Successful Endeavours - We Make Electronics Stuff Work! » made in Australia

Casey Business of the Year 2010

Ray Keefe — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:34:47 +0000

Last night was the Casey Business Awards gala dinner where the Casey Business Awards were given out for 2010. We are very pleased to have been awarded the Casey Business of the Year for 2010. It was a great night and Casey Mayor, Cr Lorraine Wreford presented the award to Ray and Junette Keefe of Successful Endeavours.

Successful Endeavours were also joint winners of the Business and Professional Services award for 2010.

And we were finalists in the Manufacturer of the Year category which was won by Jain and Janice Lal at Australian Solar Manufacturing. They make high grade 200W solar panels in Hallam, as good as you can get anywhere in the world, and really deserved their win. Well done Jain and Janice.

Casey Business Awards 2010

Above is a shot of the Casey Business Award Certificates and also the trophies we received on the night.

And here we are with Casey Mayor, Cr Lorraine Wreford, with the Casey Business of the Year award cerrtificate and trophy.

Ray and Junette Keefe of Successful Endeavours with Casey Mayor Cr Lorraine Wreford - Casey Business Of The Year

Here we are with the joint winners of the Business and Professional Services award, Better Dental Care and a representative of Monash University who sponsored this award category.

Casey Business and Professional Services award

And here is a picture of the 3 award certificates together.

Successful Endeavours Casey Business Awards 2010

And the Casey Weekly Berwick on 7 September 2010 ran a 2 page special on the Casey Business Awards and this is an except from that covering our win as Casey Business of the Year 2010.

Successful Endeavours - Casey Business of the Year 2010

Below are media releases and official City of Casey web pages related to Successful Endeavours’ win as Casey Business of the Year and also as joint winners of the Business and Professional Services award.

The City of Casey Business Media Release Successful Endeavours named Casey Business of the Year

The City of Casey official Casey Business Awards page

The Greater Dandenong Weekly 30 August 2010 Company Wired For Top Award

The Casey Weekly Cranbourne 30 August 2010 Wired for success

The Casey Weekly Berwick 31 August 2010 Wired to win the big prize

The Cranbourne News 2 September 2010 Business Backed

AMTIL News feature AMTIL Member ‘Successful Endeavours’ wins 2010 Casey Business of the Year

And we thank our clients and suppliers for being the excellent businesses they are. This would not have been possible without you.

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. This post is Copyright Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

Casey Electronics Design Business in the news

Ray Keefe — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:18:03 +0000

Casey Business Awards

We already let you know that we are finalists in 2 of the 9 categories for the City Of Casey inaugural Casey Business Awards in our post about being Casey Business Awards Finalists.The Casey Business Awards categories we are finalists in are:

Manufacturer Of The Year
Business and Professional Services

The news has been picked up by one of our local Newspapers, The Greater Dandenong Weekly, who ran the following article about us and the other finalists. It is good to see so many strong contenders and our economy certainly needs strong businesses to continue to give both the employment and prosperity we have come to enjoy.

The Journal - Successful Endeavours

Our congratulations go out to the other finalists and we will find out who the winners are on Friday 27th August at the Casey Business Awards gala dinner.

It is good to see the Electronics Design, Embedded Software Development and Low Cost Electronics Manufacture featuring so strongly in the local Australian economy. We especially note that Australian Solar Manufacturing is also a finalist in the Manufacturer of the Year category and we wish Jain and Janice Lal all the best with their nomination.

The New Inventors – a Win for Can-Tek

Ray Keefe — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:02:07 +0000

Ross Brinsdon of Can-Tek

We are so pleased to announce that Ross Brinsdon of Can-Tek has won the latest episode of the ABC program The New Inventors with his water based aerosol touch up paint product which allows you to get exactly the custom colour you want in an aerosol can that is loaded in store and is water based so you can clean it off before it dries if you make a mistake. And it is environmentally friendly as well.

The secret is in the chemistry added to the can that reduces the surface tension of water so the paint sprays and coats evenly. This is a major challenge for water based paints and to be able to do it in store with the colour of your choice is a major advance in this area of technology.

We have had a couple of electronics products we worked on win on The New Inventors so we really appreciate the work it takes and that you don’t get these awards without having a serious advance. You can also check out our Electronics Awards.

So well done Ross Brinsdon. Keep up the good work.

Casey Business Awards Finalist

Ray Keefe — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:37:13 +0000

Casey Business Awards

The City Of Casey are holding there inaugural Casey Business Awards and at the Casey Business Breakfast this morning Successful Endeavours were nominated as finalists in 2 categories.

