When three partners – two of whom had studied electronics through Armcor, and the other a marketing guru – got together in 1991 to start Electronics Incorporated, they could not have imagined what the next quarter of a century would have in store for them.
Originally operating from a small office and garage on Old Main Road in Queensbrough, Durban, the company began life as an alarm fitment centre in addition to manufacturing just one product, a 12/24 V electronic inverter. But its ambitions were always bigger than its humble beginnings, as one of the partners, Sean Jackson, explains. “We looked at a number of electronic products on the market, and felt we could make improvements to a fair number of them; improvements to the electronics, specification and aesthetics. We often felt some products just did not do what customers wanted.”
In the early years Electronics Incorporated focused on being awarded government tenders, to manufacture and supply to specification the complete internal fluorescent lighting systems for buses in Durban and surrounding municipalities. “From there we progressed to supplying most of the OEM bus manufacturers: MAN Bus and Coach, MAN Truck, the Busaf group, Durabuild and the like. We now manufacture a range of products for specific customers, most of them off-shore. These include corrosion control units, solar lighting systems, passive infrared early warning systems, and more,” says Jackson.
Today the company has in excess of 20 employees operating across three core divisions, each of which it is working hard to grow. These divisions are electronics manufacturing, which is where it started; industrial electronics, which includes switchgear and microcontrollers, as well as industrial electronic PCB repair down to component level; and last but not least, plastic enclosures, which are currently the strongest focus.
In fact, it is celebrating its 25th anniversary by launching a new range of competitively priced plastic enclosures for the electronics industry. “Our plastic enclosures division has really only started gaining traction in the last two years, due to the amount of effort we are putting into growing our presence in the market. The Rand weakening has also encouraged customers to buy local,” Jackson points out.
Electronics Incorporated offers a large range of plastic enclosures, from 20 x 20 x 10 mm (small electronics potting enclosures) through to 400 x 400 x 300 mm (for housing 12 V batteries with electronics). A number of the moulds are its own, while a number of enclosures are purchased in larger volumes at wholesale prices, allowing it to offer really competitive pricing.
“We have increased our stock holding to more than 25 000 plastic enclosures of all shapes and sizes,” says Jackson. “Although we have a close relationship, and offices, within a 3000 m² manufacturing company based in Xiamen, China (the director of which is a South African expat), which manufactures our larger electronics production runs, our plastic enclosure injection moulding is run exclusively here in South Africa. The main advantage in doing this is that importing enclosures can take more than six weeks to get here by sea freight, while air freight is expensive. This can create production problems, and the landed cost is always moving due to the volatility in the Rand.”
Since it is a typical factory, which operates factory hours in an industrial complex, Electronics Incorporated doesn’t have a sales counter to supply the ‘one off’ type customer. Rather, it prefers to direct that type of customer to its network of distributors which cover most of SA’s major cities and which carry its enclosures in stock. However, in the event of a customer looking for an enclosure in a unique size, the company will assist in making a mould for their specific requirements.
Jackson concludes by saying “We do our best to offer great service, and know every customer by name. Good relationships just seem to follow. We have no doubt that by continually striving to offer quality products and great service at competitive prices, in the future we will play a much larger role in the manufacturing and supply of plastic enclosures in the South African market.”
For more information contact Sean Jackson, Electronics Incorporated, +27 (0)31 701 4346, [email protected], www.electronicsincorporated.co.za
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