Andy Kinsey with one of the interfaces he produces.
By Shaun Inguanzo
ADVANCED Micro Design Technologies (AMDT) is a company whose product thousands of people touch daily without knowing who made it.
The electronics company designs interfaces that mostly allow people to control machines.
The most common examples of AMDT’s design are coffee and soft-drink vending machines that allow push-button selections.
AMDT also designs interfaces that allow scientists to control the release of gases and chemicals in experimental labs.
With such a broad application, AMDT’s designs should be well known. But AMDT founder Andy Kinsey said this was not the case.
“I guess the difficulty is the designs tend be things embedded into other systems,” he said.
“It makes it difficult to be aware of who made it, without moving too deep to find out.”
But word of mouth among manufacturers has helped the small business flourish in recent years and collect a rising star award from the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce.
“We started out as general electrical contractors (in 1991), then we got the opportunity to design a control system for a customer and the electronics started there,” Mr Kinsey said.
“We found the most lucrative side of business was electronics and now we are dedicated to that.”
The business regards outsourcing work to China as a double-edged sword.
Mr Kinsey said the business was considering sending designs to the country to manufacture its prototypes.
But he said AMDT had to focus its own energies on creating a point of difference to keep customers coming back to Dandenong South and not China.
“Manufacturing is where China has its focus, but we focus on the smart side.
“We are the developers of technology.”
Mr Kinsey said the company was now planning its next stage of growth.
He said Greater Dandenong was the ideal city for manufacturers because of its business networks.
A founding member and committee member of the South East Melbourne Manufacturers’ Alliance, Mr Kinsey said he believed in the region’s business potential.
“If we can promote and grow the region it will help all businesses around here whether directly or indirectly to flourish.”
