Sir Angus Tait: Team Mourns Great Kiwi Export Icon

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Sir Angus Tait. Photo: Guy Frederick.

Media release
For immediate release

TEAM MOURNS GREAT KIWI EXPORT ICON
Company to endure beyond death of founder Sir Angus Tait

7 August 2007, Christchurch, New Zealand

Staff at Christchurch radio communications company, Tait Electronics Limited, are mourning the loss of their Founder and Chairman Sir Angus Tait. Angus died today at Windermere Lifestyle Care and Village.

Michael Chick, Managing Director, said the country, company and worldwide radio industry was poorer for his passing. “He was an immensely determined yet compassionate man, a great innovator and mentor for so many. He was humble and curious; never seeking the limelight but never shy of making his voice heard if it would help business and education in New Zealand.”

“Tait Electronics is a close-knit team and we’re all devastated by the news. But our sadness can also be tinged with pride. Pride in Angus himself, what Angus originally created and what we have all helped build together.”

Beyond the 850 current employees here at the company, so many people knew Angus: former employees, partners around the world, customers, dealers as well as NZ businesspeople and the Canterbury education community.

“He was a selfless soul: refusing to sell-up this NZ-based business despite overseas buyers making offers in the 1980s. As a result, many jobs were saved and the company has gone on to earn over two billion dollars (in exports) for New Zealand.” The Tait Foundation has donated millions of dollars to a variety of causes; most recently in the Canterbury University’s Wireless Research Centre.

Michael added, “Tait Electronics Limited is a leader in the global radio communications industry and that is a great testament to a great man. He was the Chairman and, at 88, he had been coming into work most days. However, Angus was always quick to emphasise the team aspect: the fact that together we achieve more. He surrounded himself with talented and motivated radio engineers, designers, salespeople and technicians. It is they who will endure and continue working towards his vision.”

“Thanks to Angus’s team ethos, the company, Tait Electronics Limited is in good shape with great products, innovations in the pipeline and strong orders worldwide. We have a large team of motivated and talented radio engineers. The current management team is very experienced and we continue to invest in Research and Development and in our distribution channels. Many customers continue to choose radios from Tait Electronics because they are tough, reliable and technically sophisticated.”

“His quiet and unassuming way, his ability to challenge you to do better, his knowledge of the people and issues within the community and industry and his generosity of spirit are gone to us and we’re all feeling that loss. Yet Angus’s professional legacy is a company driving for growth for New Zealand and the team at Tait Electronics Limited will keep striving to create jobs and wealth for this country, because that is what Angus wanted,” concluded Michael.

Biographical details about Sir Angus Tait

The Early Years

Sir Angus Tait first flirted with electronics when he was 13. Then a student at Waitaki Boys High School in Oamaru, he cast aside his homework to tinker with electronics.
His teenage curiosity led to a lifetime as an industry leader in radio communication and a passion for education.

Sir Angus Tait founded the highly successful radio communications company, Tait Electronics. From its humble offices in Christchurch, New Zealand starting from a potato warehouse in the City Centre to an international company with offices and customers in over 130 countries.

However, by the time he started this venture he had already survived one of the worst passenger ferry disasters in New Zealand’s history, spent six years representing his country in World War II and had overcome bankruptcy.

Sir Angus started life needing to be independent because his father died during an influenza epidemic before he was born. However he managed to seize any opportunity that went his way, and his first break came when he landed a job at a local radio shop at aged 17. Though to get the job he had to convince his mother he should leave school without any formal qualifications.

Sir Angus sat a few trade exams and picked up the odd credential in the next four years before, at 21, joining the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He was assigned to the airborne radar in England for six years, when he returned home with his wife, Hazel.

Not knowing where to take his career, Sir Angus found his calling at the Post Office, where land mobile radio communications systems were being installed.

The First Chapter

The NZ Post Office was putting single-frequency stations at high points around the country, leaving the industry, and more specifically Sir Angus, to develop the mobile equipment.

In 1948 Sir Angus formed his first company, A.M. Tait Ltd, on the back of mobile radio sales to two taxi companies. A.M. Tait Ltd (the ‘M’ stood for McMillan) developed the AM T4 radio, which contributed much of the company’s success. Without any sort of business plan the company’s staff swelled to 100 people by the mid-1960s, when A.M. Tait Ltd even delved into making televisions! But by 1967 A.M. Tait Ltd was in receivership.

