I am a South Australian by birth, but a Western Australian by choice. My wife and I moved from Woomera in South Australia to Karratha in 1970, for a couple of years, which became ten. My introduction to PLC's was in the mid '70's with both Siemens and Modicon when working for Hamersley Iron. This was also my introduction to SCADA by way of a DEC PDP-8 computer at the EII sampling plant and later at Parker Point with a PDP11 (Claude). I became interested in computers in the late 70's and purchased my first in 1979. I became addicted to computers then, both large and small and still build my own custom systems for personal use.
We left Karratha in July 1980 and moved to Stoneville in the Perth hills. I had taken a position at the new vanadium plant at Wundowie. The plant unfortunately was not viable and closed in 1982. Then I worked as a specialist control systems engineer for several years with Raymond Engineers, Foxboro and Paklog.
Established Electro 80 Pty.Ltd. in November 1987 as an independent control system provider. Being independent allowed us to tailor control solutions which best suited the client requirements, not what best suited the hardware suppliers. It also allowed us to push the boundaries to the limit and beyond. On a number of occasions we had 'Hot-Fixes' delivered by modem very shortly before site installation. We developed a very close relationship with the owners of Citect, but knocked back the distributorship offer. Independence was important to me. The company was successful, expanded and developed a good reputation in the mining and processing industry.
In the late 90's I developed a taste for red wine and established a modest cellar, but didn't have the time to appreciate it.
Sold Electro 80 in 2001 and I almost retired. I finally retired in 2022 after Electro 80 was acquired by Accenture.
I still currently do a bit of programming part time as a consultant to keep my mind occupied.
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