Plessey AWS-5
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
by acquisition of companies and formed overseas companies. It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
and was a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
. In 1989, it was taken over by a consortium formed by GEC and
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
which split the assets of the Plessey group. The majority of Plessey's defence assets were amalgamated into
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
in 1999 when
British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
merged with the defence arm of GEC,
Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...
(MES). A small portion of the defence market, mostly embedded electronic systems and circuitcards remained with GE, formerly GE Fanuc and GE Intelligent Platforms (GE-IP) and now Abaco Systems based in
Huntsville Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...
,
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
, and in Towcester,
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
. The bulk of Plessey's telecommunications assets were acquired by
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
through its 2005 acquisition of
Marconi Communications Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC ...
, a successor company of GEC.


History


Early history

The Plessey company was founded in 1917 in
Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
, central London. The original shareholders were Thomas Hurst Hodgson, C. H. Whitaker, Raymond Parker and his brother Plessey Parker. A talented German engineer, William Oscar Heyne, was employed by the company. Heyne later became the managing director and chairman of Plessey and was one of the key figures in the development of Plessey during the 1920s and 1930s. The company moved to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in 1919. In 1925, the original company was wound up and a new one was formed with a greater share capital. Most of the early work carried out by the company was in mechanical engineering.


The Clark connection

An early customer of Plessey was a
galvanising Galvanization or galvanizing ( also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerg ...
company called British Electro Chemists. One of that company's shareholders was Byron G. Clark, an American, who was also a business associate of T. H. Hodgson, one of the founders of Plessey. The Clark family would eventually dominate the management of Plessey for most of its history. Byron's son
Allen George Clark Sir Allen George Clark (August 24, 1898 – June 30, 1962) was an American-born British industrialist who helped to build the Plessey company into one of Europe's largest manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, military electronics and ai ...
joined the company in 1921, and went on to become a driving force behind the development of Plessey, followed later by his sons
John Allen Clark Sir John Allen Clark (14 February 1926 – 3 December 2001) was managing director of the British Plessey Company, an electronics and telecommunications group built up by his father, Allen George Clark. His career with Plessey was dominated by a b ...
, and Michael William Clark, both of whom rose to prominent positions in the company.


Electrical manufacturing

During the 1920s Plessey began to diversify into electrical manufacturing. Important contracts included the manufacture of early radios for Marconi and the production of telephones for the
General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
. In order to increase production, Plessey moved to Vicarage Lane, Ilford, in 1923. In 1929, the television pioneer
John Logie Baird John Logie Baird FRSE (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly demo ...
had his first production televisions made by Plessey. The company also produced the first British-made portable radio in the same year. The manufacture of electrical components became an area of growth for Plessey. A vast array of components was manufactured, many under licence from overseas companies. Plessey became one of the largest manufacturers in this field as the radio and television industries grew. In 1936/7, turnover was more than £1 million and Plessey became a public company on 17 March 1937.


Aircraft components

Aircraft components was another market into which the company diversified. In 1936, Plessey obtained a number of important manufacturing licences from American companies such as Breeze Corporation for aircraft multi-pin
electrical connectors Components of an electrical circuit are electrically connected if an electric current can run between them through an electrical conductor. An electrical connector is an electromechanical device used to create an electrical connection betwee ...
, Federal Laboratories for
Coffman starter The Coffman engine starter (also known as a "shotgun starter") was a starting system used on many piston engines in aircraft and armored vehicles of the 1930s and 1940s. It used a cordite cartridge to move a piston, which cranked the engine. The C ...
s (an explosive cartridge device used to start aircraft engines), and Pump Engineering Services Corporation for the manufacture of Pesco fuel pumps. Plessey went on to produce large numbers of these fuel pumps for
Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650  cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...
engines, and in 1940 the fuel pump for Britain's first jet engine was also supplied by Plessey.


