Providing two way radio communication solutions for 40 Years!
In 2008 Craven & Findlay Ltd or perhaps now better known as CFone Communications celebrates forty years in the mobile radio business. This article follows a recent interview with the company founder, Grahame Hodgkinson.
Grahame, who trained as a radio officer to serve on board ships soon discovered that a life at sea was not for him. He set about establishing Craven & Findlay Ltd to combine his passion for radio communications and his desire to stay on dry land.
“Initially we dealt in the buying and selling of new mobiles. However, it soon became apparent that at that time new mobiles were too expensive for the average cab company to purchase.”
Grahame immediately recognised the need for his customers to spread their costs and so developed a rental package combined with a cheaper mobile. From this idea the CFONE mobile radio was developed.
“The CFONE mobile radio was without frills, but it was reliable, robust and cheap. Originally, it was designed to fulfil a growing rental market. It soon became apparent that the sales market was beginning to develop rapidly and we were finding it difficult to keep up with the demand.”
The manufacture of CFONE mobiles were being built in house and Grahame increased his workforce from 20 to 40 employees to keep up with demand.
Eventually, in 1995 after 20 years of manufacture the last CFONE mobile was produced. Competition from the Far East meant it had become cost prohibitive to continue production.
“It was at this time we gained ISO9000 accreditation so we could continue to supply our growing customer base by becoming authorised dealers for Maxon, Motorola and Tait.”
Over the years CFone communications has helped establish thousands of private hire companies as well as working with television production, oil pipeline installations and security companies in the UK and overseas.
Today CFone continue to focus on helping establish new cab firms utilising their 40 years experience in the industry.
“We have always focused on helping our customers find the best solution to suit their requirements. As mobile phone and XDA technology has advanced, we have witnessed huge leaps forward within our industry. Companies are expanding from a radio system of a base station plus ten mobiles to entire fleet management of hundreds of vehicles. The larger companies now adopting more advanced systems like Cordic and Mercury.”
“Our primary goal is to help establish new companies and support their growth by offering a low cost entry point from which to build their business in a competitive industry.”
Grahame is very complimentary of the new data systems but also points out the need for a backup to work alongside these systems.
“Data systems operate using data carried across mobile phone providers networks. These networks do shutdown when there are security alerts or for maintenance. Some of the larger private hire firms in London such as the Keen Group maintain a stock of hand portables for any such emergency so their drivers can continue to work.”
“CFone continue to use radio voice communication as it provides an efficient and easy system for a company to operate and maintain. Our low set-up costs allow new companies to invest in promoting their businesses rather than getting bogged down paying large software license fees.”
“Most taxi private hire companies will be able to run up to 50 drivers on a busy Friday night quite easily on a voice only system with a good controller to manage the drivers.”
CFone Communications continue to review their customers needs and are currently developing a booking and job despatch system tailored for small businesses, which can be leased at low cost.
Additionally, to ensure they do not miss out on the growing XDA market CFone is currently reviewing business partners who provide XDA and data solutions to work with.
“We continue to monitor developments in the communications industry and find new solutions to help our customers. It is with thanks to our valued customers that we are still successfully trading after 40 years.”
July 2008
