One of Melbourne's leading manufacturers of signs and natural light roofing systems, would like to introduce their product range for your company's future consideration.

Akron have been in business for over 30 years and we pride ourselves on supplying a quality product on schedule. Our customers range from Architects, Developers, Builders and Government Departments.

Our production equipment and skills enable us to manufacture a wide range of standard and specialist products from materials such as Brass, aluminium, acrylic, timber and plastic. We also specialize in letter styles and corporate logos.

The Skylight Industry Association membership is made up of skylight manufacturers, resellers, companies that supply our raw materials and skylight installers. Akron Manufacturing was a foundation member of The Skylight Industry Association, which was formed in 1988 for the purposes of promoting quality products and professional business practices among members.

AKRON MANUFACTURING, SKYLIGHTS, SIGNS, IN MOORABBIN 1967 to 2011, How do you get to 27 years in a self managed business? from Don Marshall.

Good morning Lawrence, Could you please add this page to Akron skylights website under PAST SUCCESSES,
 History of Akron manufacturing, skylights signs.

Subject: Information about AKRON MANUFACTURING, SKYLIGHTS, SIGNS, ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES,  from Don Marshall

G`day   Mates, Thought you might like to know.........How do you get 25 years of LONG SERVICE  when you own the business???..........Your business will be different.
The answer is that,..........25 years has been a terribly long series of difficulties & struggles to find enough  money / work to keep the wages & bills paid, for all our employees,
Just one day
Just one week
Just one month at a time.
Way back in 1984.... back before the current owners came onto the scene, we bought a dead  shell of a carcass of a badly run down company.

NO Directors on site, NO Leadership, NO salesmen, NO regular customers, NO management in the office, NO customer database,  NO tradesmen, NO bookkeeper, NO accountant on site,  NO FAX machine,  NO computer,  NO Mission statement, NO  email,  NO website,  No security  of premises OR Employment,  No quality control in factory,  No drawings  of products,  No training of staff,  No installer, No building maintenance, No Lease !!, ( building now being purchased ),  No tertiary educated employees, No clean safe worksite, NO machine guards,  No cash flow or plan, No pride,  No Imagination, No profitability.

Together  WE, Max, Mavis, Ferdy, Don have INCREASED all these important business structures.
The enormous pride in our struggle together has proved to keep us spiritually happy. 

 Remembering back, Sometimes,  many Thursdays, We  have been without any money for wages at all,  then just one  phone call  out of the blue from a customer gives me Hope that a job might come up from a quote.

 Certainly  tiny business is NOT for the faint hearted.
 
The good big jobs of skylights, signs &  recently water tanks  are a real treat when  people trust me enough to get their job done on time  as they request.
 
The design & intricacies of  the manufacture  is what I am trained for from Engineering at  RMIT through the 7 night school years, as you  are well aware of  back in 1974 through to the final exams of  1981.

 The on the job problem solving were just a series of tiny little improvements each time we did a task. Year after year of tiny  improvements. I have learnt alot from my employees & I have trained them to do a job  my way. As the customer asks  Every time.
The financing of this business in the many terribly tough down times has been with the enormous help from my parents, Mavis & Max Marshall who`s  trust, foresight, toughness, & Love came to show that HOPE  One day, One day we could stand on our own two feet as a business.

 My business partner Ferdy & I have  been opposite  to each other in many  ideas, but  he is a good humorous person & extremely calm in a crisis & very clear thinking on  many business aspects.

The long service is NOT in fact taken  just when we decide to sell out or go bust then the debts will come from our own back pockets after we sell the property.

The Prime Minister wants us all to keep working till we are 67 years old, that's OK for him BUT my  actual job is getting heavier & longer hours & more on site  roof work. Not good for  my  back.

When Ferdy & I decide to retire that's when we will need to hive off the work side of the business & move into  property rental ownership.
 Yours sincerely  Don Marshall

History & comments about Resume for Donald Marshall     Mobile:  0419-37 34 34

Personal Information:
Date of Birth:  November 2, 1956
Citizenship:       Australian 
Marital Status:   Married to SONIA with 2 children ALEX & EMILY

Educational Background:
1974     RMIT – HIGHER PRODUCTION Manufacturing Technology Certificate
Credits in Pneumatics & Hydraulics and Control Circuit Design
Honours in Design Drafting and Press Tool and Plastics Moulding Machine Design
 (Awarded highest result for Industrial Circuit Design in the RMIT faculty’s history)
1973         STRATHMORE  High School graduate
1962      PASCOE VALE  Primary school 

Personal Achievements:
1972                Awarded Queens Scout
1975 – 1990      Youth Camp Leader at Camp Cooinda, Gippsland Lakes
1989                 Established Skylight Manufacturers Association (Now includes over 40 members Australia-wide)
2000 -2004                    School Parent Helper at Southmoor State School
1999-2004                     Little Athletics coach and committee member
1994- 1995        Participated in development of Building Code of Australia Skylight Standard AS4285

Personal interests:
Family, Bush walking, camping, travel, dancing & music, push bike riding, Science & Technology

Professional Objective:
To obtain a challenging position where marketing experience and a technical background can contribute to the success of a progressive company.