Casey Business Awards

The 2 Casey Business Awards categories are:

Manufacturer Of The Year
Business and Professional Services

We fall into the Business And Professional Services category with our Electronics and Embedded Software development services where we design products for Australian Electronics Manufacturers so they can achieve Low Cost Electronics Manufacture in Australia at a good profit margin.

The Manufacturer Of The Year award category recognises that for some of our clients, we also manufacture the product the product and delivered to them programmed, tested and calibrated; ready to sell. This includes products like a DNP3 enabled power controller product for the US Smart Grid market which is made right here in Berwick as well as the Award Winning Borgtech CPL2 Corrosion Protection Data Logger with Wireless Data Logging.

It was an honour to be recognised by our city council together with other small business owners in the City Of Casey, a municipality in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We will find out who the winners are on Friday 27th August at the Casey Business Awards gala dinner.

Cranbourne News 5th August 2010 Best in Business

From Engineer to Entrepreneur

Ray Keefe — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:58:55 +0000

This week I was the recipient of an Exponential Entrepreneur of the Year award. Last year we were received 2 awards for technical excellence when we won 2 of the 15 EDN Innovation awards handed out in Australia in 2009.

So I was very pleased to be receiving an award recognising the business side of Successful Endeavours. The award was presented by Dr Marc Dussault of Exponential Programs and recognises entrepreneurs and business people who have demonstrated excellence deploying exponential strategies in their business by profitably creating exceptional value for their clients in a manner that is both measurable and sustainable. The award received was in the category of Engineering Consultant and was one of only 6 handed out in 2010 and the only one in that category.

Exponential Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 Ray Keefe receives his award from Dr Marc Dussault.

You can read more about the awards at Exponential Programs Entrepreneur of the Year Awards page.

The main reason for this post is to touch on the most significant aspect of this award for me. I once said that as a Business Owner I made a pretty good Engineer. The past 18 months has a seen a transition away from that to the point now where I can say that I am an Entrepreneur who is also an Engineer. Engineering is a Profession and so it isn’t something that suddenly stops being relevant. Our education and mindset is all based on practical problem solving through the use of technology while balancing performance, risk and cost. And we apply this skillset and mindset to most aspects of our lives, even when it isn’t the only way to go about it. So I am very pleased to be making this transition. Not only is our business better for it but our clients are as well.

And I also thank our clients for the trust they have placed in us to deliver Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development for their next generation of market leading products, the vast majority of which are still made in Australia at a profit.

Here is a picture of the Exponential Entrepreneur of the Year award certificate.

Exponential Entrepreneur of the Year Certificate

The initial nomination was published on PRWeb at 2010 Exponential Entrepreneur Award Winners Announced.

Electronics Design and Embedded Software Capability

Ray Keefe — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:01:17 +0000

Electronics Manufacturers are the people we serve

A common question we are asked is what sort of Electronics Manufacturers do we Develop Products for?

So I thought I would compile 3 lists:

The first is a list of the Electronics and Embedded Software product types we have worked on
The second list is a list of the industries we have Developed Products for
And the third list is the Technologies we have worked with so far

I might have to regularly update this third list since knowledge and technology are constantly expanding. Before I do the lists I’d like to present a video that specifically addresses this last point. This is very much worth thinking about. Enjoy.

Electronics and Embedded Software Products

Did you notice the section from 1:45 to 2:15? We are being prepared for jobs that don’t yet exist, technologies that haven’t been invented, and problems we don’t even know we will have!

Here is the list of some of the Electronics and Embedded Software Products that do already exist and which we have helped to create:

