|
|
|
|
About Us
Panasonic (then National) was to be David’s first appointment as service agent along with General (now Fujitsu General) . Customer referral work from stores such as Brashs’, a large electrical retailer, was soon to increase his workload and it was not long before the single room workshop was too small. Budget TV eventually moved to larger premises enabling David to occupy the whole building. The workload increased and it was time to appoint his first employee. Not long after, a receptionist was employed to look after telephone and reception enquiries which enabled David to spend more time in the workshop. In 1989 he purchased a carrier business P & K Corbett Carriers whose sole purpose was to collect repairs from Brashs' Melbourne Stores and deliver goods to respective repair agents. By this time there were six employees an abundance of repair stock in transit and no room to operate. It was that time again. 1990 saw a relocation of the workshop to Eugene Terrace Ringwood where there was sufficient space to conduct business and garage a large truck. Some six months later the recession began to take effect and cost cutting by Brashs’ saw the end of the carrier service. The staff of then eight employees was cut in half almost overnight, vehicles sold and tightening of the “proverbial belt” occurred. David was now in survival mode. Several years passed managing on a day by day basis but eventually the economy picked up. During those years several new service agent appointments were made and these totalled approximately twelve major brands, all of which are current to this day. Videocassette recorders, television, audio products and video cameras were amongst the many items repaired. However over the years, video cameras have risen to prominence and now account for over fifty percent of the total workload. David is now the key camera service agent for Panasonic in Victoria with full PC based alignment equipment and offers full warranty service also on JVC, Blaupunkt, Samsung, Sanyo and Mitsubishi video camcorders. Of course all other brands out of warranty can also be serviced. In December 1995 renovations began at Eugene Terrace Ringwood to include a mezzanine floor which effectively tripled the size of the camera room plus David finally had an office of his own (which was no mean feat)! It is envisaged that with video cameras becoming more widely accepted in every day life there is a need for someone to provide a service that is available to customers and the trade alike. He already has repairs coming in either directly from other service companies or by referral both locally and country areas. With the recession well and truly over business has certainly picked up. Eugene Terrace now has a staff compliment of six including two office ladies who are kept very busy attending to customers and booking in repairs, etc. October 1999 – can you believe that we are again running out of space! Hence the hunt is on for larger premises still within the confines of Ringwood. A more accessible location with ample parking is sought and finally found within 1 km of the present location. It is October and Eugene Terrace has been sold and the new premises is now being fitted out in readiness for the relocation over the Christmas/New Year period. These premises are three times larger then the previous and will house an ample reception area, showroom for refurbished sales items and allow for expansion of the workshop for some time to come. After ten years in Eugene Terrace we finally move without a hitch. In one week all is set up and ready for the first day of 2000 in our new home. Soon after our first apprentice is hired and we start a new era in servicing. DVD’s are becoming more popular, so too for LCD projectors and home theatre systems. With the advent of the digital camera, (video & still the humble PC now has a new role to play in the processing (manipulation) of the recordings and so our service problems continue. Australia now has a new TAX system called the GST (Goods & Services Tax), which in itself has caused a tightening up of accounting practices. This I guess has been a good thing if only to help rein in outstanding accounts and improve the almighty cash flow. Many hours of data entry has helped get this under control and being involved at the implementation of a new system hopefully will stand us in good stead for the future. Present time is July 1st 2002 and the start of a second GST year. Things certainly have changed for us in the past two years. In particular, we have been appointed by Panasonic Australia as the ONLY Digital camera circuit board “rework centre” for Panasonic Australia & New Zealand. We are in fact the first privately owned company outside of Panasonic in the world to perform this duty and something we are very proud of achieving. The circuit board “re-work” now covers all models of digital video and digital still camera’s released in Australia & New Zealand. Other products may be included in the future. Over the past few years, David’s senior technician (and 2ic) Peter Dawson has dabbled with computer software programming. Initially to make it easier for himself and our camera technicians, he developed software to allow him to consolidate all the then current Panasonic alignment software into one CD package. This has been a mammoth task and has now evolved to the point where, with Panasonic’s permission, is now distributed to all authorised camera service centres throughout Australia. Peter’s involvement with this and the “board re-work” has recently won him an invite to a digital camera mechanism training course to be hosted by Panasonic, Japan in July 2002. An invite earned from initiative and hard work. Good luck Pete. Since this time, the recycle area has grown with each new model digital camera as released in the market and now includes RAM drives for DVD recorders. This process includes testing of the optical pickup and replacement if required. A full alignment is then necessary to ensure compatibility with all DVD recording formats including DVD RAM. The poor old VCR's days are numbered with the introduction of DVD recorders and those including hard drives. PVR's (personal video recorder) and recordable DVD are taking over from the VCR as they are much more flexible with the ability to record one program and watch a DVD or previously recorded program. Home theatre has also become more popular and affordable hence we now see more LCD projectors in the home these days. Regular picture tube type TV and rear projection TV are giving way to LCD and Plasma which are fast becoming the norm in households today. Thin modern styles, bigger and better pictures and available in standard or high definition plus features you could only have dreamed about are now a reality, courtesy of the digital age. This brings us up to date now except to say that we are
always looking for good staff so if you are a technician looking
for work in this industry and are interested in a career in electronics, please send
us an
e-mail or call during office hours on (03) 9870 9319. |
|
Send mail to
webmaster@DME.biz with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
