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. 

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.

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

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.

Electronics Development and Success

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.

National recognition for local Casey Business

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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Electronics products in Australia

Electronics design and making electronics products in Australia is both practical and profitable.  But more on that later.

First a couple of facts that will help explain why I think about this the way I do.

In 1946, 90% of all the manufactured products used in Australia were made in Australia. Not bad!

In 2006, 10% of all the manufactured products used in Australia were made in Australia. Not good!

So why is this an issue?

Ignoring balance of trade and such esoteric concepts, it’s about income and a future for ourselves and our children.  We ship raw material overseas but import the finished goods back here.  Most of the income and profit is happening for someone else, somewhere else.  And our tourism and service industries can only do so much to offset this.

It also doesn’t help that there are no significant incentives to be a manufacturer here.  Malaysia offers a 10 year tax holiday to a new industry setting up there.  Intel wanted their next semiconductor facility to be in Australia but the government offered them no incentives.  The Irish are sometimes jokingly portrayed as less than astute but they could clearly see the opportunity before them and made Intel an offer they couldn’t refuse. So now Intel are in Ireland when they really wanted to be in Australia.

In spite of all this, Australia is actually a fantastic place to  design and manufacture electronics products and over the next few weeks I will be revealing just why that is so and how we can all take advantage of our natural competitive edge.

Make it in Australia and Increase your Profits

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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