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.

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

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 Electroncis 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!

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

Exponential Entrepreneur

In 2010 I was pleasantly surprised to receive an Exponential Entrepreneur of the Year award from our Business Mentor Dr Marc Dussault, The Exponential Growth Strategist of Exponential Programs. Only 5 awards were given out in 2010.

Exponential Entrepreneur 2011 Ray Keefe

A year has gone by and I was surprised and very pleased to be awarded an Exponential Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2011. This time only 3 awards were given out and this was the only one in Victoria.

If you are wondering why I am looking more casual, it is because we were at a Business Blogging for Sales Lead Generation event run by Marc so I had no idea this was going to happen. And here I am 24 hours later blogging about it.

Successful Endeavours’ Team

This award was only possible because of the great team we have at Successful Endeavours. My thanks go to Junette Keefe and Arend Carter for their support and business excellence during 2011. So far 2011 has seen 2 new awards and 2 finalist positions for either myself or Successful Endeavours. And it isn’t over yet.

Exponential Entrepreneur 2011

All this comes only 2 days before we find out if Successful Endeavours is also taking home an award in the 2011 Casey Business Awards. If you hadn’t caught up with it, we are finalists for Manufacturer of the Year in the City of Casey Business Awards for 2011.

Ray Keefe: Exponential Entrepreneur 2011

I’ll be posting again soon.

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

Electronics Design in Melbourne

Successful Endeavours was featured recently in the Berwick Pakenham Gazette after winning the Electronics News Future Award for Industrial Electronics for 2011.  I was asked what this meant by someone who knew nothing about electronics. I had to scratch my head about that. I’ve been doing this for 30 years so it is obvious to me but clearly that won’t be the case for most other people. What I came up with is this:

“If this were an athletics sports event, we just won gold in the Australian Nationals”.

When I think about it like that, then it feels pretty good. Here is the article from the Star News Group on 14 September 2011. It took me a little while to get a copy because it wasn’t delivered to our business and this is why I am posting this so late.

Electronics Design in Melbourne

The online version can be found at:

• Electronics Design wins national award for Berwick
• Electronics Design win for Succcessful Endeavours

One thing that does confuse some of the people we know is how it is possible for a small business in prime retail territory in Berwick Village to be one of the top Electronics Design companies in Australia?

I think this is a very Australian phenomenon. Many of us are way better than we think we are. But we tend to push that aside and just plow on. This is also one of the reasons Australia is very good at coming up with new ideas, but then very poor at bringing those ideas to the market and making money from them. I have a bit more to say on that but will save it for another post.

So back to being located in Berwick Village. Our office in Berwick is on the first floor with lots of light and is a great thinking space. We have plenty of local cafes to go to. In fact, in June 2009 after we had settled in we decided to check out one new cafe or restaurant for lunch each week. November 2009 comes around and we have still not got to all of them! That is a lot of cafes. Plus it is nice for our clients, many of whom are in industrial estates or zones, to come to somewhere as beautiful as Berwick to meet with us. Below are some pictures of our office.

Successful Endeavours Berwick

Our contacts page also has a picture of the outside of the Successful Endeavours Office plus a Google Map, Melways references and GPS coordinates.

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

Casey Business Awards

Casey Business Awards 2011

Shar Balmes Mayor of Casey

Paul Higgins aka Futurist Paul

Manufacturer Of The Year

• 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

ABB CQ900R Smart Controller

Industrial Electronics

Industrial Electronics Future Award 2011

Electronics News Future Awards Industrial Electronics

The Electronics News Future Awards are the premier Electronics Design awards in Australia, a point that was made at the awards ceremony by one of the sponsors, Kontron. Kevin Gomez, Editor of Electronics News, speaking about the winners in each category said “These 6 projects represent some of the most outstanding work being done in Australia today”.

Future Awards Industrial Electronics Trophy

As well as handing out trophies, there were 3 keynote speakers and a roundtable discussion on the future of Australian Electronics Manufacturing. Electronics News are covering the outcome of the discussion in detail in their October magazine. We look forward to their coverage of this very important topic.

Electronics News have recently released profiles of each of the winning entries at Future Awards 2011: The Winners and Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research; declared that the companies profiled by Electronics News showed that Australia can Win The Innovation Race.

