Uniden Corp. is quietly but extensively restructuring its U.S. operations with technology at the core of its mission. And despite talk of internal troubles, Uniden top executives report the changes are all good.
“Wireless is going digital. The products and the functionality are expanding rapidly, the applications expanding rapidly,” said Robert Gibbs, president of Uniden America Corp., Dallas. “In an analog world [Uniden] was much more an assembler and manufacturer and sales organization. Today you need to be a technology player foremost,” he explained.
It is “difficult to become competitive and time-effective in the marketplace unless you have your own base of technology. Companies are more interested in cross-licensing if you have something to trade,” rather than just selling rights to their technologies, added Gibbs. “Its almost like baseball cards.”
Gibbs reassured that all restructuring is internal and “not affecting the sales, the product lines or engineering.” In fact, Uniden America has tripled its spending on research in the last few years, added Gibbs.
The company has not downsized, said Gibbs, but reallocated resources. Layoffs in certain areas are offset by staff increases in other areas, particularly engineering. Uniden America is trying to find how to most efficiently provide support services-including accounting, legal counsel, human resources and other divisions-using the right mix of in-house staff and outsourced work.
Recently, the company’s land mobile radio products sector was spun off into its own company, Uniden Private Radio Communications, also headquartered in Dallas. While Uniden America is a consumer products company, the mainstay of Uniden PRC is manufacturing and marketing private and specialized mobile radio dispatch and trunking systems. Prior to forming Uniden PRC, administrative positions were cut in the LMR group and sales and engineering personnel increased.
Uniden USA Inc. is an original equipment manufacturer company for wireless personal communications devices. All of the company’s U.S. divisions are subsidiaries of Uniden Corp. of Tokyo. Research, engineering and product development for all the Uniden groups are supported by research centers in San Diego and Dallas, and the Tokyo Development Center. Opened in November 1995, the San Diego research center focuses on developing software-based applications for digital technology, said Gibbs.
Working under the umbrella of consumer products “obstructed putting internal processes in place to serve our customers,” said Hamlet Sarokhanian, president of Uniden PRC. Sarokhanian was hired away from Ericsson Private Radio Systems nine months ago and appointed vice president of Uniden’s engineering development center in Dallas. His initial objective was to expand engineering product development activities. But when Uniden Corp. of Japan asked Sarokhanian how best to take land mobile radio into the future, he suggested the business become a separate company.
“To succeed, you need strong technical support, training, documentation and installation of systems and product,” said Sarokhanian. Forming a separate company, he and staff “thought it was the best way to structure the business for long term profitable growth.”
“All the changes are positive,” commented Al Silverberg, Uniden America executive vice president of sales. He said Uniden America is concentrating heavily on its wireless business, particularly paging, and recently hired Harris Bookfor, formerly of NEC Corp., to head up the paging division for Uniden America.
Uniden America also produces cordless phones for residential use and in business systems, cellular phones, pagers, DSS satellite receivers, marine, CB and scanner radios and radar detectors.
“Paging is a very important part of our future,” stated Silverberg. “That industry is bringing a lot of new technology to the market that will benefit business users and consumers. And there is a lot of potential there for growth. We are interested in being a part of that.
“Our direction is to be a complete supplier of paging products, both alpha and numeric, POCSAG and FLEX,” Silverberg added. Uniden plans to develop products compatible with Motorola Inc.’s ReFLEX two-way messaging and InFLEXion voice paging protocols as well.
Much about Uniden America’s future is still secret, in part because there still is much to be decided, said Gibbs. In fact, his own role is evolving. Through the company’s transformation, he has operated as a strategist, no longer occupied with the day-to-day activities of running a company. Gibbs said Uniden America plans to share more specific restructuring plans by the end of March, which is the end of the company’s fiscal year.
Recently, there has been talk of Uniden Corp. forming a U.S.-based holding company through which the different domestic subsidiaries would operate. Gibbs declined to comment on the details.
Uniden PRC has offices in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brazil, said Sarokhanian. The company plans to open an office in Europe as well. In Texas, Uniden PRC’s operations include engineering, R&D, sales and marketing and an after-market support (AMS) group.
Extended Subaudible Signalling is Uniden PRC’s proprietary trunking protocol. Sarokhanian said ESS is an enhancement to standard LTR trunking systems as it offers more features including multisite dispatch, fast roaming and paging. ESS is used in all of Uniden PRC’s products.
In the near future, Uniden PRC plans “to double the number of engineers and expand our presence in international markets.”
The company is targeting what Sarokhanian calls the mid- to low-tier markets. Land mobile radio is a $6 billion market, he said. “At the moment, Motorola and Ericsson own the high-tier markets,” including public safety, police and utility markets. Uniden PRC is aiming to serve business and industrial groups in the United States and Eastern Europe. In Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Uniden is targeting government agencies and small businesses.
