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'Here at Pektron, we have a commitment to zero defects. You are only as good as your last delivery' [Derby Evening Telegraph (England)](Derby Evening Telegraph (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Electronics firm Pektron is celebrating 50 years at the cutting edge of technology. Oliver Astley talks to founder and chairman George Morgan about the evolution of one of Derby's most successful family firms. THE all-important first ordewas for three temperature controllers for vats of tar that would line furnaces. Half a century later and Pektron is producing electronics for supercars, life-saving equipment for firefighters as well as the latest electric and agricultural vehicles. It is one of a select group of companies in the UK that has the wherewithal to manufacture and export high-volume electronics to China's vast car manufacturing industry. Despite being a business born and bred in Derby, Pektron has more in common with the Mittelstand companies credited with being the driving force behind the powerful and robust German economy. It shares its German counterparts' desire to be at the cutting edge in their chosen discipline, has developed a niche in its chosen field and managed to exploit its expertise around the world. This is the route the company has taken since its foundation back in 1964. It was neither by accident, nor particular design but rather through the philosophy of the founder. George said: "A successful product in electronics takes up hardly any space, weighs nothing, costs very little, does everything you want it to and lasts forever. In this industry you're only as good as your last delivery. "Electric windows, for which we provide the electronics, have to work in Death Valley, Arizona, and in -40-degrees in Siberia. "Our workforce is very skilful and we've got a commitment to zero defects so that nothing breaks down." The company now has 340 employees, exports around half of what it manufactures and is heading towards turnover of Pounds 45 million, a 125% increase over five years. George, now in his 80s, was this year awarded an MBE for his services to electronic engineering. He still takes an active interest in the business although the baton has been passed to his three sons, Neil, Robert and Philip. The genesis of the firm goes back to the early 1950s when George undertook his national service. He said: "I had always been interested in electronics and when I did my national service between 1952 and 1954, I was in Harlow, Bedfordshire, in a technical role, working with radar." On completion of his mandatory two years serving Queen and country, George took his technical expertise and went to work for Rolls- Royce in the instrumentation department. He said: "Thermionic valves were used as a means of controlling electronics but in the industry there were some major developments, including the invention of the first semi-conductors that looked like a couple of clothes pegs bound together." After Rolls-Royce, George went to Ericsson Telephones, in Beeston. He said: "I worked on one of the world's first electronic telephone exchanges and received full training on how to design really effective circuits with semi-conductors." It was the expertise he learned here that was to lead to the foundation of Pektron, in 1964. George started out visiting factories in the city, knocking on doors and offering his services. Electronic devices had the potential to streamline manufacturing operations and so the company grew. However, a key order in the first decade was with British Leyland. George said: "It was our first order in the automotive sector and was for seatbelt units and sensors to make sure that people used their seatbelts. "It was for 2,000 units and the first time that we had attempted high-volume manufacturing which meant setting up our first production line. That first production line was made from curtain rails." At that time, Pektron also got into the brewing industry, providing electronics for pump controls that dispensed beer from cellars. Over the course of 20 years, Pektron made upwards of 500,000 units for the brewing industry. George said: "When there was a problem that we could solve for them, we would go on to produce the electronics. That's the fundamental difference between us and other companies. We've never just done the design work and we are not a contract manufacturer. "When Maclaren are spending tens of millions developing a car, they are not going to give the work to someone that they don't have confidence in. And, for Tesla, we produce the key electronics for door modules, sun roofs and tailgates because we've done this before for other people and they can get a complete system from us which makes sense because the communication between the different parts is incredibly complicated." By the early 70s, the company had moved to Alfreton Road, employed about a dozen people and had turned over its first million. At the end of the decade, Pektron had grown its workforce to more than 50. Units for pump controls and devices to control electronic interference were vital to the expansion of the business. George said: "It helped put us on a firm financial footing. Since the early days, we'd always been self-financing, ploughing profits back into the business." During the 1980s, the company expanded into the agricultural sector and began carrying out more design and production work for manufacturers of agricultural vehicles. The workforce grew further and by the middle of that decade, the time had come to move into new premises. George said: "We were on holiday in Portugal doing drawings for the new buildings. We didn't want them to feel like a factory environment but more like a classroom environment within modular buildings. "It had to be a showcase for the business so that when customers visited, they understood what the company was about." Neil and Philip Morgan joined the business in the early 1980s and Robert in 1986, each of them working in different departments and learning the electronic ropes on the shop floor, in production, purchasing, the warehouse and sales. The 1990s saw the agricultural and automotive sector grow strongly, helping turnover increase to around Pounds 18 million by the turn of the millennium, by which time the second generation had taken over the reins from their dad. The foundations that he put in place gave the business a platform to grow, a culture of high expectations and a reputation among customers. George said: "You have to have the right team around you and get people in who are better than yourself and that goes across the board; in design, sales, quality control and production. And once you have recruited good people, you have to look after them." [email protected] FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS THE name Pektron comes from Peckwash Mill, in Little Eaton, where George Morgan had originally wanted to set up shop. The suffix "tron" made sense as a contraction of "electronics". However, the Little Eaton premises proved too costly in the end and George set up the business at Darley Abbey Mills with Pounds 100 he borrowed. He said: "It was only Pounds 3 per week at Darley Abbey Mills but for Peckwash Mill, it would've cost Pounds 3,000 per year." From humble beginnings, the firm has seen exceptional growth, seeing turnover jump from around Pounds 20 million to Pounds 45 million in five years. It has an office in Detroit, in the heart of the US motor industry, and in the Far East. In the last two years, it has invested Pounds 3 million into production equipment. WISH PEKTRON HAPPY BIRTHDAY Go to derbytelegraph.co.uk "That first production line was made from curtain rails." GEORGE MORGAN (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |