F C Lane Electronics a market-leading franchised distributor for many of the industry’s major electrical, electronic and optical connector manufacturers is celebrating 60 years of trading since their foundation on 12th of April 1966.
FC Lane was established by the much-respected Fred Lane, who had previously been running a division of an electronic components business dealing in a variety of device types and selling across the UK as well as to several overseas markets.
One of the primary reasons why FC Lane has been so successful for so long was Fred Lane’s original vision to specialise in just one type of component – the connector.
Time has shown this to be a wise decision as connectors are an essential part of almost every electronic product or system manufactured. As the electronics industry rapidly evolved throughout the decades that followed, the connector industry developed newer, more sophisticated, and smaller products to keep pace with and help the industry’s development process. From day one, Fred Lane ensured his company remained at the forefront of interconnection technology.
Starting life in outbuildings behind a public house provided few clues to how they would develop into the multi-million-pound operation it is today. But, as any good businessman knows, careful planning from day one allows a business to spend valuable resources on the right things – people and products. This is a philosophy that Fred Lane followed throughout his personal leadership, and which today sees FC Lane Electronics employ 70 people with a finished product and parts inventory level approaching nine million pounds.
The company quickly expanded into premises in the centre of Horsham in a building due for short-term redevelopment before finding its eventual home – Slinfold Lodge. Combining traditional office environments with modern assembly and test facilities, Slinfold Lodge itself, is an imposing country house set in its own grounds and is surrounded by a golf course. Slinfold Lodge remains to this day the headquarters for FC Lane Electronics and its sister connector manufacturing company, Weald Electronics.
Nick Wheeler, Sales Director of Lane Electronics, says, “Our success continues Fred Lane’s principle of building direct personal relationships with our customers, offering a wide range of products, high levels of customer service and supply adaptability, adding value to our customer’s supply chains. We have very long-standing relationships with our suppliers, such as that of our forty years of working with EATON Souriau, which reflects our deep knowledge and experience of the connector market” .
Lane Electronics connectivity solutions include RF and Fibre-Optic connector and cable assemblies, widely used in defence and security applications, and is a franchised distributor for many of the industry’s leading electrical and electronic connector manufacturers including EATON Souriau, CINCH Fibreco, HUBER+SUHNER, HellermannTyton, Positronic, Nicomatic and LEMO.
Backed by a strong commitment to quality, reliability and traceability procedures Lane Electronics also hold a significant number of key approvals. Next day delivery is available on more than 90% of standard products while, for non-standard products, rapid in-house development, assembly and testing of specialist military, industrial and motorsport circular connectors is available lead times which are generally much quicker than those offered by other connector suppliers.