World War II

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Plessey produced a vast array of components and equipment for the war effort, including shell cases, aircraft parts, and radio equipment such as the R1155 (receiver), and T1154 (transmitter). In all, 161,500 pieces of wartime electronic equipment were produced. To allow greater production, Plessey converted five miles of twin tunnel, built for a new extension to the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
Central line from Leytonstone to Newbury Park, into a factory. The company also built a new factory at
Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
in Wiltshire, and opened several other shadow factories around the country to produce munitions. Caswell, Northamptonshire became the site of Plessey's first dedicated research centre in 1940. The wartime workforce of Plessey grew to over 10,000.


Post World War II

With the end of the war the company's orders dropped from £5 million in 1944/5 to £263,000 in 1946 and the workforce fell to less than 6,000. Radio and television sales were the main area of activity until the renewed demand for defence products with the onset of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. From a turnover of £5 million in 1949/50, there was an increase to £32 million in 1959/60. In 1951, the Electronics Division was started by Michael Clark. By 1955, this had expanded to become the Electronics and Equipment Group with 5,000 staff. The following year the
Roke Manor Roke Manor is a 17th-century manor house approximately north-west of Romsey in Hampshire, England. The house and grounds are the headquarters of Roke Manor Research Ltd, a subsidiary of Chemring Group. History The first known reference t ...
research facility was set up under the direction of H. J. Finden near
Romsey Romsey ( ) is a historic market town in the county of Hampshire, England. Romsey was home to the 17th-century philosopher and economist William Petty and the 19th-century British prime minister, Lord Palmerston, whose statue has stood in the t ...
, Hampshire. Plessey produced an early
integrated circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
model in 1957, before the patents of Jack St. Clair Kilby of
Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...
and
Robert Noyce Robert Norton Noyce (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990), nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", was an American physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968. He is also credited wit ...
of Fairchild. In the 1960s the Group continued to expand, setting up facilities at places such as West Leigh ( Havant, Hampshire) and
Templecombe Templecombe is a village in Somerset, England, situated on the A357 road five miles south of Wincanton, east of Yeovil, and west of Salisbury. The village has a population of 1,560. Along with the hamlet of Combe Throop, it forms the parish of ...
, Somerset. In 1961 Plessey merged with
Ericsson Telephones Ericsson Telephones Limited (ETL) was a British telephone equipment manufacturer based in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. The company was founded as British L. M. Ericsson Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1903 as a joint-venture between the National Telephone ...
and
Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company The Automatic Telephone and Electric Company (originally the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company (ATM)) was a British telephone exchange manufacturer established in 1911. After several name changes and acquisitions, the company was merged ...
of Liverpool, to become Britain's largest manufacturer of
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
equipment, including the majority of the country's
crossbar switch In electronics and telecommunications, a crossbar switch (cross-point switch, matrix switch) is a collection of switches arranged in a matrix configuration. A crossbar switch has multiple input and output lines that form a crossed pattern of int ...
es. Alongside the Telecommunications Division, three other businesses were set up: Plessey Avionics and Communications, Plessey Radar and Plessey Marine. In 1970, the Command and Control unit was set up at Christchurch, Dorset, which became the centre of the Plessey Defence Systems business. In 1979, a major subsidiary was set up, Plessey Electronic Systems, which incorporated the three businesses and by 1986 achieved sales of over £500 million and employed 15,000. Plessey were partners in the development of the
Atlas Computer The Atlas Computer was one of the world's first supercomputers, in use from 1962 (when it was claimed to be the most powerful computer in the world) to 1972. Atlas' capacity promoted the saying that when it went offline, half of the United Ki ...
in 1962 and in the development of digital telephone systems, including System X, from the late 1970s. In 1988, Plessey's Telecommunications Division merged with that of GEC to become
GEC Plessey Telecommunications GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was a British manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, notably the System X telephone exchange. The company was founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and t ...
. Plessey Naval Systems was formed in 1986 by the merger of Plessey Marine with Plessey Displays, which had been part of Plessey Radar. In 1967 or 1968,
English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...
was subject to a takeover bid by Plessey, but chose instead to accept an offer from GEC. Plessey were among the first firms to use computers. Their Training Department developed an interactive management game (PITDEX) using TeleType printer/keyboards to link to LEASCO computers in the United States via standard telephones and acoustic couplers. Plessey also pioneered the gathering and consolidation of accounting information from around the world using in-house software. Each of their 140 management reporting entities used HP125s with DIVAT (data input, validation and transmission) software. Nearly 450 validation rules ensured accuracy within and between various reports. The data were then transmitted to Ilford where a HP 3000 ran Fortran software for consolidation and reporting—also on HP125s. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Plessey manufactured a series of computer systems and peripherals compatible with
Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unt ...
's
PDP-11 The PDP-11 is a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a set of products in the Programmed Data Processor (PDP) series. In total, around 600,000 PDP-11s of all models were sold, ...
. By 1972, Plessey designed the first industrial capability-based security computer, a fault-tolerant multiprocessor system called
Plessey System 250 Plessey System 250, also known as PP250, was the first operational computer to implement capability-based addressing, to check and balance the computation as a pure Church–Turing machine. Plessey built the systems for a British Army message rout ...
. Plessey was also the lead contractor for the Ptarmigan communications system supplied to the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, which adopted the System 250 architecture.