We also appreciate the support from VECCI and ManufactureLink with their coverage of this success as well as the Star News Group.  The articles are at:

• Industrial Electronics Award VECCI
• National Industrial Electronics Award Manufacture Link
• Industrial Electronics Award Berwick Gazette
• They’re Bright Sparks Pakenham Gazette

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

Industrial Electronics

We are very excited to announce that we have won another major award. This time it is for the Electronics News Future Awards for 2011 in the category of Industrial Electronics with Best Industrial Electronics Application.

Electronics News Future Awards

In 2011 the awards are followed up by a roundtable discussion on the future of Australian Electronics. As a passionate support of Australian Electronics Manufacturers this is something I would have been keen to attend even if we hadn’t of won one of the awards.

Details on the Electronics News Future Awards categories and the entry process are available at Recognising Innovation.

And our thanks go to our clients, suppliers and supporters for your ongoing faith in us.

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

We recently had the pleasure of hearing Max Walker speak at a Casey Business Breakfast where he shared his story and some insights he had into careers and business. I have been invited to share about how the Casey Business Awards in 2010 had benefited Successful Endeavours and was interviewed by David Neitz and then had a front row seat to hear Max Walker share at length.

David Neitz interviews Ray Keefe

I was very impressed. Max Walker is a wonderful storyteller and when you hear him speak he paints a picture with words that is captivating and  inspiring. There were 2 specific take away points for me:

• you have to spot and take the opportunities others miss, but only where your strengths are
• you have to block out the Dream Stealers. Whenever you dream, the dream stealers will try and stop you.

Ray Keefe, Max Walker and Junette Keefe

For the first example, Max Walker talked about his books. He was writing short stories for a news paper. After he had a few, it was suggested to him to turn them into a book. He approached the paper and they happily gave him full permission and full copyright because they had already used them and saw no further value in them. He used them as the basis for his number 1 best seller How To Hypnotise Chooks . The key here was that he had been doing television presenting but no-one could write it like he spoke it. He had a unique story telling style. So he started writting his own scripts. That led to some short story writing, the news papers short stories and then full on books. The opportunity came from leveraging his story telling skill, which he now knew how to put in writing, and mixed with his celebrity status created the opportunity to write books, 7 of which have been best sellers. This was possible because Max Walker had the talent and had developed the supporting skill to be able to take the opportunity. But he wasn’t aware of just how outstanding he really was until after he had done it.

Hmm… I wonder what opportunities I am overlooking right now?

How about you?

Thinking About Opportunities

The second example is something we all have to deal with. I have a dream! Famous first words for most of us, made iconic by Martin Luther King Jr. Dreams are a precious and a powerful creative force and it seems like whenever we have one, there is always a powerful negative force that comes against it. Max Walker shared some of the suprising sources of resistance he encountered. Friends, relatives especially, and colleagues are just a small subset of those who can become Dream Stealers. When we have a dream, we have to also be prepared to

Max Walker is both a gentleman and a thoroughly nice guy and I came away from the breakfast inspired, challenged and with a couple of unexpected bonusses.  My name was drawn for the major door prize which was a signed Melbourne FC guernsey and my business partner, Junette, came away with a Lollypotz gift box. Melbourne FC have been regular supporters of Business and community activities in the City of Casey so we are proudly displaying their jumper in our foyer.

Melbourne FC Guernsey with 2001 Team Signatures

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

I recently went through the process of applying for Senior Engineer status with IEEE. It is something I should have done years ago and I was prompted by the Victorian section of the IEEE. 

It turned out to be much harder than I had anticipated and I wasn’t surprised when the letter announcing I had been successful stated that less than 8% of IEEE members achieve this level of professional recognition. They did send me a very nice plaque which is now hanging on the wall in our office.

Ray Keefe IEEE Senior Engineer Plaque

The process required me to get 3 sponsors who would put me forward for nomination. They all had to be at or above the level of IEEE Senior Engineer. I also had to apply online to IEEE and post a wide range of details about my education, career and achievements.

I am very grateful to the support of Paul Kubik of the IEEE Victorian Section and my 3 sponsors.

