|
|
 |
|
|
|
Seylec.Com
|
|
|
Work
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
What can I offer? To a company; 25 years experience in the sales, marketing, development, sourcing,
manufacturing, installation and management of electronic/electrical product in Europe and the Far East. To the individual;
a friendly cost effective service fault finding, fixing, installing or locating replacement product.
|
|
|
A brief history
I started in the electronics market in 1985 in a technical lab of a £3M transformer manufacturer called Tadmod (AKA Selmar)
in Maldon, Essex. When I joined the company was supplying Atari, Casio and Yamaha with small battery eliminators and power
supplies. As time went on I progressed from making and testing prototypes in the lab to shop floor management, then into Technical
Sales & Marketing management. This entailed finding new prospective customers, interpreting what they require into something
manufacturable then maintaining the account and lead times etc. By 1990, the mobile phone craze had started and we were fortunate
enough to be supplying all the key manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, Philips. By the early 90's turn over had grown
to £18M and we where the second largest power supply manufacturer in the Europe producing hundreds of thousands of units per
month, not bad with only 2 of us in the Sales department. The Company decided to look at the Far East to reduce manufacturing
costs and to some degree I went with it. After the acquisition of a Chinese factory, my time was spent between the UK and
Far East establishing business for both factories. Unfortunately, we were then producing devices in the UK
for £3.50 that would only be £1.50 over there so a clash was inevitable, I did the obvious thing and jumped ship
before the UK operation sank and joined a new Chinese manufacturer to appreciate full time low costs. By this time UK manufacturing
was starting to disappear and a lot of Chinese companies were selling direct into Europe. So I joined an Australian owned
company (Arlec) to expand my experience into the Global market place. After generating a large contract with Black & Decker
the company was promptly taken over by the organisation I poached the business from and I took redundancy, so much for that
idea.
With UK manufacturing very limp, I then worked with a couple of different UK technical companies with Chinese & US
manufacturing. Not very exciting as it was more like distribution with a small amount of value added work, so a change in
direction to low volume manufacturing was my next step and a most enjoyable one that was!
Antares, who manufacture unique aftermarket electrical power systems for the emergency services, which meant back to proper
technical interpretation of customers requirements, system concept design and specialist component sourcing. I only left this
company because after a few years the daily 160 mile commute was getting tiring and I was offered an Operations Manager position
much nearer to home.
The company I joined was a UK manufacturer of unique AudioVisual devices for video distribution and
CCTV. It was my job to establish their first factory. Interesting job, as by the time my 12-month contract had finished we
had moved most of the manufacturing out to China!
|
| An original HATO vehicle at the Commercial Vehicle show |
And now in 2007 with hardly any UK manufacturing left, I decided to go freelance to enjoy a more local career. Looking
back to projects ranging from the first mobile flip phone (Microtac) to the Highways Agency Traffic Officer vehicles
(HATOs), I can enjoy the fact that I have worked on major products that in some way are changing our livestyles.
I've had a lot of positive comments already about this site; "It makes a change to see a friendly site in a
commercial world" is the most common observation. After years in hi-pressure, penny pinching markets I can look now at how
business should be. Not as people see with Alan Sugar being an arrogant annoying bully, give him his due he has
made a good sized empire but was that just through the right product at the right time like a few other people
did in the early 80's? But then looking the other way around, my old company supplied Clive Sinclair in his early days for
his Cambridge Mk14 home computer, a former colleague had to deliver some power supplies to Sinclairs office and
due to the weight of the boxes he left them at the bottom of the stairs, "excuse me, could you bring those upstairs?"
came a voice from a certain ginger haired head above, "sod off these way a ton!" was his reply.... I don't know
how we got the C5 charger business with working relationships like that.
|
| My original Science of Cambridge MK14 |
I have worked with Amstrad as well and his culture use to run through his staff. I lost out on some business because
an email did not arrive on a Japanese technical guys desk within 10 minutes (server problems as usual). Before that I was
the person who drilled holes in his original word processor monitor and had to use chair leg feet to plug them. This turned
out for the better as people thought the blanked off holes were for future accessories (the 1980's were fun)! A
lot of my old customers and suppliers still keep in touch, not because I was the greatest high pressure salesman in the World,
but because I was honest with them and would sometimes help with other problems be it finding a cheap outboard for their son
or putting them in touch directly with a supplier for a price sensitive job instead of me 10% it.
