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Mt timemaker7/11/2023 In order to increase the manufacturing volume, reduce the cost and improve the performance of the products, Rakon developed its manufacturing processes. Also the performance of these early products, although good enough, was not satisfactory to the young Brent Robinson. ![]() The early TCXOs that Rakon supplied were imitations of the Japanese products, but Rakon was unable to replicate the highly automated manufacturing processes that existed in Japan. The supply of these products became the main focus of Rakon's operations, and the entire manufacturing process for quartz crystals was revamped in order to support this new technology. With NEC in Australia looking for a local supplier of TCXOs, Brent committed Rakon to developing a product of equivalent performance to anything that could be sourced out of Japan.īy the late 1980s, Rakon was supplying TCXOs to NEC Australia's Melbourne factory. These were mainly being manufactured in Japan at the time and were used, in particular, in cellular phones. In the mid-1980s, Brent came across a product type known as temperature-compensated crystal oscillators. The impact of this was that Rakon's core crystal business was in rapid decline, with the total market size shrinking to a mere 10% of its previous size.īrent Robinson immediately started looking for new related technologies that Rakon could adopt to turn around the rapidly falling sales. This meant that rather than a radio requiring a pair of crystals for every frequency (one for transmit and a second for receive), only one single crystal was required. Brent was made responsible for the crystal manufacturing business, while Warren focused on his other expanding business, Rakon Computers, which at the time owned the distribution rights for Unix in Australia and New Zealand.Īround this time, a new technology began being widely adopted in radio designs, frequency synthesis. In 1972 Warren Robinson set up a second manufacturing plant in Singapore to supply the growing markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan.Īround 1980, Warren Robinson's eldest son, Brent Robinson, joined Rakon as Managing Director. By 1971, Rakon had moved into its own premises and employed over 30 staff it had also begun exporting the crystals to Australia and South East Asia. Initially, the New Zealand government blocked Robinson's application to import crystal manufacturing equipment as they didn't wish there to be undue competition to the post office, however by 1967 Robinson was able to secure an import license for the equipment and started manufacturing quartz crystals, in his garage, to supply the local radio market.īy supplying quality crystals on short lead-times, Rakon grew quickly, riding the wave of growth in the radio-communications industry. Warren Robinson realising there was an opportunity to compete with the NZPO sold Marlin Electronics to Autocrat Radio and went on to found Rakon Industries (RIL) a few years later (1967). The only source for these crystals was the NZPO ( New Zealand Post Office), and delivery times were often measured in months, which was an ongoing problem for Robinson in his ability to supply his radios. These marine radios required between 6-12 quartz crystals with each region within New Zealand requiring a different set of frequencies. Robinson had previously operated a business manufacturing marine radios, Marlin Electronics. Rakon was founded on 4 April 1967 by Warren Robinson. ( April 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) ![]() ![]() Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.
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