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

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.

Today I was at Casey Radio, a community radio station catering to the south eastern suburban area of Melbourne, being interviewed for the Casey Business Hour which runs live to air on Fridays from 2pm to 3pm on 3SER 97.7FM. It was the first time I had been to the station so it was an interesting experience. With me were David Wilkinson and Tom Zsolt from the City of Casey Economic Development Department and Michelle Anderson from VECCI with radio announcer, Jamie.

Here are some pictures from the show:

The guest panel: Ray Keefe, Michelle Anderson and Tom Zsolt

David Wilkinson, head of City of Casey Economic Development Department

Radio announcer extraordinaire, Jamie

Ray Keefe at the microphone

The podcast is an interview which covered the history of Successful Endeavours, our move from a home based business to commercial premises, what we have done to grow our Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development business, how winning Casey Business of the Year has changed us and opportunities for Australian Electronics Manufacturers in the current economic climate.

Click on the image on the left to download or listen to the Casey Radio Interview with Ray Keefe

Michelle Anderson from VECCI (Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry) was also interviewed and explained VECCI’s history as well as the benefits and services they offer to members and some of the programs they have initiated. Their tag line is “Invigorating Business” and I like what I heard. If you are a business in Victoria then you should check them out.

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.

AMTIL Australian Manufacturing Technology Magazine October 2010 page 16

Successful Endeavours is proud to be a member of AMTIL and encourages other manufacturing sector businesses in Australia to consider membership as well.  We support Australian Electronics Manufacturers through our technology service offerings of Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development coupled with Contract Electronics Manufacturing Services for those clients who want to outsource some of that process but still Made In Australia.

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

Manufacture Link has recognised Successful Endeavours win as Casey Business Of The Year 2010 in their website news article Successful Endeavours wins 2010 Casey Business of the Year .

Manufacture Link is an initiative aimed at increasing the opportunity for local manufacture by allowing members to create company profiles that reflect their capabilities and to also post requests for quotation so that other members can bid on work they might not have found out about any other way.

We are very committed to manufacture in Australia and in particular we provide Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development for Australian Electronics Manufacturers.

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.

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. 

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 © 2010  Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

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
• DNP3 enabled Smart Grid Power Controller
• Bone Conduction Hearing Aid for those with temporary hearing loss
• Battery Operated Rainwater Tank management system
• Electrical Risk detector for plumbers
• IR based sports simulator that uses real balls

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
• Audiologist
• Sports Simulation

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, Xmega, TI, MSP430, TMS320C, Microchip, PIC, dsPIC
• 6805, 6801, 8085, 80188, 80186, 80×86, 6502, LPC2000
• NEC, 78K, V850, Freescale, On Semiconductor, NXP, Analog Devices
• SAM7, Arm Cortex, Vector
• DNP3, SCADA
• Power Factor Correction
• Capacitor Bank Controller
• Solar Inverter, Micro Inverter

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

Electronics and Embedded Software Technology

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.

Hello again,

A couple of posts ago in Electronics Manufacture Shines in Melbourne I said I would explain the origins of our company name.  Many have suggested that Successful Endeavours sounds more like a personal coaching enterprise or a business that handles products by people like:

• Brian Tracy
• Tony Robbins
• Marc Dussault
• Deepak Chopra
• Zig Ziglar
• John Maxwell
• Arthur Cherrie
• …

And the list could go on for a long time.

While I do hope we motivate and encourage our clients to improve their results, we assist them by undertaking activities such as:

Electronics Development Activities

• Electronic Circuit Design
• Electronic Circuit Simulation
• Analogue Electronics
• Analogue Design
• Printed Circuit Board Design
• Printed Circuit Board Layout
• Electronic Prototyping
• Electronic Testing
• Embedded Software Design
• Embedded Software Development
• Embedded Software Coding
• Embedded C
• Embedded Software Debug

Development Statistics

The name came from some industry statistics on the success rate for Product Development.  You can read more details in Reducing Electronics and Embedded Software Product Development Costs and I will summarise here:

• 80% of embedded development projects fail in someway or another
• Embedded software is 80% of the cost of an embedded development project
• Embedded software is responsible for 80% of the delays and shortcomings

Successful Product Development

So it seemed to me that many Product Development Projects are unsuccessful endeavours.  I wanted to change that.  We have a success rate significantly better than all the industry norms. Our short USP ( Unique Selling Proposition ) is:

We Make Stuff Work

That’s it.  The details are complex but the philosophy is simple.  So for me, Electronics and Embedded Software Development should be a routinely Successful Endeavour.  And so the name Successful Endeavours was chosen.

I am passionate and committed to assisting Australian Electronics Manufacturers who want to keep making their products in Australia.  Made In Australia is what we are pursuing and we are focusing on this segment.

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.