Like many UK specialist manufacturers, Advanced Electronics is hoping to
weather the economic storm on the back of providing products that customers
want, cost-effectively. Ron Alalouff met managing director Ray Hope.
It is fair to assume that most people would think that the ‘Advanced’ in Advanced Electronics refers to the high tech nature of the alarm panels and associated products that this company has been manufacturing for the past 10 years. But after visiting their base in Carmlington near Newcastle, it became apparent that the company is also advanced – in a progressive sort of way – in terms of how it involves its staff in the direction and fortunes of the company.
As managing director Ray Hope put it: “My belief is that all the staff think like the directors. It’s important that everyone is part of the same team, and is interested in the direction of the company – such as what are the next growth areas in terms of product, technology, and geographically. Our objective has always been to be the best, with the best products, the best service, the best quality and, if you like, we’re all singing from the same mission statement.”
So every member of the company’s 100-plus staff – including the office cleaners – is to some extent tied into the performance of the company with a profit-related bonus scheme. Career progression is also high on the agenda, as demonstrated by the recent promotion of the company’s northern regional salesman to UK sales manager.
This forward-looking culture carries through to the training of staff and customers. Staff are encouraged to develop new skills and knowledge in order to create a flexible workforce, helping to keep costs lean and also ensuring individuals have a better understanding of the business as a whole. This also allows the company to cater for extreme fluctuations in demand, while producing a customer configured product.
As far as customers are concerned, training on products and standards is available by the spade, and the training programmes are influenced in a big way by customer feedback. Specifically, every technical call and query – of which there were around 15,000 in 2008 – is logged by the company, and these are used to identify potential problem areas and to formulate future training topics. The company also carries out an annual survey to find out how it is doing and what are the main priorities and issues of its UK and export customers. Last year, an overall satisfaction rating covering product feature, quality, communication, training and customer support was 93%, compared to 89% in 2006.
Continuous improvement is also a key principle on the shop floor and managers of each department hold regular monthly meetings to ensure that any potential quality or production issues are addressed early on. “From time to time minor problems do appear, but it’s about how quickly these can be identified, communicated and dealt with, before they become major, that’s the key,” explains Mr Hope.
Like other independent UK fire equipment manufacturers, Advanced Electronics believes it invests well above the industry average on research and development, but is reluctant to reveal specific figures. Nevertheless, the fact that it maintains a dedicated R&D facility in South Yorkshire – which does not get involved in day-to-day technical problem solving – together with the fact that over 15% of the total workforce is dedicated to new product development, suggests that such a claim has substance.
Beyond standards
High-end analogue addressable panels are at the heart of Advanced’s product design and development strategy. Allied to this is the recognition that a policy of product approvals to recognised national and international standards is the gateway to such markets, and that the cost of such approvals simply has to be borne.
Mr Hope continues: “With all fire alarm control and indicating equipment, the minimum starting point is to produce a product that conforms to all applicable standards, but at the same time to bring some advancements to the market. A good example of this would be our recently launched Ex-3000 series of automatic extinguishing panels which have been tested by third parties and approved to EN 54 parts 2 and 4, and to EN 12094, as well as going through all other mandatory tests such as those required to prove compliance with EMC regulations. However our customers look for much more than just meeting standards. The ease of use for the end user is always top of the list, closely followed by the ease with which the product can be commissioned and maintained. This has lead to innovations, such as gas panels with large clear text displays and built-in date and time stamped event logs.”
World view
Advanced Electronics has been nothing if not aggressive in its pursuit of export sales. In 2005 it won the best new exporter category in the Fire Industry Awards, while in 2007 it won the export innovation award. Today, around 40% of its revenue – the annualised turnover for 2008/2009 is currently GB pound 9m – comes form export sales, with a target of 50% by 2010.
Although the majority of the company’s products are approved to EN standards, it has developed a range of products approved to UL and FM standards. The company believes that to provide adequate support and be effective in certain overseas territories, it needs to establish regional operations and have them staffed and manned by local people. To achieve this, the company formed, in 2007, Advanced Fire Systems – an operational subsidiary based in Boston, Massachusetts – to service the Americas. Last year it opened a regional office in Dubai to look after the Middle East, Africa and India. Both operations are headed up by locals and in the case of America, have local development and assembly.
Commenting on the state of trading around the world at present, Ray Hope, although conscious of the global recession, feels confident that companies such as his can weather the storm. “We’ve been through some peaks and troughs before. We are in it for the long-term and have built up strong working relationships with our trade partners and customers with that in mind.”