Professional Experience:
1973           Repco Apprentice Training Centre – Fitting and Machining 
1974         Repco Cadet in Manufacturing Technology

a.    Drawing office
b.    Research laboratory
c.    Press Shop
d.    Toolroom
e.    Leading hand production
1982-83     Working holiday while travelling around Australia. Worked in over 40     temporary jobs including fishing boats, farm hand, transportation, etc.
1984   Barham Juice Company NSW – Design, production and installation of juicing equipment and pasteurizing machinery

October 1984 - current       Akron Manufacturing Pty Ltd - Started skylight manufacturing business.  Conducted sales and marketing activities; managed a team of 6 staff in design, manufacturing & installation of skylights, signs and architectural features. Customer contacts included architects, manufacturers, retail customer & builders. Highlights include special sign designs for “The Glen” shopping Centre; Main Entrance door to Federal  Court Melbourne 1999,  Promoted to management 1994 became part owner of the business and the factory & property.

CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK,  IN FAMILY LIFE & IN BUSINESS LIFE. 

 IT`S BETTER TO BE LUCKY THAN SMART,    SOME PEOPLE DO TEACH THEMSELVES HOW TO BE LUCKY.

According to Richard Wiseman, Head of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, in England, who for the past eight years has  studied what makes some people Lucky  & others not. After conducting thousands of interviews & hundreds of experiments. Wiseman now claims that he’s cracked the code. Luck isn’t due to Karma, Kismet, OR Coincidence.  You can create your own Luck! by what you do, say & think. He says, Lucky folks, ---- without even knowing it, --- Think & believe in ways that Create good fortune to happen in their lives. Yes you can, he says, as luck would have it, improve your own odds.  Wiseman`s principles turn out to be;

Lucky people `` expect good things to happen ``, which no doubt has Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking, turning in his grave.

When things go bad, awry, Lucky people, ``Turn bad Luck into good`` by seeing how they can squeeze some benefit from this misfortune.

Look on the bright side of Life;  be  a person who endeavours to be useful, Lucky people expect Good Fortune.

Lucky people are particularly open to possibilities, by seeking out Opportunities, they improve their Luck.

Be enthusiastic, adventurous, & optimistic, Look people in the Eye to gain their Trust.

Listen to other peoples needs, be open to new ideas, and Help other people solve problems.

 Be Punctual, be Pleasant, have a Purpose, know your Product, be Price conscious.

Consistently look for ways to develop your Product, your People & your Purpose.

Be a bright conversationalist, everybody likes to be listened to.

Care for other peoples needs, Encourage other people to be ``The Best they can be``.

Be open to new opportunities, new ways & allow the mysteries of Life with all it’s abundance provided by a Great Omnipresent Designer.

And YES, there a difference between Chance & Luck, Richard Wiseman says, ``Yes there is a big distinction`` Chance events are like winning the lottery. They’re   events over which we have No control, other than buying a ticket. They don’t consistently happen to the same person. Where as when people say they consistently experience good fortune, I think that by definition it has to be because of something they are doing.

In other words they Make, Create their own Luck, that’s right, what I’m arguing is that we have far more control over events than we thought previously. You might say 50% of my life is due to chance events. NO its not, Maybe 10% is.

The other 40% of your life that you think you’re having no influence over is actually defined by what you Do, Say & Think.

Definitions;        
Luck: noun, by skill & design.           
Chance; noun, the way the coin falls, undesigned occurrence, absence of design connexion.              
Coincidence;  notable concurrence of events suggestive of BUT NOT having casual connexion. Kismet;  fate or destiny, in Islam the Will of Allah.        
Karma; Buddhists  destiny   as determined by  his actions.

References;   Sergio Giurina Psychologist,  Richard Wiseman Psychologist,  Dr Francis Macnab Psychologist. 

Donald Marshall Skylight Installer 25/5/2010.