UK air defence

In 1959 AT&E, later Plessey, became the prime contractor for a new UK air defence system, known by the company under the name Plan Ahead and, from 1961, as Project Linesman. To enable the system to be designed and built without too much information becoming public knowledge, a new factory called "Exchange Works" was built in Cheapside in Liverpool city centre, where young employees were granted exemption from conscription. At the heart of the system, installed in a huge building in the middle of a council housing estate in
West Drayton West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The se ...
, was the computer room, occupying an area of around and filled with around 1,000 racks of electronics, including mainly the XL4 computer, based entirely on germanium transistors and using a computer language developed at Exchange Works in the 1950s and 1960s. The secure status of the factory attracted many other secret contracts and led to it becoming one of the major designers and manufacturers of cryptographic equipment. Exchange Works is now luxury flats.


South Africa

The South African roots of Plessey can be traced to the acquisition of AT&E and Ericsson in 1963, and a
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
based company, the Instrument Manufacturing Company (IMC), acquired in 1964. At the time, IMC was in the process of industrialising a unique South African invention, the
Tellurometer The tellurometer was the first successful microwave electronic distance measurement equipment. The name derives from the Latin ''tellus'', meaning Earth. History The original tellurometer, known as the Micro-Distancer MRA 1, was introduced in 19 ...
, the first successful microwave electronic distance measurement equipment. The instrument was invented by Dr. Trevor Lloyd Wadley of the Telecommunications Research Laboratory of the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), also responsible for the Wadley loop receiver, which allowed precision tuning over wide bands, a task that had previously required switching out multiple crystals. South African insurance and investment company Sanlam bought 26% of Plessey South Africa in 1974, with first right of refusal to purchase more of the company. These shares were later transferred to Sankorp, Sanlam's industrial holdings company. In 1989, when GEC-Siemens took control of the Plessey Company, Sankorp indicated its intention to purchase the remaining 74% of shares in the South African subsidiary.


Australia

Plessey had a manufacturing plant in Sydney, Australia that made defense equipment and TVs.


GEC takeover bid

In December 1985, GEC launched a takeover bid for the Plessey Company, valuing the group at £1.2 billion. Both Plessey and the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
were against the merger, since GEC and Plessey were the two largest suppliers to the MoD and in many tenders the only competitors. In January 1986, the bid was referred to the Monopolies & Mergers Commission (MMC), whose report published in August advised against the merger. The government concurred and blocked GEC's bid. In 1988, Plessey and GEC merged their telecom units to form
GEC Plessey Telecommunications GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was a British manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, notably the System X telephone exchange. The company was founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and t ...
(GPT), at the time the UK's leading telecommunications manufacturer.


