Ray Keefe on Australia’s Advanced Manufacturing Edge
Rick Merten of InsideOut Group has an Engineering Success podcast series.We did an interview together and the results were amazing. One of the best one-on-one interviews I’ve ever had. You Can’t Design a Solution to a Problem You Don’t Understand: Ray Keefe, Successful Endeavours.
Engineering Success with Ray Keefe
Why we need electronics manufacturing in Australia
In this episode of Engineering Success, Ray Keefe — Founder and Managing Director of Successful Endeavours — talks with Rick Merten about building award-winning Australian electronics and why advanced local manufacturing is essential to a resilient economy. Ray argues that Australia ranks poorly in collaboration and commercialization because we over-prioritize transactional cost over ecosystem value. He shares case studies where on-shoring, better design, and whole-of-lifecycle thinking beat “cheap” offshore PCBs, lifting quality, throughput, and margins. Ray explains the mindset shifts that took him from “engineer with a job” to entrepreneur: lead with brand/positioning/pricing, design the business (not just products), and live your values — especially under pressure. Looking ahead, he calls for a national vision that backs high-value manufacturing in areas like clean energy, logistics, and defense, and he commits to designing products intended to be Made in Australia from day one.
Key takeaways
- Don’t chase lowest unit cost—optimize total cost of ownership and speed to scale.
- Collaboration is Australia’s unlock; design for partnerships, not silos.
- Brand, positioning, and pricing come before sales tactics.
- Small “hot teams” of domain experts can outperform larger groups.
- Aim to build capability that outlives the founder; systemize your intuition.
Rick Merten
I really enjoyed doing this podcast with Rick Merten. His preparation was exemplary and this is by far the best podcast process I’ve been involved in.
Plus I got to unpack why I believe manufacturing is critical to Australia’s future and how I think we can go about building Australia’s economy so our grandchildren have the resources they will need to tackle the problems of their day. Made in Australia is a core part of what it takes for us to remain a viable economy.
We have a full transcript of the interview available at the link below.
Ray Keefe : Engineering Success Podcast
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Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design, Embedded Software Development and Electronics Manufacturing, focusing on products that are intended to be profitably Made In Australia. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for more than 40 years.
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