There are not
many Bluechip companies I haven't worked with and through the 80s into the early 90s, they were all the same; good
corporate image to the outside World but absolute chaos inside! Forget the huge company image, try dealing
with genuine people who offer visability of what they do instead of rehearsed company missions, catalogue sales and whole
departments who don't talk to each other. A lot of my Bluechip work was with Tadmod and now after a 12 year
absence, I am pleased to be working with them again. With new products in their range and the old products brought up to date,
look forward to seeing the Selmar name back on the shelves!
|
|
|
|
What can I do?
|
| Old military vehicles are interesting to fix, this is a Tank fuse box exposed to the elements |
1) Experienced in low and mains voltage power systems including fault finding in domestic, industrial, marine and vehicle
mounted systems devices 2) Expertise in plug top, desk top power supplies, battery
chargers and transformer sourcing, applications, sales and marketing 3) Over 25 years experience in Technical
sales, marketing and manufacturing of Electronic/Electrical product
|
| I normally have a stock of 12 & 24 volt bulbs including LED replacements |
4) Experience in Safety testing submissions and support
5) Factory trained in aftermarket multiplex systems
6) Experienced in running 'hands on' training workshops
7) Technical product literature design and photography (print service available)
8) Experienced in telephone technical support and diagnosis
9) Injection moulding concept design (Tool making and manufacturing available)
10) Component and product sourcing Globally
Luckily for the public, emergency vehicles are not failing all the time, so on a smaller scale around Maldon,
I take local jobs replacing light fittings and sockets, installing security cameras and lamps, PAT testing and fixing/finding
obscure domestic fittings. None emergency vehicle installations are also in demand ranging from
lightbar installations to fitting out vans as mobile workshops, although I can just supply the parts and tech support if you
want to do it yourself. One of the more useful, single, simple devices I supply is the Battery Brain,
a great device that stops your battery from flattened completely and insures you can start your vehicle after leaving to many
electrical bits switched on!
I've plenty of hands on experience with emergency vehicles on a nation wide basis with
backing and International factory training from key manufacturers for all auxiliary system requirements. I currently have over
500 Ambulances around the UK using my equipment which I offer support for. Living near the Sea in Essex has
also seen a market for Gell batteries, Hi spec inverters, Split chargers and cable assemblies for the Marine and
general boat markets. I also have an underwater video camera and monitor so you can inspect under the waterline without
getting wet!
| Cradle of Filth filming in Essex |
|
| On hand for military vehicles electrical problems during fiming of a recent heavy metal video |
Since starting my own business, I have had a lot of people contacting me, some old friends, former work mates and even
old customers who have also had to give up on the UK manufacturing industry.
Although this is a shame to see the economy fading away, most of these people are doing the same as me, each in
their own niche be it factory p.l.c. installations or specialist decorating/restoration. I wish them all good look and if
I feel they can help you I will pass on their contact details.
One thing worth highlighting about any small business is
insurance, I have had a very good guy called Christian at Pook insurance sorting mine out, its taken him a lot of effort to
get cover for domestic and automotive together at a sensible price, but he couldn't do marine which I had to get from a specialist
broker. This makes me wonder how many people really have public liability insurance?
A lot of people saw PAT testing as
a simple way to make money; a City & Guilds 2377, tester and liability insurance will cost you £500 in total, and
at an average of £2.00 a device (I charge £1.00!) for testing you can cover your costs quickly, but were as domestic
and commercial insurance is £100, automotive is up to £600 and Marine upto to £1100!!!
Christian has got me sensible prices but Marine cover is at least seven times more than domestic,
so next time you get someone to work on your boat, ask the question just in case!
| Jumbalance |
|
The Isle of Wight Jumbalance above is an interesting vehicle with 4 stretchers and onboard DVD, etc! I've never
had to fix anything on this one as it was made and supported in Germany, but have worked on a lot of Ambulances all over the
UK with particular experience with wiring fault finding (normally through wear & tear or accident damage) and auxiliary
system multiplex. This is the system that makes the blue lights work, charges the defib or tells you the rear door
isn't closed. I have most experience and factory training on the French Synergie system but plenty of experience
and support on Carnation system as well.
| Synergie multiplex keypad |
|
If your Ambulance has one of the above keypads or something similar in green, then you have a Synergie (Mercura) Genius system.
For support, repairs and spares please contact us. If you look on the Emergency Vehicle link / website you will see more
detail. If you have problems on any auxiliary control systems (multiplex, fiberoptic or standard switch/relay),
let me know what it looks like and I can track the manufacturer to see what assistance I can offer. Believe me after the amount
of Ambulance, Police, Fire, rescue, military vehicles & vessals I have been in I can identify a lot of parts
and have contacts with most suppliers for technical support or spares. Don't forget as of 1st July 2008, any new
vehicles with mains voltage used in them (shoreline systems, inverters, etc) must meet the relevant parts of 17th edition
wiring regs; BS7671:2008 which I am qualified for.
Thinking of emergency vehicles, if anybody has a
Ford Mustang they want to turn into a 'Barricade' from the new Transformers film, let me know as I can supply most
of the bits (for the car, not the giant robot)!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
