@AuManufacturing Conversations episode 11 — Taya Permezel from Coolon LED Lighting

In episode 11 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski, we hear from Taya Permezel, Director of Partnerships at Coolon LED Lighting.

Permezel (pictured below) is part of an ambitious SME manufacturer that’s very much on the move, which was recently featured during our Celebrating Australian Made Series, and which has won numerous awards for its work delivering IoT solutions through its industrial lighting.

This year alone it has won at the Prospect and Endeavour Awards (including Manufacturer of the Year at the latter) the Leader in Industry 4.0 category at the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame awards.

Coolon began in 2001. Its leadership team spent eight years before that running contract electronics manufacturer FLC Microdesign. According to Permezel, its heritage has made the difference as industrial LED lighting has taken off.

“We were quite fortunate in that we were a semiconductor engineering company that entered the lighting space, rather than a lighting company that was producing traditional lighting that was then required to change and learn to work with LEDs,” she tells us.

Episode guide

1:50 — From contract manufacturer to making their own products.

3:20 — Advancements in LED lighting and delivering bespoke products based on customer problems.

5:25 — Lights for Casey Station in Antarctica and other non-traditional projects in horticulture and cancer research.

7:52 — The R&D team’s work, which includes spending extra time redesigning products to adapt to semiconductor shortages. Also the recent move into industrial IoT

10:20 — There importance of site visits in understanding customer needs.

12:36 — IoT and dealing with signal interferences in minesites.

15:06 — Managing a supply chain and the importance of long-term relationships in this.

16:22 — The best and worst things about being a family-owned manufacturing business.

18:35 — The role of the defence industry in the company’s future.

20:18 — Why expanding the role of manufacturing isn’t a two-second fix.

22:50 — Now hiring (especially engineers.)

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Pictures: supplied

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