KANE ENGINEERING
HISTORY
South St., Newtownards factory, early 1970’s.
Staff product training c.1990.
Electrex Trade show at the NEC Birmingham, early 1990’s.
Welded panels at South St., Newtownards factory, early 1970’s.
RF Kane – Quality award 1992.
LV panel testing, c.1991.
WITH THE MOVE TO A NEWFACTORY, KANE ENGINEERINGWAS ONE OF THE FIRST COMPANIES TO MOVE AWAY FROM ‘INDUSTRIAL PATTERN’ SWITCHGEAR TO THE MORE MODERN ‘CUBICLE PATTERN’... 1970’s – Bringing newproducts to theNI market
K ane Engineering brought a new by fuse switchgear. One key strategic partnership was with Merlin Gerin (later to become Schneider Electric), which Kane introduced to the NI market through an exclusive distributorship in 1976. The French brand was certainly unknown to the local market at the time, and the introduction of the name Merlin Gerin to customers was often met with the reply, “Merlin, who?” French accents aside, Kane Engineering was responsible for establishing the brand in Northern Ireland and even became Merlin Gerin’s biggest customer in the UK for their modular ‘Prisma’ steelwork system. world of circuit breakers to a market that had been previously dominated
continued to grow its local market presence, becoming a market leader. Other switchgear companies such as ‘Kelvin Manufacturing’ and ‘Heating Controls & Devices’ faded out of the market through lack of competitiveness and innovation. For Kane Engineering, innovation was always the key to staying successful, being the first company to introduce CAD systems in the late 1980s, and always looking out for new supplier and customer opportunities. 1990’s – New partnerships and new people Kane Engineering was heavily involved in the TQM (Total Quality Management) approach to business in the early 1990s, and further investment in I.T. systems kept the company as the preferred choice for quality and value in LV panels. Raymond’s daughter, Paula, was a director in the business during this period and played a
key role in driving the quality systems and process improvements, which resulted in Kane Engineering being recognised as the winner of the ‘NI Quality award’ 1992. Damien Kane graduated from university in 1992, and after working in London for a period, joined the family business in 1994 and took the role of Managing Director when Raymond retired in 1998. During the mid-’90s, Kane Engineering built its first Cubic Modular system panel, a partnership that has gone from strength to strength over the past 25 years. Kane was Northern Ireland’s first ‘Accredited system builder’, and Cubic now supplies all of Kane’s modular steelwork and busbar systems. “Cubic’s business model is ‘the customer as partner’ and this is something we’ve tried to take on board with all our own customers and suppliers over the years,” said Damien.
1980’s – A period of change and innovation During this decade, Kane Engineering
Kane Engineering Ltd, Glenford Road, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 4AU T: +44 (0)28 9181 4465 - E: info@kane-engineering.co.uk www.kane-engineering.co.uk
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS 1971 - 2021
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