GEC Siemens takeover

In 1988, GEC and
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
set up a joint
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
, GEC Siemens, to launch a hostile takeover of Plessey. Their initial offer was made on 23 December 1988, valuing Plessey at £1.7 billion. Again, Plessey rejected the offer and again it was referred to the MMC. The original proposal envisaged joint ownership of all of Plessey's defence businesses, with GPT and Plessey's North American businesses split in the ratios 60:40 and 51:49 respectively. The level of GEC's involvement in the Plessey defence businesses was not likely to meet with regulatory approval and in February 1989, GEC Siemens announced a new organisation. The takeover was completed in September 1989.


Break-up of the business

In April 1990, GEC and Siemens agreed a new structure of ownership of the Plessey businesses:


GEC acquisitions

*In the UK **Plessey Aerospace **Plessey Avionics **Plessey Crypto **Plessey Materials **Plessey Naval Systems **Plessey Semiconductors **
Plessey Research Caswell Caswell is a lost settlement in Greens Norton parish Northamptonshire, England, approximately north-west of Towcester, from Northampton and from Milton Keynes. It consists almost entirely of Caswell Park science and technology park, which has ...
** Plessey Microsystems Towcester *In North America **Plessey Aero Precision Corp **Plessey Dynamics Corp **Plessey Electronic Systems Corp (including ES Marine Systems) **Sippican **Plessey Materials **Leigh Instruments


Siemens acquisitions

*Siemens Plessey Radar *Siemens Plessey Defence Systems *Siemens Plessey Controls *Siemens Plessey Australia *Siemens Plessey Assessment Services * Roke Manor Research


Jointly owned

*
GEC Plessey Telecommunications GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was a British manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, notably the System X telephone exchange. The company was founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and t ...
: 60% GEC and 40% Siemens


Disposals

*Birkby Plastics *Hoskyns Group *Plessey S.p.A. (Italy) *51% share in Plessey Telenet acquired by minority partner in 1992 *74% share in Plessey South Africa acquired by minority partner Sankorp


Subsequent history


UK

In 1997,
British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
and
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace ''Dasa'' ( sa, दास, Dāsa) is a Sanskrit word found in ancient Indian texts such as the ''Rigveda'' and ''Arthasastra''. It usually means "enemy" or "servant" but ''dasa'', or ''das'', also means a "servant of God", "devotee," "votary" or "o ...
acquired the UK operations and the German part of
Siemens Plessey Siemens Plessey was the name given to the Plessey assets acquired by Siemens in 1989. Today most of these units are part of BAE Systems while some units are now part of EADS. History Background : before 1989 The history of the evolution of Sieme ...
Systems, respectively. By 1997, the GPT name disappeared in the UK and the company was known as Siemens GEC Communication Systems (SGCS), which later became Siemens Communications. In August 1998, GEC acquired Siemens' 40% stake in GPT (by now only existing as a legal entity) and merged GPT with the telecoms units of its other subsidiaries, namely Marconi SpA, GEC Hong Kong and ATC South Africa, to form
Marconi Communications Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC ...
. In December 1999, GEC's defence arm
Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...
was amalgamated with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems. The remainder of GEC was renamed to Marconi plc, and Marconi Communications became its principal subsidiary. This company was affected by the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
and was restructured into Marconi Corporation in 2003, then collapsed in 2005. Most of it (including Marconi Communications) was bought by
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
and the remainder became
Telent Telent Technology Services Limited (styled as telent) is a British radio, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure systems installation and services provision company. The name was used from 2006 for those parts of the United Kingdom and G ...
. The part of GPT which evolved into Siemens Communications would eventually become
Siemens Enterprise Communications Unify, is an Atos company headquartered in Munich, Germany and is present in over 100 countries. The company provides software-based enterprise unified communications including voice, Web collaboration, video conferencing and contact center, netw ...
in 2008. GEC Plessey Semiconductors (GPS) was purchased by Mitel Semiconductors of Canada in 1998. After a number of downsizes, including the purchase of the power semiconductor and silicon on sapphire operation at
Lincoln, Lincolnshire Lincoln () is a cathedral city, a non-metropolitan district, and the county town of Lincolnshire, England. In the 2021 Census, the Lincoln district had a population of 103,813. The 2011 census gave the urban area of Lincoln, including North H ...
by
Dynex Semiconductor Dynex Semiconductor based in Lincoln, England, United Kingdom is a global supplier of products and services specialising in the field of power semiconductor devices and silicon on sapphire integrated circuit products. The power products they manufa ...
in 2000, the company renamed itself
Zarlink Zarlink Semiconductor (acquired by Microsemi in October 2011, itself acquired by Microchip Technology, Microchip in March 2018) was a fabless semiconductor company specializing in the design and manufacture of communication and medical semicondu ...
Semiconductor in 2001. The GPS fabrication plant in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
was acquired by Xfab.