Automotive Siren
Automotive Immobiliser
Automotive Body Computer
Automotive Thermostat Monitor
Industrial Shock and Vibration Sensor
2D shock sensor with event logging and shock profile capture
3D shock sensor with event logging and shock profile capture
2D tilt sensor
3D tilt sensor
Remote Thermostat Monitor
Electronic level sensor – gravitic spirit level
Underground Cable Sheath Fault Locator
Pipe and Cable Locator
Cable Pair Identifier
Cable Cutover Set
Cable Fault Locator Bridge
Circuit Tracer
Portable Appliance Tester – PAT
Time Domain Reflectometer
Voltage Surge Arrestors
Automated Switch Tester – high volume production
Water Pump Controller
Programmable Air Blower
Pool and Spa Pump Controller
Touchpad Pump and Blower Controller
Pump Controller Protocol Converter
LCD Based Spa Controller
Temperature Probe
Thermal Cutout for Spa
Humidity Sealed Touchpad
Electrically Isolated Air Plunger Actuator
Digital Pump State Controller
Thermistor Based Temperature Sensor
Underwater LED Pool Light
Pump Loss Of Prime Detector
Earth Leakage Measurement device for Safety Certification
Loading Coil Crosstalk Measurement Tester with 120dB range
ADSL Service Detector
Communications Set for Telephony Service Technicians
Wireless Data Logger
Corrosion Protection Data Logger
High Voltage Disconnect Switch Controller
Electrically Held Switch
Temperature Controller for Reptiles
Smoke Alarm Repeater and Exit Indicator
Electromagnet Therapy Apparatus
Fork Lift Speed Limiter
Personnel Proximity Alerter using active RFID
Fork Lift Proximity Alerter using active RFID
Power Factor Correction controller
Ultra Low Power Battery Operated Telemetry
Septic Tank Sludge Level Meter
PIR Based Vandal Displacer
Bin Cycle Reminder
Parallel Banked High Current Capacity Battery Charger
UPS Battery Bank Controller
Trickle Charge Battery Manager
Epidural Procedure Simulator
Air Ram based Saline Syringe Simulator
USB Air Solenoid Valve Controller
Bluetooth Based RS232 Extender
Conveyor Belt Controller
Programmable Conveyor Step Controller
Gate Entry Keypad
Gate Entry Touchscreen
Horse Tracker with GPS
Kick Boxing Impact Measurement Device
Infra Red based communications system – IR
IR Vehicle Identification System
RFID Vehicle Identification System
Industrial Proximity Card Reader MiFare
Industrial Proximity Card Reader HID iClass
Industrial Proximity Card Reader HID Proxcard II
Industrial Proximity Card Reader Indala
Industrial iButton Reader
Protocol Converters For Security Systems
USB iButton Reader
RS232 iButton Reader
Wireless iButton Reader
Rugged Vehicle Management System
Automatic Rain Tank Valve Controller
Tyre Pressure Measurement and Reporting System for Trucks
Vehicle Area Network using Wireless Communications
iButton based Vehicle Access Controller with Event Logging
Custom Audio Mixer for English Language Training Assessment
Automated In System Programmer for Production
Countdown Screensaver for the Olympics
Studio Quality Microphone Preamplifier with Phantom Power
Studio Quality Instrument Interface
Passive DI
Brushless DC Motor Controller – BLDC
RS232 Based CRO for Windows
USB Based CRO for Windows
Differential Voltage Buffer for Data Logging
FLEXIO Platform Remote IO with Data Logging
Windows Based Fractal Generator Software
Windows Based GPS Tracking Software
Graphical Data Visualisation for Windows
Data Logger File Format Converter
RGB LED Lighting Controller
RS232 Protocol Analyser
RS232 Data Capture Wizard
Transit Sentinel Shock and Tilt Monitor for goods in transit
Industrial Timer Module
Concentrated Solar Power Dish Controller
Programmable Lathe
Safeturn Bicycle Turn Indicator
Container Terminal Vehicle Management and Container Tracking System
Exit Gate Access Controller
Truck Parking Wireless Keypad
Hand Held Vehicle Access Updater
Dashboard Mounted Intelligent Alert Module
Dashboard Mounted LCD Module with Keypad
RS232 Port Multiplexer
Active RFID 2D positioning System
Digital Compass
Load Dump Protected Power Supply
Load Dump Protection Module for Vehicle Mounted Telemetry
Remote Fuel Level Monitoring
PLC Protocol Converter
Infra Red 2D positioning System – IR
Lightning Protection Interface

Here is what it looks like visually. I used Wordle to create this.

Electronics and Embedded Software Products

Electronics Industries

Now for the list of industries we have supported with Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development:

