Bosch Distributor Micron Celebrates 40 Years In Australia
Micron Celebrates 40 Years In Australia – Bosch’s longest serving distributor is celebrating its 40th year of operations in Australia.
Alex Bardon launched Micron in New Zealand in 1976, manufacturing and selling its Scorpion intrusion detection system and PIR detectors, including GEM and TX2. According to Bardon, Scorpion was an excellent security system that has proved to be extraordinarily reliable.
“It was a great panel for its time,” Bardon said. “We still get occasional calls for Scorpion support almost 50 years since it was first made.”
Buoyed by the Scorpion panel’s acceptance in New Zealand, Alex decided to jump over the ditch and set up Micron operations in Crows Nest in 1983.
“The challenge in the first year or 2 was getting our name out there,” Bardon explained. “In the early days, like the Yellow Pages ad said, we had to make our fingers do the walking – call and then do demos and send samples everywhere.”
The business grew over the next couple of years and Micron wanted to add additional intrusion products to their range. Electronics Design and Manufacturing (EDM) alarm panels like the EDM905 and EDM908 came onboard. Locally manufactured in Sydney, EDM went on to produce further panels such as the 4+4, 6+6, Solution 8 and Solution 16, all of which Micron supported and in a short time had become one of EDM’s biggest distributors in NSW.
Having to stock more inventory, Micron moved its business to Seven Hills where the head office and 2 warehouses are still located. Additional staff was also required.
“It required a big investment on our behalf,” Bardon said. “We acquired assets, debt and more employees. But it was a great opportunity and we had to do it right.”
Micron Celebrates 40 Years In Australia
A few years later EDM was acquired by Detection Systems, and shortly after by Bosch. According to Bardon, the Bosch distributorship changed a lot for Micron.
“All of a sudden, we had a global brand and products that became very well known in the industry,” he said. “We also became somewhat better known and had to grow quite quickly.”
The company invested heavily in staff with technical expertise. It was at this point current GM and business partner, Simon Jabour, joined Micron. With a technical background in electronics, Jabour quickly established a support team that became experts in all Bosch/EDM alarm panels. Jabour believes that this expertise keeps customers coming back to Micron.
“We offer our integrator customer great support when it’s required,” Jabour said. “No technician wants to go back to an installation another day, because it costs money and does not look good to the customer. Our excellent technical support mitigates against such issues.”
The team’s long experience in the electronic security industry gives it profound market perception. When it comes to challenges faced by the market in 2023, Bardon and Jabour cite increased competition, lower prices and the need to grow product ranges.
“Putting the pandemic and part shortages aside, there are many more intrusion panels in the market, many more security brands in general, and more distributors than ever,” Jabour explains. “And when you look at the price of a panel, they are being sold for roughly 30 per cent less than they were 40 years ago. Volume has increased but so have the costs of doing business.
“Over the years we have introduced additional product ranges, including intercoms, CCTV, home wiring hubs and more, all of which have strengthened our ability to support customers. The security industry, our vendors and our customers have been good to us. In 2014 we were able to expand and open a warehouse in Hendra, Brisbane. Just 8 years on, we are the largest Bosch intrusion supplier in Queensland and haven’t looked back.”
What does the future hold? The Micron team said they will continue to grow with the industry thanks to high levels of technical support and quality product selection for another 40 years or so.
“We will keep on doing what we have always done – providing great products, service and support,” said Jabour. “Micron will never be a box mover. We do not stock competing product lines and we only sell what we can technically support at the highest level.
“I guess you could say we are very loyal to our brands. We support them and our customers the only way they deserve to be supported.”
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“we are very loyal to our brands. we support them, and our customers the only way they deserve to be supported.”
Simon Jabour, Micron.
