Partnership creating an agile business model

Key to this process has been a partnership with contract electronics manufacturer, Offshore Electronics, which has led to the building of an agile business model which has resulted faster time to market, the ability to build life-safety systems quickly and efficiently, and an outstanding level of customer service.

Established in 1982, UK-based Baldwin Boxall began by operating from a garden shed. Today, the company is known for its range of emergency voice communication, voice alarm and public address systems. These are used in safety-critical applications in public, leisure, healthcare and commercial buildings, providing vital information, guidance and protection in the event of an emergency or evacuation. The company’s equipment can be found in places as diverse as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, Marylebone Station in London and the Titanic Visitor Experience in Belfast.

The company designs, develops, assembles and tests all of its systems in-house, with the manufacture of a selection of electronics being outsourced to Offshore Electronics in Guernsey.

Bob Schulz, Production Director at Baldwin Boxall, said: “We compete globally with a number of multinational organisations, with strong brand recognition and far greater resources in terms of budgets, people and routes to market.

“What sets us apart, however, is our complete focus on the production of high-performance life-safety systems with an innovative and extremely agile business model. One of the most important aspects of this is our ability to respond rapidly to changes in market demand, to develop custom-built solutions quickly and to provide a level of service and support that our customers tell us is second to none.”

For Baldwin Boxall, business agility depends on retaining control of both its intellectual property (IP) and the close working relationships that it has with its customers and distribution partners. It also outsources what the company considers to be non-core functions to partners that provide specialised knowledge and resources; in particular the supply of high quality electronic assemblies.

Baldwin Boxall has worked with Offshore Electronics for a number of years.

Schulz continued: “The combination of expertise, quality and overall service that we receive from Offshore Electronics is outstanding. In many respects this is down to the fact that we share the same values and have a common engineering-led approach to problem solving.

“Offshore Electronics take a fresh approach to each project. They are particularly adept at engineering out cost, without affecting quality, functionality or performance; typically, this might be through different component selection, or modifications to board design.

“In my view, working with Offshore Electronics has helped enhance our ability to maintain a truly agile business model to the advantage of our customers around the world.”