Container Terminals
Container Terminal Management Systems
Fleet Vehicle Management
Container Tracking
Vehicle Access and Management
Vehicle Tracking
Industrial Telemetry
Renewable Energy Generation
Telecommunications Carriers
Warehouses
Road Freight
Rail Freight
Sea Freight
Domestic Pools
Domestic Spas and Spa Baths
Commercial Pools
Irrigation
Farming
Telephony Carriers
Telephony Service Technicians
Plumbers
Trench Diggers
Excavators
Automotive Assemblers
Automotive After Market
Security
Councils
Churches
Not For Profit Agencies
Charities
Electronics Manufacturers
OEM
Capital Asset Management
Pipeline Integrity Monitoring
Storage Tank Integrity Monitoring
Solar Power Conversion
Wired Telemetry
Wireless Telemetry
Tamper Detection
Remote Asset Monitoring
Bicycle Safety
Fork Lift Safety
OH&S
High Voltage Power Distribution
Electrical Safety Testing and Certification
Goods in Transit Monitoring
RFID
Automotive Load Dump Protection
Data Logging
Data Visualisation
Legacy System Support
IR Communications
Fuel Monitoring
LED Lighting and Illumination
Full Colour Control Lighting
Cable Video
ESD Protection
Lightning Protection
Exporters
Web Services Developers
Power Supplies
English Language Training
Medical Training
Sewage
Septic Tanks
Electricians
Technicians
Software Developers
Embedded Software Developers
Medical Practitioners
Councils
Ratepayers
Tenants
Automotive Component Manufacturers
Precision Machining
Repetition Machining
Repetition Engineering
Authors
Musicians
Studio Technicians
Recording Studios
Live Audio Mixing
Music Equipment Manufacturers
Test Equipment Manufacturers
Power Distribution Equipment Manufacturers

And a wordle of this:

Electronics and Embedded Software Industries

Electronics and Embedded Software Technologies

And the third list is the Electronics and Embedded Software technologies we have worked with so far (but Shift Happens so it will continue to expand):

Printed Circuit Board Design
Printed Circuit Board Layout
Surface Mount
Through Hole
Track, Pad, Via, Buried Via, Plane, Power Plane, Layer
Connector, joint, plug, socket, inline
Wire, Cable, Harness, Bundle, Screen, Shield
Strip, Crimp, Insulation Displacement, Crush
Cable Tie, Grommet, Edge Strip, Trim
IP40, IP54, IP64, IP65, IP66, IP67, IP68 enclosures
Battery Powered
Mains Powered
Solar Powered
Energy Harvesting
RS232, RS422, RS485
USB
TCP/IP
Ethernet
GSM, GPRS, CDMA, HDSPA
Battery Backed Real Time Clock – RTC
Battery Backup
FLASH memory
Electronic Circuit Simulation
Electronic Circuit Design
Electronic Circuit Prototype
EMC Testing
C-Tick, A-Tick, CE, FCC, TUV, CSA, UL, CISPR, AS
Safety Testing
Microcontrollers
8 Bit, 16 Bit, 32 Bit
Windows
DOS
Linux
Analogue Electronics
Power Electronics
Stepper Motor Controller
Brushless DC motor Controller – BLDC
DC Motor Controller
Speed Control
Position Control
GPS
ASK, OOK, FSK, PSK, QPSK
iButton
Thermistor
Resistor
Capacitor
Bipolar Transistor
MOSFET
CMOS
LED
Inductor
Coil
Choke
Transformer
Winding
Component, Part
Parts List, BOM, Bill Of Materials, Kit
Charge Pump
Switch Mode Power Supply – SMPS
Passive Filter
Active Filter
Low Pass Filer, Band Pass Filter, High Pass Filter, Notch Filter
SCR, Triac, Diac
Diode
Schottky Diode
IGBT
Overvoltage Protection
Load Dump Rated
Supercap, Super Capacitor
Tuned Circuit
Switch, Microswitch, Rotary Switch, Momentary Contact Switch, Latching
Relay, Latching Relay, Bistable Relay, Mechanical Relay
Solid State Switch
Pot, Potentiometer, Trimpot, Linear Potentiometer, Slider, Fader
solder, lead free, ROHS, solderless, solder free, soldering iron, solder bath, desolder
encapsulate, pot, conformal coating, seal, water tight, water proof, weather proof
sensor, MEMS, strain gauge, accelerometer, gyroscope, gyro
piezo, piezo film, piezo resistive
beeper, buzzer, speaker, microphone
PIR, IR, LVD, LDS
Battery Charger, Battery Management
Antenna
Trasnsmitter, Receiver, Transceiver, Line Driver
CAN, LIN, J1939, Packet, Checksum, CRC, Forward Error Correction, ECC, Error Correction Coding
UDP, TCP, HTTP, IP, FTP, SMTP, SNMP, SNAP, RSS, Streaming, Stream
Secure, Encryption, AES, DES, Triple DES
Low Power Radio
Ultra Low Power, Pico Power, Microwatt, Milliwatt, Watt
IC, Integrated Circuit, Silicon Chip, Chip, Module, Assembly
Assembler, C, Source Code, File, C++, Delphi, programming language
AC, DC, Hertz, Hz, Frequency, UHF, VHF, AM, FM
2.4G, 315MHz, 433MHz, 433.92MHz, 434MHz, 868.3MHz, 915MHz
Unit Test, Integration Test, System Test, Verification, Validation
Specification, Functional Test, Test Specification, Test Plan
Coding, Debug, Debugging, Allocation Matrix, Review, Peer Review
Code Review, Code Walkthrough, Test Suite, Test Driven Development
Functional Test, Stress Test, Thermal Stress, Accelerated Life test
Design Documentation, Architecture, Achitectural Design
FMEA, Design Audit, Design Review
Mock, Simulate, Simulation, System Simulation
JTAG, ISP, Debug Wire
Bootloader, module, system, embedded system, embedded software
Firmware, Hardware, Software, FPGA, EPLD, CPLD
Altium Designer, Protel, IAR, Borland, Code Gear, Microsoft, Embarcadero Technologies
SDL, Doxygen, GraphViz, ESB, Gimple PC-Lint, RSM, Greenleaf, Novamind
VMWare, Virtualisation, Solidworks, Ultraedit, Ultraedit Studio, Programmers Notepad, Eclispe
RAM, ROM, FLASH, EEPROM, Peripheral, Port, Register, Memory, Harvard, Address Space
Call, Routine, Subroutine, Pass, Pointer, Parameter, Return, Global, Static, Local, Table
Compile Time, Run Time, Design Time, Type Safe, Execution, Boot, Reset, Reboot
Abstract, Encapsulate, Embed, Hide, Structure, Class, Object
Power Up, Power On, System Startup, Run, Launch
Multiply, Multiplier, Analogue Multiplier, PLL, Phase Locked Loop
Comparator, Amplifier, Operational Amplifier, Gain, Phase, Margin
Buffer, Gate, OR, XOR, AND, NOR, NAND, NEXOR, NXOR
Dual, Triple, Quad, Hex
Binary, Boolean, Octal, Decimal, Hexadecimal, Base 2, Base 8, Base 10, Base 16
Pole, Zero, Stable, Transfer Function, Laplace Transfer, FFT, DCT
Time Domain, Frequency Domain, Phase Domain
First order, second order, third order
Differential equation, rate, delta, change
debounce, median, range check, bound, time constant
settling time, conversion time, ADC, dual slope, DAC, Multiplexer
Analogue Switch, Router, Address, Data, IO, input, output
Timer, Input Capture, Watchdog, Brown Out Detector
UART, USART, I2C, TWI, SPI, Microwire, Bit Bang
Operating System, Scheduler, Timed Task, Scheduled Task
Round Robin, Poll, Polled, Preemption, Premptive
Multitasking, Multitask, Interrupt, Volatile Data
Diagnostic, Error, Error Manager, Error Log, Fault
Audio, Electret, Headphone, Crosstalk, Intermodulation Distortion
Low Noise, Low Distortion, Preamplifier
Instrumentation Amplifier, Balanced Circuit, Hum Immunity
Interference, Rejection, Transducer
Noise, Signal, DSP, Process
Motor, Haptic, Feedback, Resist
Sleep, Wake, Shutdown, Halt
Clock, Oscillator, Crystal, RC
Atmel, AVR, ARM, TI, MSP430, TMS320C, Microchip, PIC,
6805, 6801, 8085, 80188, 80186, 80×86, 6502, LPC2000
NEC, 78K, V850, Freescale, On Semiconductor, NXP, Analog Devices
SAM7, Arm Cortex, Vector