Plessey Semiconductors Ltd

After the sale of the Roborough site in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
to Xfab, the original Plessey Semiconductors site at Cheney Manor, Swindon continued to operate under the Zarlink Semiconductor name until it was sold to MHS Industries in early 2008. In February 2009, the UK business was forced into receivership following the collapse of the parent MHS Electronics business in France. After a subsequent management buyout the company traded as Plus-Semi Ltd. The Roborough site ( 8" and 6" lines) was re-acquired from Xfab on 1 January 2010 and the company renamed as Plessey Semiconductors Ltd. The new company transferred its Bipolar processes on Silicon & SOI into the 8" Plymouth facility during 2010, exploiting the combined technology base in the development of new processes and products in a number of markets. The Swindon site on the Cheney Manor Industrial estate in the west of the town was demolished in July 2012. In 2011/2, Plessey acquired the rights to disruptive GaN on Silicon technology by acquisition of CamGaN, a startup company, from Cambridge Enterprises. Using the GaN on Silicon technology and semiconductor expertise, Plessey Semiconductors Ltd manufactured solid state lighting, horticultural lighting and medical sensing products. Their GaN on Silicon i2LED high power LEDs and Stellar Orion Beam Forming modules, launched in autumn 2016, which enabled new form factors of lighting products and remove critical design constraints for lighting product designers. In horticulture, the Plessey Attis Growlight was at the forefront of an engineering approach to LED based plant grow lights which was then developed into a new brand, Hyperion Grow Lights. The company's medical products were based on the EPIC sensor, which were used in the advanced portable ECG monitoring device, Impulse, and was also the basis of an R&D program, named Warden, to develop driver alertness monitoring devices in automotive and aeronautical applications. In 2017, Plessey pivoted the focus of the business to the R&D and manufacturing of microLEDs (micro light-emitting diodes) as a market disrupting display technology for a wide range of applications, including: Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, smartphones, televisions, smartwatches, head-up displays, head-mounted displays and more. Plessey continues to operate in the Roborough site with leading-edge 150mm and 200mm wafer processing facilities to undertake design, test and assembly of products, and a comprehensive suite of photonic characterisation and applications laboratories. Their original microLED product was an illuminator for display light engines (DMD and LCOS), which offered a 40% reduction in light engine size whilst delivering higher energy efficiency. They have now upgraded to full-field emissive microLED displays that combine very high-density RGB pixel arrays with high-performance CMOS backplanes to produce very high-brightness, low-power and high-frame-rate image sources. These are innovative products that are widely recognised within the industry with many accolades from prestigious electronics, engineering and display industry award programs, including: Elektra Awards 2017, British Engineering Excellence Awards 2017, National Technology Awards 2018, CES Innovation Awards 2019 and Electronics Industry Awards 2019. In March 2019, Plessey used their GaN on Silicon technology, which natively emits Blue, to innovatively engineer the early layers within the process to emit native Green, opening more opportunities for markets such as military. Plessey also achieved the world's first GaN on Silicon monolithic, wafer to wafer bonding, in May which was a massive breakthrough for not only the company but the industry.