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.

Casey Business Awards

In 2010 the City Of Casey had their inaugural Casey Business Awards. They awarded us Casey Business of the Year and also gave us the award for Business and Professional Services which we shared with A Better Dental Care. As part of the awards ceremony they had 10 second videos prepared for each finalist and a 15 second video prepared for each category winner.  So we have 3 videos to show covering our awards as finalist for Casey Manufacturer Of The Year, as finalist and winners of the Casey Business and Professional Services Award and our award as Casey Business Of The Year for 2010.

Although we went to some length to describe what we do, which is Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development for Australian Electronics Manufacturers who still make their products in Australia, some of the voiceover comments didn’t quite come out right. It makes it all the more obvious how clear and consistent you have to be in explaining what you do.

So if you need an Electronics Product then we can do way more than is articulated in these videos but you do get a chance to see us in action.

This first video covers our finalist selection for Casey Manufacturer Of The Year 2010.

This second video includes both the finalist and winner videos for the Casey Business and Professional Services Award 2010.

This third video was prepared to cover our win as Casey Business Of The Year for 2010.

We have found the City Of Casey to be a very supportive environment for local businesses and are pleased to be working with them now as a member of the Casey Economic Development Partnership.

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.

Melbourne’s South East Business Awards Finalists 2011

Melbourne's South East Finalist Certificates

We were selected as finalists for 2 categories:

• Small Business Award
• Business of the Year – Overall Business Excellence Award

Melbourne's South East

On the night the process was explained to us.  The Councils each put forward either the businesses that were winners of their own local Business Awards or else selected businesses they believed were worthy of winning in the award categories.  The submissions were prepared by the businesses and forwarded by the councils.  A independent committee formed for the purpose then went through those submissions and nominated the finalists. So the first interesting thing I learnt is that our nomination as a finalist came from an independent committee and was not automatic. So that is a win in itself.  We also didn’t know how many finalists there were until the night.  For the categories we were in, there were 10 finalists for the Small Business Award and 9 finalists for the Business of the Year – Overall Business Excellence Award.

There were businesses from 10 councils competing in the awards. Collectively the region of Melbourne’s South East is enormous and on the night some basic facts and figures were presented by Jan Kronberg MLC about the Melbourne’s South East region:

• It houses 58% of the population of Melbourne
• It creates 49% of Melbourne’s Gross Regional Product
• It is the heart of Australian Manufacturing
• There are over 220,000 businesses
• Manufacturing is still the main employer
• Overall, manufacturing as a contributor to GDP has halved since 2000

I already knew that it was the primary manufacturing zone for Australia but I wasn’t aware that half of all the value created in Melbourne happened in our region. That makes it very important that we keep manufacturing going strong.  To this end we heard some encouraging rhetoric about how the Victorian Government was committed to that outcome.  One point made was that Victoria is the only State Government with a Manufacturing Minister and Richard Dalla-Riva MLC is responsible for that. For all our sakes I am hoping that we are going to see some Big “L” Leadership in this area. You don’t see countries like Japan or Germany allowing their industries to go unsupported and while I do agree that there are some things we shouldn’t try and compete in here, there are a lot of products that Australia is ideally placed to produce and export.

City Of Casey

Businesses based in the City of Casey had the largest number of finalists so that is also an excellent affirmation of how proactive and effective the team at the Casey Economic Development Department has been in support and encouraging local businesses. We have certainly benefited from their help. Our congratulations also go out to the other City of Casey businesses that were selected as finalists:

• A Better Dental Care
• Australian Solar Manufacturing
• Botanic Homes
• EcoFuture
• eighty one : fine food & wine

Overall there were 53 finalists nominated and we received 2 of those nominations. The Engineer in me couldn’t help but notice that 53 / 220,000 = 0.024% and since we had 2 nominations we are in the top 0.012% of businesses in Melbourne’s South East. But then we were selected as one of the top 9 businesses overall and so 9 / 220,000 = 0.004%! Given how many excellent businesses there are in the Melbourne’s South East region we feel very encouraged to be recognised at this level.

The councils involved in the Melbourne’s South East (MSE) region are:

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

We also appreciate the support we receive from the Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce. 

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.