Tag Archives: Australian Electronics Manufacturers

Casey Business Awards 2013

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Casey Business Awards 2013

We found out in August that we were Casey Business Awards 2013 Finalists in 2 categories:

  • Business and Professional Services Award
  • Manufacturer of the Year

 

Tracey Curro

Tracey Curro

Tonight at the Casey Business Awards Gala Dinner our MC, Tracey Curro did an excellent job of running the night. And we were thoroughly entertained by Max Walker who told some of his story and left me with a very profound insight into success.

Max Walker

Max Walker

The part of his presentation that resonated with me was the story about winning his first baggy green cap as he made the Australian Cricket Team. He went home, put the cap on and showed his Dad. His Dad asked for the cap and then put it on. And in that moment Max knew that his dad had believed in him and hoped for him long before he had been able to do it for himself.

Wow. This night might be about success for some businesses in winning their specific categories, but it was equally a win for everyone who believed in each of those business owners or operators long before they had won anything themselves.

Casey Business Awards 2013 Winners

Back to the awards process.

We won the Business and Professional Services Award 2013. We were pretty stoked about that.

The Manufacturer of the Year went to WasTech Engineering. Since we are primarily a service to Australian Electronics Manufacturers by designing new products for them, I have been very pleased to even be a finalist in this category. We do manufacture products but never in competition with other local manufacturers.

It was also a great night for Wastech Engineering who ultimately took out Casey Business of the Year 2013. So well done. And this is the second year running that a local manufacturer has won the award and 3 of the 4 years were manufacturing related with us winning Casey Business of the Year 2010.

Casey Business Awards Winners 2013

Casey Business Awards Winners 2013

But it didn’t stop there as the judges handed out some additional awards. I’m pleased to announce that we also received the Casey Business Award 2013 for Innovation.

This is the final year of the Casey Business Awards. Next year they are combining with the Shire of Cardinia to hold the combined Casey Cardinia Business Awards. We will also be involved in that. The two councils working together should prove to be a tremendous success. I’m certainly looking forward to it.

And at the end of the night we got a shot with Max Walker. He really is a legend.

Ray Keefe, Junette Keefe & Max Walker

Ray Keefe, Junette Keefe & Max Walker

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2013 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

Melbourne South East Small Business of the Year 2013

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Small Business of the Year

Tonight we were awarded the Small Business Award for 2013 at the Melbourne’s South East Business Awards.

 

Melbourne's South East Small Business Award 2013

MSE Small Business Award 2013

The prize was given jointly to us and Gaia Skin Naturals who were Casey Business of the Year 2012.

 

Small Business Awards 2013

Small Business Award 2013

It was a fabulous dinner at the Frankston Arts Centre and we were pleased to be there with a great bunch of friends and colleagues to celebrate the night.

 

Successful Endeavours Friends And Colleages

MSE Small Business Award 2013

Above we have Graeme & Sharon Lauridsen, Junette & Ray Keefe, Matt And Bec Ratten, Lei and JayJay Shi. And our thanks to Ross & Jenny Neilson who took the photo and also joined us to celebrate.

 

The Melbourne South East regions consists of the following councils:

 

  • Cardinia Shire Council
  • City of Casey
  • City of Greater Dandenong
  • City of Kingston
  • Frankston City Council
  • Knox City Council
  • Maroondah City Council
  • Monash City Council
  • Mornington Peninsula Shire
  • Whitehorse City Council

 

And looking back on it, I realise that we spent an evening in a room full of businesses that are looking forward; who are trying to be part of the solution, not the problem. Because those are the kind of businesses that engage with the business awards process, who keep trying to improve themselves. Thinking about it, two years ago we were finalists for Melbourne’s South East Small Business of the Year and two years later we are joint winners. So that is progress. But everyone else present is doing the same. I felt very encouraged, not just because we came home with a trophy, but because so many other businesses are working hard to make this a better world.

 

And now a few thank yous.

 

First of all to Junette Keefe who owns and runs Successful Endeavours with me. We could not have achieved any of this without her support and tireless attention to detail. Any typos I put into this post will probably be fixed before you even look at it because she will sort it out.

 

And also to the rest of the team at Successful Endeavours, who have joined with me to create world class electronics products for Australian Electronics Manufacturers.

 

And our thanks go to the City of Casey and the Economic Development Department who have put together the Casey Business Awards process and been such proactive supporters of local business.

 

And to Dr Marc Dussault, The Exponential Growth Strategist, our business mentor, who has taught us how to build a successful business. We are outstanding engineers but they don’t teach you anything about running and building a business when you study engineering. Marc has taught us what we could not have learned on our own and held us to the highest standards so that we can be as good at business as we are at engineering.

 

And finally, to Arthur Cherrie, who first planted the thought in my mind that I could be excellent at business, long before I believed it myself. We all owe a great deal to those who have encouraged us.

 

And thank you to you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you are encouraged.

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2013 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd

Casey Business Awards 2012 Finalist

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Casey Business and Professional Services

This is the category we won in 2010 when we also took out Casey Business of the Year. This is for our Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development services where we create the electronics product designs needed by Australian Electronics Manufacturers to be able to compete both locally and internationally.

 

Casey Business Awards Finalists 2012

Casey Business Awards Finalists 2012

Casey Manufacturer of the Year

We are finalists again in the category of Manufacturer of the Year. This is for our Electronics Manufacturing service which we provide to clients following on from our Electronics Design service. We have to understand manufacturing in order to do Design for Manufacture and Assembly, also known as DFMA, so we can take on this role for those clients who want it.

