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Heritage

Heritage

Rank O’Connor’s was established in Singapore in 1947 as part of the British diversified Rank Plc Group. In 1987, the Wearnes Group bought a 95% stake in Rank Industries Asia, which through its various subsidiaries in Southeast Asia, marketed audio-visual, broadcasting, telecommunication, electro-medical equipment as well as domestic appliances under the Rank O’Connor’s banner. At the time, Rank O’Connor’s was principally a Consumer Goods company. Most of its turnover came from the Consumer Goods Division which carried some famous brands such as Asahi Pentax, renowned for its cameras, Nakamichi sound systems, Musical Fidelity and Quad High End Hi-Fi Systems, Braun shavers, Vax vacuum cleaners and audio-visual equipment like Barco & JVC. The Technical & Engineering Division accounted for only about 20 percent of its business which was mainly in measuring and testing equipment such as Fluke and Perkin Elmer, and, lighting equipment such as Strand Lighting as well as a range of broadcasting equipment. In the 1989, Rank O’Connor’s was the first to introduce Nokia-Mobira mobile phones to Singapore and held the distributorship for Southeast Asia.

Foreseeing the demise of ‘agency houses’ as principals get directly involved in the distribution of their own products, O’Connor’s dropped the ‘Rank’ name, shifted its emphasis on developing the Technical and Engineering aspects of the business and providing value-added services and solutions to its customers. Before long, O’Connor’s successfully transitioned into a Technical Goods and Services company reducing its Consumer Goods business down to 20%. By 2000, O’Connor’s completely phased out its Consumer Goods business.

Over the years, O’Connor’s identified and built-up technical expertise through dealing with the latest and most advanced technologies of the time and offering solutions to customers in Singapore and the rest of Asia. For example, O’Connor’s became a significant player in satellite communications and information technology representing famous brands like NEC and satellite antenna systems such as Vertex. O’Connor’s has successfully installed prestigious projects not only in Singapore but also the rest of Southeast Asia including Inner Mongolia.

In Singapore, it was one of the key names which the Radio and Television Singapore relied on to install and maintain the antenna systems for HDB households. It is also one of the few companies to do optical fibre splicing, which allows for fibre optic cables to be connected. It has taken the latest software applications and customised solutions for SingTel, StarHub and so on. In Malaysia, it set up the largest telephone installation in the whole country with over 1000 extensions for Genting Highlands Resorts.

In broadcasting equipment; O’Connor’s has been in the business since 1947. In Malaysia, O’Connor’s specialised in radio communications for offshore applications and from there, expanded into navigational systems in small airports. In Singapore and other parts of the region including Bangladesh, it helped to set up many of the Television and Radio stations and equipped them with the latest state-of-the-art technology.

Today, O’Connor’s has an unrivalled reputation for Systems Integration and finding innovative solutions with the latest technology for customers who need specialised broadcasting, communications and information technology, security and surveillance, and medical laboratory and testing equipment in the region.

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