His address was a summation of his prowess as a scholar of note in the field of engineering. In his address, he presented Design-for-Testability: the solution to improved test engineering and product quality as a tribute of his work of many years as artisan, technologist and engineer. His presentation was based on issues such as the importance of testing, digital circuits, design-for-testability, virtual commissioning, condition monitoring and the future of testing, and how they all fit to one another. “Testing is not a once off exercise; it is an all-time operational task. The main purpose for testing is to ensure that all equipment is working according to the standards of what it’s designed for and that it is reliable and operating according to its specifications. In today’s world, we sometimes take it for granted that electronics are part of our lives until technology fails us and things do not work properly,” these were the opening remarks of Prof. Herman Vermaak at his Professorial Inauguration. When unpacking his work to the audience, Prof. Herman explained that Testing becomes a major activity in any developing life cycle. 

He also explained the importance of testing every piece of equipment that goes into the designing and manufacturing of a complete product. “It is very important that each piece of equipment is tested, however not all application are easy to test; sometimes some parts of the circuit will be tested once and never again because it is not easy and it is very costly. To determine when testing can take place depends on the type of media or circuit being tested. If it is in a design then testing will happen in the beginning and will carry on throughout,” he said. He also spoke about virtual commissioning with design for testability as a technique used when developing a system without having hardware and conditioning monitoring that provide data of process indicators when applied in an automated environment. “For future of testing, we are looking at utilizing smart technology like internet of things, testing Silicon smart cut, smart manufacturing test bed and robotic systems.” Professor Herman Vermaak is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology: Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering. He was Head of the Department for eleven years and Acting-Dean of the Faculty for fourteen months. He has presented numerous papers at international conferences, published widely in international journals, and supervised twenty-eight completed post-graduate studies. He has also produced two technical reports for Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Reconfigurable Assembly Systems. Both Profs. Henk de Jager, acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal and Alfred Ngowi commended Prof. Vermaak for reaching a pinnacle of his illustrious career in academia. Prof. de Jager said that at CUT, all its academic staff members are expected to address their peers and CUT community on their research and lessons to share. 

Prof. Alfred Ngowi, Dean: Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology commended Prof. Vermaak on his work and achievements in his career stating that in the five years that he has known and worked with him, he has always known him as a rare germ and a cutting edge researcher. “In my years as an academic, I have never found a person with a rare combination of skills and knowledge like Prof. Herman. In this career, you can find an artisan or engineer or technologist, but not all three in one but Prof Herman is a combination of all three. There are only a few people with that combination,” he concluded. 

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Prof. Henk de Jager, Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagements; Dr Nomathemba Mrwetyana, CUT Registrar, the newly inaugurated Professor, Prof. Herman Vermaak, Prof. David Ngidi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning and Prof. Alfred Ngowi, Dean: Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.