Electronics manufacturer with long history forges future with direction and magnitude

Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

Production/manufacturing equipment suppliers & service providers

30 July 2003 Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

Vektronix is a rebirth from national company Tellumat which closed down its Wilsonia-based East London manufacturing plant after a 30-year stint. Faced with the prospect of moving to Cape Town the current directors: managing director, Craig Tyzack; financial director, Peet Diedericks; quality assurance director, Julie Skinner; operations director, Ian Stap; technical director, Rainer Wiethoff and human resources director, Rici Hanekom made a bold decision to buy the East London assets from Tellumat.

Vektronix management team: quality assurance director, Julie Skinner; financial director, Peet Diedericks; technical director, Rainer Wiethoff; operations director, Ian Stap; human resources director, Rici Hanekom; and managing director Craig Tyzack

Vektronix manufactures analog decoders for Multichoice and does maintenance work on these units nationally and for several service providers based in Europe.

"None of us wanted to move from East London, and when all of the banks we approached were willing to approve our financing request, it confirmed that our business plan is sound and that we have a sure winner," said Skinner.

"Despite Tellumat's decision that the East London plant was no longer viable, we believe that with an order book of R18 million and the plant's very good track record in South Africa's fairly small electronic industry, that the fundamentals are in place to make this a success," said Tyzack.

Tyzack said Multichoice expressed its willingness to continue the present relationship, which caters for all of the pay-channel's manufacturing and repairs of its analog decoders for the African, Greek and the Netherlands markets. Over two million decoders have been manufactured in the factory since the start of decoder production in 1987.

After discussions with Tellumat it was decided to make an offer for the assets. "We did not want to take on a going concern. We wanted to start a new company right from scratch," Tyzack added.

He also said it was Vektronix's challenge to attract new business. The company was already in discussions with TV distribution groups.

"We have one of the best TV manufacturing facilities in the country and could start manufacturing immediately," he added. In the past, Tellumat manufactured Telefunken and JVC sets.

Obviously, with the region's strong automotive focus, one of Vektronix' strategic marketing objectives is to get a foothold there. "Vektronix is in discussions with various automotive manufacturers and management had visited these plants with the view to supply electronic assemblies to the industry."

With a highly skilled staff of 124, half of whom have worked for the company for over 10 years, and the management team ranging from 34 to three years service, significant knowledge of the industry is in place.

Tyzack said already efforts to secure new contracts were looking positive. "Obviously discussions preceded our buy-out in May this year, but things are looking good for some exciting new work."

The advantage of local ownership, says Tyzack, is that decision-making is much slicker and "we do not have to hive off a whole lot of our profit to Cape Town." It appears the transition from employees to directors has been an exhilarating one for the team who look set to take Vektronix to significant new heights.

"The first part of our name is derived from the word Vector which has both direction and magnitude. We believe our team embodies this," he concludes.

For more information contact Julie Skinner, Vektronix, 043 707 1163.

Article from Hi-Lite, the business magazine of the Border-Kei region.

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Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

Electronics manufacturer with long history forges future with direction and magnitude

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