The Plessey brand is back
A surprise at the 1999 TMA telecomms trade show was the reappearance of the old Plessey name and symbol. Although the Plessey name has been associated with communications equipment since 1929, the identity had all but disappeared (in Europe at any rate) since the GEC Siemens takeover of GPT Ltd in 1989. However, the South African branch of the company continued to produce equipment under the old Plessey brand and is now part of Tellumat Ltd, which develops, manufactures and markets a range of communications and other products including Plessey PBX systems. The latter are imported into the UK and marketed here on a sole distributor basis by International Telecommunications Equipment Ltd (ITE) of Horsham, Sussex. ITE was established in 1994 and among other things, manufactures Viscount and Statesman telephones.
The history of Plessey / Tellumat
1917: The beginning
The origins of PLESSEY began with the career of W.O Heyne, a German by birth, who lived in England from the age of four. He trained as an engineer, but in 1914 was interned in the Isle of Man, and not released until 1916 on the proviso that "he found work of national importance". He joined a London company manufacturing woodwork machinery, producing structural members for aircraft, but soon moved to the Clutsam Action Company, manufacturers of piano-forte actions. Demand for their product was limited and the owner, Hurst Hodgson, decided to sell the company. However, realising the potential engineering skills of W.O. Heyne and to give these greater scope, he formed a new Company called PLESSEY on 11 December 1917. The Memorandum and Articles of Association defined the objectives of the new Company to be "machine engineering and machining and manufacturers of piano-forte actions, piano-players and musical instruments of all kinds".
From this inauspicious beginning the history of the PLESSEY Company began. The new company had a nominal share capital of £3,000, of which only £1,000 shares were issued and divided between Hurst Hodgson, Mr C H Whittaker, a school friend of Heyne who held them on his behalf as he was still technically an alien, and two brothers, Raymond and Plessey Parker. The names of these original shareholders provide a clue to the unusual name of the company, in that one of the shareholders was called PLESSEY, and Heyne's wife, Elizabeth, came from the village of the same name in Northampton [this cannot be substantiated, there is no such village] - co-incidence dictated the choice. Furthermore, the name sounded well and left the scope of the company open. The first PLESSEY factory was in Marylebone and consisted of shop premises and a large greenhouse in the back garden. Hurst Hodgson also had an interest in British Electro Chemists Ltd, which Heyne joined as a salesman and then took over for PLESSEY. In 1919 the company was reorganised, Hurst Hodgson and the Parker brothers were bought out and PLESSEY moved to new premises in Holloway. These premises were shared with another business, China Metal Platers, with which B.G. Clarke was associated. He quickly recognised Heyne's engineering ability, coupled with the potential for PLESSEY to grow if more capital was available.
In February 1921, B.G. Clark put money into the company, and in September his son, A.G. Clark, began with PLESSEY - the key partnership and basis for PLESSEY's future growth had begun. Heyne, at 32, was Chairman and Managing Director and A.G. Clark, aged 22, was the Secretary, with four other directors and a workforce of between four and six people. The company occupied two rooms and made jigs and tools: Turnover in 1921/1922 was £4,000, on which was made a small loss of £69. This was followed by a profit of £206 which showed that PLESSEY was moving in the right direction.
1922: The radio era
In 1922 PLESSEY obtained an immensely important order which was to transform the company. B.G. Clark, who lived in Reading, commuted to Paddington, and two of his travelling companions mentioned to him that Marconi were looking for firms to manufacture radio sets under contract. The three friends saw the potential and formed the British Radiophone Company specifically to tender for radio orders, which they hoped to sub contract to PLESSEY. In July they won the order worth £30,000 for 5,500 Marconi crystal sets and 5,000 V2 valve receivers. PLESSEY therefore entered the radio industry at a very early stage. New premises were soon essential and Heyne heard that a factory at Ilford was for sale for £20,000. With B.G. Clark, he viewed the factory and offered £7,500 which, to their surprise, was accepted: PLESSEY left London in March 1923 and in 1925 the original company was wound up and the PLESSEY Company as the modem company was formed, this time with a share capital of £20,000. In the new Articles of Association, reference to pianos and musical instruments was omitted. The building purchased by PLESSEY was originally a laundry but during the First World War this changed to the production of shells and aeroplane components. After the war tyre studs were made for Dunlop but this venture was never successful and the factory remained empty from 1921 until purchased by PLESSEY. By early 1925 PLESSEY was selling 1,300 sets a week to Marconiphone, the company set up by Marconi to handle radio receivers and, by September, this had increased to 2,500 sets. In 1926, orders from Marconiphone ceased when they bought their own manufacturing company, Sterling Telephone and Electric, at Dagenham. To provisionally fill this sudden and serious gap, the company designed the first portable radio called the National. Success with their sets resulted in orders from other companies such as Symphony, Eunello; Columbia, Defiant and Sparta, for manufacture of their radios. PLESSEY also obtained orders from the Post Office for belts, buzzers and lever keys and later, in 1929, candlestick telephones. Thus began our long association with the Post Office and our future investment in telecommunications. Admiralty's order at this time for wireless with its telephony components started PLESSEY's connection with the Armed Forces. A further indication of the varied list of products made by PLESSEY was a totalisator for Cardiff Racecourse and the Jenson cigarette lighter which; in 1928/9, provided 8% of turnover.
