Cast your mind back to 20th November 1993, Meatloaf was topping the chart with “I’d do anything for love (but I won’t do that)”, but, far more importantly, it’s when Maria started at Lamonde. 1993 was a year before PLC Direct (now Automation Direct) was founded and two years before Weintek was established and Control Techniques, now 50, were only 20 – a sense of perspective.
Back in ’93, Lamonde Automation Ltd was called “Lamonde Research Ltd”, and were engaged in supporting and repairing Texas Instruments PLCs, and manufacturing some peripheral items that founder, Mike had designed in the 80s to accompany TI PLCs. Lamonde also modified/customised off the shelf products such as Kessler Ellis Products (KEP) Zoid terminals to suit OEM Customer requirements. There were various products that Lamonde manufactured at that time, such as stored text displays and ascii output modules designed by Mike’s son, Liam to accompany the then new PLC Direct DL205 PLC, and a control panel for an industrial laundry machine manufacturer, Mike also redesigned Luther & Maelzer PCB testing machines for the erstwhile Philips PCB factory in Croydon, converting the machines from to 18v from 5v to improve reliability, Maria organised the PCB manufacture and component sourcing for the various Lamonde manufactured products, as well as managing the repairs department. When Duncan Stanton (now MD) joined Lamonde in 1997, it was Maria who taught him how to repair the various Texas PLCs and how to customise the KEP Zoids. The instructions for repairs and manufacturing were in Maria’s sacred lab book, a font of knowledge that ultimately formed the basis of the procedures that Duncan developed to formalise the repairs department.
Duncan recalls with fondness phrases that pop up as he reminisces with Maria about the “old days”, often referencing Maria’s detailed (and humorous) test procedures, such as “Type any old rubbish on the keyboard and you’ll get some random gibberish, and the time and date, which is wrong.”.
The more seasoned PLC programmers out there, will have an appreciation of Maria’s tenacity in typing 4,095 instructions into a Texas Instruments 5TI sequencer for our 4k test program using a VPU200 (a cumbersome, clunky Video Programming Unit).
It is safe to say that Lamonde has transformed over the past three decades, and it is a testament to Maria’s commitment, loyalty and flexibility that she’s risen to the new and ever-changing challenges as technology and the business has evolved.
Maria’s can-do attitude, commitment, dedication and flexibility are beyond reproach; her skills have evolved and developed to match the business needs. Her contribution to Lamonde over the past 30 years simply cannot be overstated, and it’s only right and proper that we marked the occasion by decorating the office, and of course with CAKE!
From all of us, thank you Maria!