OK. That is a lot and I’m not fully done even. Here is the Wordle.

Electronics and Embedded Software Technology

EDN Innovation Awards 2009 – 2 trophies

Ray Keefe — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:41:24 +0000

Analogue Design Awards

You might recall we were finalists in the EDN Innovation Awards 2009 . Yesterday, we were in Sydney for the EDN Innovation Awards dinner held at Dockside, Cockle Bay Wharf.

We came away with 2 trophies. The awards were:

Best Application of Analogue Design – Highly Commended
Best Application of Design Software – Highly Commended

Successful Endeavours - EDN Innovation Awards 2009

Ray Keefe receives the EDN Innovation Award for Best Application of Analogue Design

We are very pleased to have had Australian Electronics Industry leaders recognise our work as being of the highest standard.

And thanks again to Pablo Varjabedian of Borgtech Pty Ltd for his support and encouragement and for having a vision as we do that products like the Borgtech CPL2 can and should be Made in Australia.

There have also been several newspaper articles focusing on the role of local businesses in the Australian Electronics Manufacturing Industry.

Casey Weekly Berwick 31 August 2009 Electronics Whiz Wired For Success

Wyndham Weekly 30 September 2009 It’s A Pipe Dream

Casey Weekly Berwick 5 October 2009 Electronics Firm Delivers The Goods