South Africa

In South Africa, following the successful GEC/Siemens takeover, after protracted negotiations in 1991, Plessey South Africa became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sankorp under the new name of Plessey Tellumat South Africa Limited (PTSA). The addition of the name Tellumat had a double symbolism, firstly for the company's commitment to exports, as it is the name of its UK-based export subsidiary. Secondly, the name derives from the Tellurometer, South Africa's world first electronic surveying development—and by implication, a commitment to ongoing electronic research and development. PTSA continued to grow with a strong focus on telecommunications and defence products, particularly with a major expansion into large projects, rolling out the microwave backbone of MTN, one of South Africa's first GSM cellular networks and the installation of a fibre optic network and radio broadcasting system in Malaysia. A software division was formed through the acquisition of BSW data, largely staffed by engineers from the recently terminated South African space programme in which PTSA had also participated, both in the electronics of the launch vehicle and the satellite itself. 1995 was a landmark year in the history of the business in South Africa. The merger of PTSA and Tek Electronics, the consumer electronics audio and video products, manufacturer and distributor, (also wholly owned by Sankorp) took the business full circle back to its consumer electronics roots. This resulted in the renaming of PTSA back to the original name of ''Plessey South Africa'' Limited. The full acquisition of AWA-Plessey Communications, which Plessey jointly owned in Australia with Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd (AWA) and had a similar product portfolio, resulted in penetration into the Pacific Rim market. The culmination of this growth was the company's listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) as the ''Plessey Corporation'' in the same year. Trading started off at R4.80 a share. On the evening of 6 February 1996, a devastating fire swept through two bays of the White Road factory in Retreat,
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
causing huge damage to stock, instruments, plant and work in progress. No one was injured, but work was disrupted for several weeks. Large sections of the factory had to be rebuilt. At the end of 1996, Plessey Corporation sold off the Sales and marketing business of Telefunken, Pioneer and Satellite TV. In August 1998, Plessey Corporation was bought by
Dimension Data Holdings Dimension Data is a company specialising in information technology services. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company maintains operations on every inhabited continent. Dimension Data focuses on services including IT consulting, technic ...
and Worldwide African Investment Holdings for R1.6 billion. The new owners retained BSW Data, Plessey Solutions and Communications Systems. The remaining divisions, notably with a product development and manufacturing focus, were bought back by a combined management buyout supported by Rand Merchant Bank. The corporate name was changed to Tellumat Pty Ltd. Tellumat continues to develop and manufacture Plessey-branded products as before and operates in the
defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
,
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
and contract manufacturing markets.


Plessey barcodes

The name is also used to refer to a barcode symbology developed by Plessey, which is still used in some libraries and for shelf tags in retail stores, in part as a solution to their internal requirement for stock control. The system was first used in the early 1970s by J.Sainsbury to identify all of its products on supermarket shelves for its product restocking system. The chief advantages are the relative ease of printing using the dot-matrix printers, which were popular at the time of the code's introduction, and its somewhat higher density than the more common 2 of 5 and 3 of 9 codes. Plessey barcodes use two bar widths. Whitespace between bars is not significant. The start element is a wide bar, and the stop element is two narrow bars. In between, the bars are in groups of four. High order bars appear leftmost. Narrow bars are 0 and wide bars are 1. This symbology is not self checking, though a modulo 10 or modulo 11 checksum (or some combination of both checksums, depending on application) is usually appended.


References


External links


History of PlesseyPlessey history
{{Authority control Aircraft component manufacturers of the United Kingdom Avionics companies Barcodes Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Electronics companies established in 1917 Electronics companies disestablished in 1989 Electronics companies of the United Kingdom Electronics industry in London Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Plessey 1917 establishments in England 1989 disestablishments in England 1989 mergers and acquisitions