct and indirect additive manufacturing process, servicing the needs of their market. The second presentation also featured the history of Additive 3D Printers dating back as early as 1980 and the advancements therein the processes. After the second presentation the team then moved on to the next phase on touring the facility. We got a chance to look at the 11 machines and a clearer picture of Additive Manufacturing. The team then went back into a board room for a brief and final presentation. The presentation featured more of the work that was done by the team in the medical field. One highlight device is the heart valve being tested for possible replacement of worn out valves in the heart.

In the discussion after the presentation Dr Engr Maputi initiated the discussion around collaborative work. CRPM is very much interested in partnering with MEDDES Technologies in work around Additive Manufacturing. CRPM shared details on their collaborative work with Botswana implemented through Southern African Innovation Support. Which involved training of the Tswana nationals relative to Additive Manufacturing and assisting with their setting up of own facilities.

This is obviously great work and can be a good starting point for relationships between the two teams and relevant institutions. To spearhead the collaborative, work the team (MEDDES Technologies) will work on implementing for webinars on the relevant topics and bringing people from home up to speed as to what is possible and what can be done.

The final tour hosted and guided by Mr. Carrel Plekker of the Product Development Technology Station(PDTS) whose fraternity focuses mostly on subtractive manufacturing and metal device design and fabrication using high end programmable CNC machines. The tour was characterized by firstly a showcase of some of the intriguing designs, prototypes and actual products of subtractive manufacturing.

PDST fabricates hands assisted wheel chairs implemented using the high-end CNC machinery and conventional tooling in their workshop. As one the strong collaborative gestures, Dr Engr Maputi highlighted the possibility of the Harare Institute of Technology collaborating with the Product Development Technology Station and UCT on rapid manufacturing of hand assisted and power assisted wheel chairs. Medical devices development and biomedical devices and equipment in general and commonly characterized with precision in component manufacturing. In that regard a collaboration with PDST to the tune of design and manufacturing techniques and not forgetting fabrication of some of our designs through those ties would help the institution grow and advance faster in that respective field.

The major take away from the two centers of innovation was investment in Research and its respective human capital. All the centers were characterized by recent graduates and current post graduate students fielding the current era’s technological problem-solving methodologies.

The setup at the UCT’s innovative centers can utilized to allow physical and distant collaborative research in all mutual engineering fields.