 

Smarter Electronics Products using smarter Low Cost Electronics Manufacture processes, can compete internationally if the formula is right. This requires the combination of:

 

  • Product Positioning and Marketing
  • Sales Channel
  • Product Design
  • Cost Effective Electronics Manufacture

 

We are pleased to be serving Australian Electronics Manufacturing Industry who are trying to do just that.

 

Congratulations to the other Casey Business Awards 2012 finalists.

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2012 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd

Casey Business Awards 2011

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Manufacturer of the Year: Finalist

In 2010 we were also finalists for Casey Manufacturer of the Year and we achieved that again in 2011 at the Casey Business Awards.

 

Electronics Manufacturer

Casey Manufacturer Of The Year Finalist 2011

Our congratulations go to Rex Vandenberg and the team at Injectronics for their win as Casey Manufacturer of the Year 2011. Very much deserved and a classic example of an Innovative Australian Electronics Manufacturer.

 

For those who know us well, we are not primarily an Electronics Manufacturer but provide the Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development for new or improved products for Australian Electronics Manufacturers. Another way of saying this is that we are R&D, Research and Development, for hire. And we sometimes also handle production logistics where that suits our clients since we have all the contacts and know all the processes. So I was very pleased to be recognised for how good our Electronics Manufacturing capability really is. Manufacturing is the largest economic sector in Casey and we were recognised as being in the top 3 manufacturers at the Casey Business Awards in 2011. This is also a good reason why the clients we serve end up with outstanding Electronics Designs that are well suited to Low Cost Electronics Manufacture; we understand Electronics Manufacturing.

 

Now if only they had a category for Electronics Design …

 

Casey Business of the Year 2011

 

MadCap Cafe

MadCap Cafe

Congratulations to MadCap Cafe for their win as Casey Business of the Year for 2011. As winners of Casey Business of the Year 2010 we know what a boost this can be to a business and I particularly liked their focus on making coffee to provide employment and opportunities to those suffering from mental illness.

 

Electronics Design

From the team at Successful Endeavours, recently recognised nationally for our Electronics Design capability with a win for Electronics News Future Award: Industrial Electronics, we would like to thank our suppliers, clients and supporters for being part of the journey of supporting Australian Electronics Manufacturers in 2011. And the year isn’t over yet!

 

Arend Carter, Junette Keefe and Ray Keefe

Electronics Design Team at Successful Endeavours

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2011 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd

Casey Business Awards 2011 Finalist

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Casey Business Awards

Casey Business Awards

Casey Business Awards 2011

Successful Endeavours are the current holders of Casey Business of the Year and we have been selected as Finalists in the Casey Business Awards 2011. We continue to find the City of Casey to be a very business friendly environment and these awards are just one example of many things they do to encourage and support local businesses.
The finalists were announced by City of Casey Mayor Shar Balmes.

 

Shar Balmes City of Casey Mayor

Shar Balmes Mayor of Casey

 

The guest speaker was Futurist Paul Higgins, a consultant with Emergent Futures. He spoke about the changing role of the Internet and Social Media in how people make buying decisions and perceive value, and challenged us to think about how our businesses would address this challenge, both in defending against competitors and developing new business opportunities because of it. I was very impressed and have signed up for a trial of the scanning service offered by Emergent Futures where they bring together information on a particular area of interest and produce a consise and easily followed view of what this means. We are an ideas company and I can’t see how we won’t come up with at least 10 times the asking price of $49.94 a year in new ideas from this material.

 

Paul Higgins aka Futurist Paul

Paul Higgins aka Futurist Paul

 

Manufacturer Of The Year

We were also finalists in this category last year and some of you might be wondering how a business that focuses on Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development for Australian Electronics Manufacturers can also be a candidate for Manufacturer Of The Year?

 

The answer is straight forward. Having completed the design of a new electronics product, some of our clients get us to also manage the production logistics for them and either deliver programmed, tested and calibrated PCB sets to them; partially assembled product or fully assembled product. I though an example would help here.

 

We will call this one Client X. For Client X we do the following:

 

  • source all the components including electronics components, case, labels, batteries and machined and LASER cut items
  • get the PCBs loaded (we can handle small quantities in house but once you get over 30 PCB sets it becomes cheaper to use a dedicated SMT line)
  • program, test and calibrate the loaded PCBs
  • fit labels to the front chassis and then fit all the connectors, indicators and switches
  • fit the battery to the case
  • assembly the unit including the seals (this is an IP65 rated product)
  • apply serial numbers
  • final assembly and test then pack in shipping cartons with labels and matching serial numbers
  • ship to client who then sells them direct to their customers

 

 

In the case of Client X it wasn’t worth setting up an internal production line to handle a Niche Electronics product made in quantities of less than 500 per annum. Whereas we can handle this very cost effectively. We have a few strategies we use to radically reduce the cost of product test and calibration but I’ll save that for another post.

 

We will find out on 27 October 2011 at the Casey Business Awards Gala Dinner how we go in 2011. But for me, we are already winners.

 

Thanks again to both our suppliers and clients for providing us with great components and for giving us the amazing challenges and opportunites to create new electronics products. For one example of this, check out the 2011 Electronics News Future Award for Industrial Electronics we received for developing a Capacitor Bank Controller for ABB.

 

ABB CQ900R Smart Controller

ABB CQ900R Smart Controller

 

We are also pleased to have support from AMTIL and ManufactureLink.

 

Ray Keefe has been developing high quality and market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. For more information go to his LinkedIn profile at Ray Keefe. This post is Copyright © 2011 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd