The local office of Becker Electronics may be a subsidiary of its German parent, but that does not mean it simply acts as a reseller for German goods. Becker Electronics SA is an R&D powerhouse that exports to the world.
It is not often we hear of a local company investing the money and skills into local research and development, not to mention local manufacturing. Becker Electronics SA has done exactly that and has proven itself in the international market over the past few years by creating and manufacturing local electronics that lead the field internationally.
The global company, Becker Mining Systems, was founded in Germany in 1964. From the beginning, the founders focused on quality, which is why the company boasts EN ISO 9001:2000 and ATEX certification. Becker now has about 1100 employees worldwide with total annual sales of more than Euro 160 million.
The company's commitment to quality was driven by its desire to meet customer demands in the production of intrinsically-safe PLCs and peripherals for monitoring, controlling and serial communications, among other fields. This focus gained the company more than half the German mining market for its electronic goods. When the company decided to expand beyond Germany, it first launched an office in Poland and then in South Africa.
Today, Becker Electronics SA is the second largest subsidiary of Becker Mining in South Africa. Part of the reason for its growth is that six years ago the company started designing and producing its own products. From an R&D department consisting of three or four people, today the unit boasts 24 skilled developers that have shown the way globally in innovative communications technologies for mines.
Underground WiFi
The local Becker Electronics SA boasts world-leading products in the field of underground VHF and UHF communications, as well as tagging and tracking solutions. While there are many companies offering mines solutions to make underground communications easier and more reliable, none have made the advances Becker has for seamless communications in all types of mines.
South Africa's mines, for example, are very deep and establishing a seamless communications infrastructure has been near impossible. Becker Electronics SA has developed its own solution to this problem based on UHF Leaky Feeder technologies. The solution on offer today enables the transmission of radio waves in the entire mine and can be used for data, voice and video.
Using the same technologies, the company also offers its unique tagging and tracking RFID-based technologies. Making use of its own database that is able to handle the high volume of information generated in a mine on any given day, mine managers can track assets and activities throughout the mine with pinpoint accuracy - and in near realtime if necessary.
The latest communications problem the company has been retained to solve is for a German mining group. This company wants wireless access throughout its mines, but it also wants employees to be able to make use of this infrastructure using intrinsically-safe PDAs. These PDAs must also be equipped with video capabilities. Becker Electronics SA stepped up to the plate and is in the process of implementing the communications infrastructure at the first mine.
Of course, when it comes to intrinsically-safe products there are different standards around the world that one must take note of. Becker Electronics SA ensures its products meet the highest safety and quality standards in the world. This means the company's products can even be used in coal mines where fire is a problem - it can even assist in methane detection.
Keeping skills on board
As with any other company in South Africa, Becker Electronics SA also struggles to find and retain the highly skilled people it needs for its R&D facility. Building high-quality intrinsically-safe products requires staff with high skill levels. The company has realised it is almost impossible to find good people that will be productive right from the start, so it has started recruiting people with the right aptitude and attitude that can be trained in the areas Becker Electronics SA requires.
And this seems to be working for the company, which is expanding its field of operations beyond mining. Its technology has recently been included in the communications solution being implemented for the Gautrain project.
Becker Electronics SA is the exception to the rule. The company has not meekly followed the lead of its international parent company, but has carved out a niche for itself by developing and funding its own R&D facility based in South Africa. And far from lagging behind the rest of the world, locally-developed technologies are beating international competitors and finding their ways into companies around the world where innovation mixed with quality, reliability and safety win the deal.
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