However, instead of taking an early retirement Sir Angus mortgaged his house and started again.

Starting Over

The space race led by the United States to put the first man on the moon would open new doors for Sir Angus’s next venture. A lot of effort was put into developing RF transistors to provide astronauts with suitable radio communications, which in turn led Tait to become the first company in Australasia to build the all-transistor mobile radio.

From there, Tait Electronics Limited developed. During the 1970s the Tait Miniphone boosted the company’s sales and took Tait to the top of the New Zealand market. So by the end of the 1970s, Sir Angus had launched a global assault on the technology market when the company began exporting to the United Kingdom.

An Expanding Business

In 1982, Sir Angus moved Tait Electronics to its current home on Wairakei Rd, Christchurch. He bought the former Fabiola Fashions building, shaped like a 20-tooth circular blade, for a snip at $2 million.

By the time the 1990s rolled around, Sir Angus had also steered exports to the USA and Australia, where subsidiaries had been established.

The success of Tait Electronics was highlighted when the company won in 1994 the NZ Governor-General’s Supreme Award for Exporter of the Year for the second time, while the following year the Queen of England toured the company’s facilities while on a royal visit.

Mr Tait Gives Back

Sir Angus also received personal accolades during the same decade. In 1996, he was made an honorary doctorate of Engineering by the University of Canterbury before being knighted in 1999.

Sir Angus’s passion to promote education and nurture local talent led to the company contributing financially to the University of Canterbury’s engineering school.

However, biggest reflection of Sir Angus’s generosity came when he decided to put his shares in Tait Electronics into a trust. When he was 75, Sir Angus followed down a similar path to the German company Bosch, which was put into a trust by founder Robert Bosch before he passed away in 1942. Today, Bosch is one the largest and technically advanced powertools companies in the world.

The move meant that manufacturing jobs would stay in Canterbury for some time to come, at the expense of an accumulation of Sir Angus’s personal wealth.

A New Millennium

Sir Angus’s selfless business practices created mutual loyalty with staff; retention has remained very high. He provided staff with health and superannuation benefits, long before the latter was made compulsory. Casual Friday’s and the focus on in-house training were also part of the culture built by Sir Angus.

Always a radio enthusiast (call sign ZL 3NL) Angus kept up to date with the latest technologies. Until the end at 88, Sir Angus drove into work in his characteristic red Alpha Romeo. Rather than a parking space, he pretty much parked right by the front door. After all, it was his name on the office sign.

ENDS

QUOTES FROM A BUSINESS LEADER

Angus on innovation starting up a business:
“If you’re going to start down the road on a new piece of activity, don’t be too wise. Don’t know too much about it, because if you know how hard it is, you won’t do it.”

Angus on work:
“Enjoy your work, learn as much as you can, upgrade your skills, aim high in your standards.“

Angus on those considering engineering as a career:
“Recognise it as a sphere of activity that has no bounds. Don’t be concerned that you’ll be
bored and be doing the same thing every day. It’s moving so quickly with new technologies
that are emerging, I hesitate to predict where it will go.”

Angus on success:
“Success comes from an unwavering dedication to a specific goal, from teamwork in the face of adversity and from aiming high in a competitive world.”

Angus on creativity:
“When designing new products, yes, there were sparks of creativity, but often it was applied knowledge and accumulated experience that improved every little detail and generated a great product.”

Angus on the environment:
“I believe taking action on our environmental sustainability is vital for New Zealand and the world.”

Angus on mortgaging his house to start again after bankruptcy:
To Bank Manager “I won’t be making the same mistakes again…I’ll be making new mistakes in future.”

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About Tait Electronics Ltd
Tait Electronics Ltd was formed in 1969 and is a leading provider of radio communications solutions to public safety organisations, utilities and transport providers. The company exports equipment to over 140 countries from its global headquarters in Christchurch, New Zealand. Its research and development operation is one of the largest in its sector in Australasia. Tait employs about 800 people in New Zealand and has wholly-owned customer service facilities in Australia, Singapore, Thailand, China, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and the United States.

www.taitworld.com

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