On the 11th of November 2020, one of our employees reached a major milestone with REDARC. Having joined the company in 1985 – when it was still called Labservice – 2020 marked 35 years of service for Lex Clarke. Lex has worked in several departments across the business and is currently utilising his 35 years’ worth of REDARC product knowledge on our Technical Support Team.
2020 also marked another significant milestone for three of REDARC’s longest serving employees. Between Lex Clarke, Barbara Cromwell, and David Downie they have served over 100 years at REDARC. Barbara and David both started in 1987, and the three of them are part of the original eight employees who were with the company when it turned from Lab Service to REDARC. An amazing achievement by all.
During this last 35 years, REDARC has evolved and grown into the business you know today. This evolution has not only included various location moves and factory expansions but growing from eight employees to over 200. With a growing business comes a constantly growing and changing product range, and while we still produce and sell some of our flagship products their appearance and technological capability has changed dramatically. To celebrate these milestones, we’ve cracked open the archives and taken a trip down memory lane.
A new home
In the last 40 years, REDARC has called several locations home. From starting in Blackwood, SA in 1979 we have moved four times over the years and have called the purpose-built facility in Lonsdale home since 2007. Since then, our current location us undergone a few expansions and upgrades to make it the state-of-the-art facility that we need.
For a changing product
As vehicles have evolved, our products have had to change with them. No longer were chunky, heavy products going to cut it when you had airbags, smaller engine bays, and limited dashboard space to contend with. We saw these issues and adapted and improved our products to work for the modern vehicle. One of the best examples of this is our brake controller, which is almost unrecognisable now from what it once looked like. This has seen our products continue to be the benchmark by which all other products are measured by.
But some things never change
While the look of almost all our products have evolved over time, some things it seems are nearly perfect from the beginning. One of these products is the SmartStart Battery Isolator, which looks almost identical now to when it was first launched. As alternators and vehicles have changed over the years, REDARC products have changed with them and we've developed different in-vehicle charging solutions but sometimes, even when the product becomes smarter and more robust, it pays to stick with a look that works.
A new look
While REDARC has added several new departments over the last 35 years, one of the most noticeable is the Marketing Department. During that time, a lot of time and effort has gone into making REDARC look like it does today.
Looking back, REDARC has evolved a lot over the years and we’re excited to see what the future has in store. To learn more about REDARC through the years check out our blog on Who is REDARC? If you've ever wanted to take a look inside REDARC, check out our 3D factory tour below.
