Happy 40th Birthday,
It may come as a surprise to many readers
that Altronics will celebrate 40 years in
business in December, this month! From a
small start they have steadily grown and now
have six stores and over 60 resellers spread
throughout Australia and New Zealand.
J
ack O’Donnell, the owner and
founder of Altronics, has actually
been in business since January 1974
when he started what is now Ampac
Technologies Pty Ltd, which still operates today, in Balcatta in Perth.
Ampac is the largest independent
and privately owned supplier of fire
detection and alarm systems in Australia. But back in 1976 Jack O’Donnell
saw a great opportunity to become a
reseller for Dick Smith Electronics in
Perth.
So he started Altronics in December 1976 as a Dick Smith Electronics
reseller and since there was no other
similar business selling DSE parts in
Perth, the venture went well.
Dick Smith Electronics soon recognised Jack’s success, as he was going
“gang-busters” (in fact, Altronics was
far and away Dick Smith Electronics
largest reseller at the time).
So much so that Ike Bain, the General Manager and the person responsible
for opening new DSE stores, decided
to open up a Perth store in 1979, competing directly against Jack.
Jack was appalled! But he did not
take it lying down. Accordingly, he
ceased operating as a DSE dealer in
April 1979 and he decided to open
up a new business, carrying its own
range of electronic parts.
As part of that process, he sold Ampac in 1979 and started Altronics Distributors in January 1980.
His first store was a tiny operation in
151 York Street, Subiaco, Perth.
40 Silicon Chip
This was a very courageous move on
Jack’s part because Dick Smith Electronics was booming at the time and
as evidence of that, during 1979 they
had lots of advertising in Electronics
Australia magazine.
For example, in the August 1979 issue, DSE had no less than eight pages
of advertising.
Also not to be forgotten was that
By Leo Simpson
Tandy Electronics was rampant at the
time – they had a 144-page catalog in
the October 1979 issue of EA. So Jack
O’Donnell could expect some pretty
heavy competition as he started out.
But Jack’s deliberate strategy was to
import and distribute products which
he had previously bought from DSE as
a reseller. To top it off, he decided to
also do kits for projects published in
This wasn’t even Altronics’ first “warehouse” – it’s the original Ampac
Technologies “headquarters” in Murchison St. Ampac is still in business today
but is now swamped by the success of Altronics.
siliconchip.com.au
Altronics first 32-page catalog, from 1980 and their latest 388-page monster included free with SILICON CHIP in March this year.
the two magazines at the time, Electronics Australia and Electronics Today International.
Just incidentally, Ike Bain proclaimed on the opening of the Perth
store that Altronics would be gone
within 12 months. Well, Jack likes
to state that Altronics is still going
strong...
In fact, they’ve recently moved their
Cannington store into much larger
premises next door – which used to
house Dick Smith Electronics!
One year after starting Altronics Distributors as a new business, Jack’s first
full page advert appeared in the January 1981 issue of EA and was billed
as a “sensible alternative to Tandy and
Dick Smith”.
Not only that, by that time Altronics was supplying other parts retailers
like Radio Despatch Service in Sydney and Ellistronics, in Melbourne.
Altronics had an even bigger splash
in the March 1981 issue of EA, with
a 2-page spread and they featured in
EA from that point on.
Then in March 1982 the first edition
of the Altronics catalog, with 32 pages, appeared in Electronics Australia.
By that time Altronics had a store in
Stirling Street, Perth and a warehouse
in Subiaco. Most recently, the 28th edition of the catalog was a thumping 384
pages and was bundled with the March
2016 issue of SILICON CHIP.
Altronics now have six stores and
over 60 resellers throughout Australia and New Zealand (many of whom
. . . to the current warehouse and distribution centre in Ledgar Rd, Balcatta. But even this is bursting at the seams –
Altronics are currently drawing up plans for a HUGE new warehouse/distribution centre in Balcatta,
siliconchip.com.au
December 2016 41
Altronics’ own “Redback” range of
professional PA Equipment has earned
a huge following amongsts pro audio
installers and users. This Matrix Mixer
(Cat A4480A) is typical of the very
high quality equipment made here in
Australia by Altronics.
used to be Dick Smith Electronics resellers!).
But Altronics have not been content
to just market an ever-increasing range
of electronics parts and kits. As well,
they have developed a strong manufacturing arm, producing a wide range
of public address equipment under the
Redback brand.
In fact, Jack and later Altronics, have
been manufacturing PA equipment under the Redback brand since 1974 and
this was built on Jack O’Donnell’s wide
experience in the industry.
Altronics now have a very wide
customer base and they are a major
suppler to Ampac Technologies (funny, that).
Furthermore, all of the Redback
products are designed in the Altronics
headquarters in Perth and virtually all
of the electronic equipment is manufactured there as well.
So what’s next? Jack and his management team are planning for a very
strong future and as evidence of that,
they have plans for a very large warehouse and headquarters building on a
new site in Balcatta.
We wish them well.
SC
As well as their main distribution centre in Perth, Altronics maintain
warehouses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to service the east coast,
ensuring volume customers never have to wait for their orders.
And here’s the future: an
architect’s rendering of the first
two stages of Altronics proposed new
headquarters, warehouse and distribution
centre at Balcatta, not too far from their existing
warehouse but many times the size!
42 Silicon Chip
siliconchip.com.au