Like many UK specialist manufacturers, Advanced Electronics is hoping to weather the economic storm on the back of providing products that customers want, cost-effectively. Ron Alalouff met managing director Ray Hope.
It is fair to assume that most people would think that the ‘Advanced’ in Advanced Electronics refers to the high tech nature of the alarm panels and associated products that this company has been manufacturing for the past 10 years. But after visiting their base in Carmlington near Newcastle, it became apparent that the company is also advanced – in a progressive sort of way – in terms of how it involves its staff in the direction and fortunes of the company.
As managing director Ray Hope put it: "My belief is that all the staff think like the directors. It’s important that everyone is part of the same team, and is interested in the direction of the company – such as what are the next growth areas in terms of product, technology, and geographically. Our objective has always been to be the best, with the best products, the best service, the best quality and, if you like, we’re all singing from the same mission statement."
So every member of the company’s 100-plus staff – including the office cleaners – is to some extent tied into the performance of the company with a profit-related bonus scheme. Career progression is also high on the agenda, as demonstrated by the recent promotion of the company’s northern regional salesman to UK sales manager.
This forward-looking culture carries through to the training of staff and customers. Staff are encouraged to develop new skills and knowledge in order to create a flexible workforce, helping to keep costs lean and also ensuring individuals have a better understanding of the business as a whole. This also allows the company to cater for extreme fluctuations in demand, while producing a customer configured product.
As far as customers are concerned, training on products and standards is available by the spade, and the training programmes are influenced in a big way by customer feedback. Specifically, every technical call and query – of which there were around 15,000 in 2008 – is logged by the company, and these are used to identify potential problem areas and to formulate future training topics.
The company also carries out an annual survey to find out how it is doing and what are the main priorities and issues of its UK and export customers. Last year, an overall satisfaction rating covering product feature, quality, communication, training and customer support was 93%, compared to 89% in 2006.
Continuous improvement is also a key principle on the shop floor and managers of each department hold regular monthly meetings to ensure that any potential quality or production issues are addressed early on. "From time to time minor problems do appear, but it’s about how quickly these can be identified, communicated and dealt with, before they become major, that’s the key," explains Mr Hope.
Like other independent UK fire equipment manufacturers, Advanced Electronics believes it invests well above the industry average on research and development, but is reluctant to reveal specific figures. Nevertheless, the fact that it maintains a dedicated R&D facility in South Yorkshire – which does not get involved in day-to-day technical problem solving – together with the fact that over 15% of the total workforce is dedicated to new product development, suggests that such a claim has substance.
Beyond standards
High-end analogue addressable panels are at the heart of Advanced’s product design and development strategy. Allied to this is the recognition that a policy of product approvals to recognised national and international standards is the gateway to such markets, and that the cost of such approvals simply has to be borne.
Mr Hope continues: "With all fire alarm control and indicating equipment, the minimum starting point is to produce a product that conforms to all applicable standards, but at the same time to bring some advancements to the market. A good example of this would be our recently launched Ex-3000 series of automatic extinguishing panels which have been tested by third parties and approved to EN 54 parts 2 and 4, and to EN 12094, as well as going through all other mandatory tests such as those required to prove compliance with EMC regulations.
However our customers look for much more than just meeting standards. The ease of use for the end user is always top of the list, closely followed by the ease with which the product can be commissioned and maintained. This has lead to innovations, such as gas panels with large clear text displays and built-in date and time stamped event logs."
World view
Advanced Electronics has been nothing if not aggressive in its pursuit of export sales. In 2005 it won the best new exporter category in the Fire Industry Awards, while in 2007 it won the export innovation award. Today, around 40% of its revenue – the annualised turnover for 2008/2009 is currently £9m – comes form export sales, with a target of 50% by 2010.
Although the majority of the company’s products are approved to EN standards, it has developed a range of products approved to UL and FM standards. The company believes that to provide adequate support and be effective in certain overseas territories, it needs to establish regional operations and have them staffed and manned by local people. To achieve this, the company formed, in 2007, Advanced Fire Systems – an operational subsidiary based in Boston, Massachusetts – to service the Americas. Last year it opened a regional office in Dubai to look after the Middle East, Africa and India. Both operations are headed up by locals and in the case of America, have local development and assembly.
Commenting on the state of trading around the world at present, Ray Hope, although conscious of the global recession, feels confident that companies such as his can weather the storm. "We’ve been through some peaks and troughs before. We are in it for the long-term and have built up strong working relationships with our trade partners and customers with that in mind."
