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Manitoba Business Excellence

This article was published in Sun Media’s Manitoba Business Excellence 2010 Edition

Garry Smith travelled the world while working with a number of international companies, but when he decided to come home to Manitoba for family reasons he searched for a business to call his own. After a lengthy effort, he found Alcom Electronic Communications.

Smith, who became Alcom's owner and President in December 2009, was impressed by the company's 28-year reputation for quality and integrity, its loyal customer base, and its potential to grow as a business. Smith believed that he could bring fresh energy and could contribute his broad industry experience to the company's seasoned and dedicated management team.

"I grew up in Winnipeg, so to be able to come back to family and friends after living in three different U.S. cities over 16 years, it's fantastic.We have such incredible talent in this province," says Smith. He has a background from which he can make that comparison, having worked with and provided services to such notable companies as EDS, IBM, Verizon, Bell, Microsoft, and Cisco to name a few.

Alcom Electronic Communications is the largest Motorola two-way radio dealer and service centre in Manitoba. Alcom is also an MTS cellular and FleetNet dealer, and owns its own private radio system used to provide city-wide radio rental service.

During its 28 years Alcom has successfully worked with its customers and major suppliers, such as Motorola, to enable the evolution from simple analog 2-way radios (walkie-talkies) to more sophisticated digital dispatch and radio systems. This includes today's multi-functional communication products that offer radio, data, and GPS services; and now handheld mobile computers and remote

video surveillance. The most recent advance is the addition of MOTOTRBO, the next-generation digital two-way radio system, enhancing mission critical communication applications.

With each leap forward in technological innovation Alcom has positioned itself to provide its customers with products to help them perform their jobs better, more reliably and more cost effectively. Smith recently introduced a financing program to encourage adoption and to make the benefits available to more organizations.

"Our customers are by and large Manitoba-based; we have a fantastic diversity of industries in our province," says Ken Young, who started as a sales rep 13 years ago and is now general manager.

"Our customer base is great--they take us to so many different places. And being a Manitoba business is very important to us."

Young says Alcom's radio products have played a role in the construction of some of the province's major landmarks, in the past, the present — such as the Human Rights Museum at The Forks — and will continue to play a role in the future.

Smith points out that there are always a number of surprises with the acquisition of any business. With Alcom his most unexpected positive experience has been the personal satisfaction that he and his staff get every day from knowing that their Motorola radio and pager systems are being used and trusted by the brave men and women of Manitoba's fire and public safety departments, and the company's designated charity for 2010 - Manitoba Search & Rescue.

For more information contact
Alcom Electronic Communications

The article was published in Sun Media's Manitoba Business Excellence 2010 Edition

Variety’s Camp Brereton

In May, 2011 Alcom donated a Motorola radio system to Variety’s Camp Brereton
For a number of personal reasons, Alcom selected Variety and its Camp Brereton program as our primary charitable project for 2011.  We believed that the camp would get a lot of benefits from having a Motorola commercial grade two-way radio communication system covering the camp and extending out across the lake and to the nearby hiking trails.   The staff of Alcom is very pleased to know that the campers will be safer and the volunteers and site managers will save a lot of tiring steps – as a result of the communication tools we provided to them.

Camp Brereton – it’s a “Special Place”   

In 2010/2011 Alcom installed a Motorola two-way radio system used to support the Design, Construction and Maintenance of the St. Joseph Wind Farm project

The St. Joseph wind farm covers an area of 125 square kilometres of privately owned agricultural land in the two municipalities.  The 2.3-megawatt turbines are set on towers that are 80 metres high. 

“… I would like to thank Alcom for their continued support to the construction of the St. Joseph Wind Project.  Wind projects span distances much greater than the typical construction site and because of that, reliable communication is critical to the facilitation and coordination of work as well as the safety of all the workers on site. In the event an issue arose, Alcom always reacted promptly with professionalism and the highest standards of quality. Alcom has played a vital role in the success of this
project.”

- Field Supervisor

Alcom has begun collecting ‘Museum’ pieces of Motorola legacy products

Center - Handie-Talkie (SCR-536) military radio - circa 1945 – the first model of a hand held two-way radio ever produced
(manufacture was Galvin Manufacturing which became Motorola during WWII)

Left – Motorola Thick Brick cell phone (model 8000M) – circa 1983 (original price in 1983 $3,995) Right – Motorola MicroTAC cell phone – circa 1989 – first ‘flip lid’ mouthpiece and the lightest phone available at the time … a petit 12.3 oz

In April 2010 Alcom put a new mobile workshop into service.

The van is eco-friendly, powered by the highly efficient Mercedes BluTec diesel engine. The van is a fully self-contained two-way radio system workshop with the following features: insulated, heated, LED task lighting, 3,000 watt electrical power inverter, stand-up workbench, complete tool set and parts inventory.

Alcom's service technicians are delighted to be able to perform their customer site work in a comfortable, convenient, fully equipped service vehicle. For our clients it's a one-visit service call – high quality work with no need to go back to the shop for parts or equipment.