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

OK, I couldn’t resist that blog title or this headline.  It isn’t often you get a chance to say something like that.  If you hadn’t heard yet, we are finalists in two categories in the EDN Innovation Awards for 2009.  Melbourne is the Electronics Manufacturing capital of Australia and we are based in Berwick which is administered by the City of Casey .  And we are also members of the Berwick Chamber Of Commerce.

Successful Endeavours in the NEWS

The Casey Weekly Berwick has just done an article on Successful Endeavours that also covers the EDN Innovation Awards we are finalists for.  You can check it out here Electronics Whiz Wired For Success.  And as a bonus, you get to see what we look like.

Electronics Manufacturing

Our aim is to turn Australian Electronics Manufacture into Low Cost Electronics Manufacture through improving the total cost of a product throughout its life cycle.  This is not a quality reduction process.  Quite the opposite.  Getting the product right so it doesn’t fail and does do what it is meant to do is one of the things necessary to reducing cost.

Located on the outskirts of Melbourne we primarily serve Melbourne based Electronics Manufacturers by providing them with Electronics and Embedded Software Development services that save them up to 70% compared to traditional linear Product Development.

So how do we do that?

Firstly, there are a few blog posts you can refer back to that will fill in some of the details.

Successful Product Development

• Performance and Cost versus Time
• Time and Cost versus Performance
• Time and Performance versus Cost
• Project Priorities Perspective
• Reducing Electronics Manufacturing Parts Cost
• Reducing Electronics and Embedded Software Product Development Costs
• Electronics Products Made In Australia – Strategies to be more Profitable

Australian Electronics Manufacturing

Low Cost Electronics Manufacture in Australia that competes favourable with China is feasible.  Ignoring the trade offs discussed in the links above, the steps to take are:

• Identify the primary priority – is it time, cost, performance?
• Reviews costs – all the costs – see the last link above if you are sure what they all are
• Reduce Cost through redesign to remove unnecessary labour and to streamline manufacture
• Implement
• Deploy
• Monitor and correct as required

Written like this it sound simple, and conceptually it is.  Where it gets lost is in the assumption that it can’t be that simple.  But there aren’t any hidden traps in this process.

We have had a few queries about how we came up with our company name, Successful Endeavours. Next post I will reveal all.

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.

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Here is a visual view of this set of electronics manufacturing trade offs:

Project Priorities Perspective - Performance and Cost versus Time

The previous two perspectives looked at cost and performance and their effect on the other priorities.  This one looks at time.  Time is a two edged sword.  It is easy to spend but hard to save.

Here are some of the trade offs that affect time:

• if you spend more time, you can get the unit cost down or the performance up
• if you reduce features or performance you can have it quicker
• if you spend more time you can often select and use less expensive resources
• to get it quickly, you usually have to buy in either IP or specialised expertise
• being later to market usually reduces your profit
• being early to market usually increases your profit
• doing it right the first time saves time
• increasing production automation decreases production cycle time

So this is more straight forward than the other perspectives.  To get it faster, you have to either reduce features and performance, or buy in specialist IP or expertise.  And if you can wait longer, then you have more choices for how you go about it and can either increase the features, improve the performance or reduce the cost.

So this wraps up this very cursory look at the Project Priorities Perspective.  It is a powerful tool that is easy to apply and can dramatically improve your results.  The key, is that it makes you think about the priorities and what outcome you are really after.  At the end of the day, if you aren’t clear about your outcome, then you don’t have a basis to plan or succeed.

Next I will be looking at some practical project tips for increasing profits and some surprising ways to improve performance.  And you have probably already worked out that you can apply it more than just Electronics Manufacture in Australia.  You have, haven’t 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.