PLESSEY was also involved with early television experiments and Logie Baird worked for a time at Ilford conducting experiments from the roof of this factory. Within the Exhibition Room at Ilford, Stookie, the original dummy's head used by Baird, can be seen with one of the original televisions. A particularly significant product at this time was the AC44 Airborne Transmitter Receiver, one of which was flown in an Airspeed Envoy in the 1934 International Air race to Australia. This was the forerunner of the TR9 communications equipment for fighter aircraft for which important Air Ministry contracts were obtained later in the 1930s. These products marked the commencement of PLESSEY's involvement in defence communications.
1930: The war years
Throughout the 1930s licensing agreements were a major pattern of growth and A.G. Clarke and Bill Heyne made annual visits to the United States and obtained vitally important licences from Breeze, Koffman and Pesco. Breeze was a comprehensive system of wiring to prevent radio interference. The Koffman licence was a cartridge starter which gave a burst of gas pressure to spin the aircraft engine for a "scramble" takeoff, and the Pesco licence covered aircraft fuel pumps. The technology was later developed by PLESSEY and laid the foundations for the later aerospace and hydraulics business. Turnover in 1936/37 exceeded £1 million for the first time, and on 17 March 1937, PLESSEY became a public company. In 1939 PLESSEY was well placed to play a key war-time role, but space was at a premium. However, the space problem was solved by setting up factories at other sites away from London and by using the nearby Central Line tube between Gants Hill and Wanstead, which had been completed but not opened just before the outbreak of war. In this tunnel, with a total length of 5 miles, 2,000 people were continuously at work and it became the most successful underground factory in the country. The war effort of PLESSEY was considerable, totalling 18 million shell and bomb cases, 11 million Breeze connectors, 28,000 aircraft pumps, 74,000 wiring harnesses and 23,000 engine cartridge starters.
When the war finished the massive turnover dropped dramatically and sales to the Government of £5 million in 1944/5 had shrunk to £1/4 million in 1946. The workforce fell from 11,540 to less than 6,000 and in 1946, B.G Clark died and B.N. Heyne retired.
1950: Growth into Telecommunications
The company looked again to the growing commercial radio and television market for increased sales and then, with the onset of the cold war, defence products were again in demand. In the 1950s PLESSEY put increasing emphasis on R&D and re-established itself as an important supplier of defence communications. In 1961 the size of PLESSEY doubled overnight when the company bought out A.T. & E and Ericsson Telephones Ltd, which brought in a large proportion of Post Office business, together with overseas business establishments and a diversity of new products. It was at this crucial time in 1962 that A.G. Clark died, but the challenge was met and the company continued to grow, often by acquisition which included consolidating its position overseas. Telecommunications now became of great importance and PLESSEY was a UK company with electronic switching experience and alone with an export exchange called Pentex.
1963: South Africa
It was with the acquisition of A.T. & E and Ericsson that PLESSEY came to South Africa as they gained the South African subsidiary 1963. Instrument Manufacturing Company (IMC) was also bought out in 1964, and all activities were consolidated at IMC's factory in Cape Town. In 1974, 26% of PLESSEY South Africa's equity was sold to SANLAM with first right of refusal to further equity. The share holding was subsequently transferred to Sankorp, Santam's industrial holding company. When the PLESSEY Company was taken over by GEC-Siemens in 1989, Sankorp indicated its wish to purchase the 74% shareholding it did not own. After two years of protracted negotiations, PLESSEY became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sankorp under the new name of PLESSEY SOUTH AFRICA LIMITED. The addition of the name Tellumat had a double symbolism, firstly for the company's commitment to exports, as it is the name of its UK-based export subsidiary. Secondly the name derives from the Tellurometer South Africa's world first electronic surveying development - and by implication a commitment to ongoing electronic research and development. The merger from April 1 1995 of PTSA with Tek Electronics, the consumer electronics audio and video products, manufacturer and distributor, (also wholly-owned by Sankorp) took PLESSEY full circle back to its consumer electronics roots. This resulted in the renaming of PLESSEY back to the original name of PLESSEY SOUTH AFRICA LIMITED. At the end of 1996, Plessey sold off the Sales and marketing business of Telefunken, Pioneer and Satellite TV. In October 1997, PSA launched on the JSE (Johannesburg Stock Exchange). Trading started off at R4.80 a share.
1996: The Fire
On the evening of the 6th of February, a devastating fire swept through 2 bays of the manufacturing facility at White Road causing huge damage to stock, instruments, plant and work in progress. No one was injured, but work was disrupted for several weeks. Large sections of the factory had to be rebuilt.
1998: The Dimension Data Take-over
In August 1998 Plessey was bought by Dimension Data and World-wide African Investment Holdings for R1.6Billion, they retained BSW Data, Plessey Solutions and Communications Systems. the remaining divisions were bought back by a combined management buyout supported by Rand Merchant Bank. The corporate name was changed to Tellumat Pty Ltd. Tellumat continues to manufacture Plessey products as before. Dimension Data markets our telecommunications-only products in Africa, and we market all Plessey products world-wide, excluding African telecommunications products.
[amended and adapted with acknowledgement from the Tellumat website]