Industrial Joysticks :: Military Joysticks :: Trackballs :: Control Grip Manufacturer

AS9100 Accreditation Achieved and In Action

As part of our ongoing commitment to quality assurance for our aerospace, defense and other demanding environment customers, we are delighted to confirm we recently attained AS9100 registration, supplementing our existing ISO 9001:2000 accreditation.

Our quality policy includes the following statements:

“Working together we aspire to provide our target customers with the fastest solution to their specialist hand controller needs. Quality means consistently meeting or exceeding our customers' expectations, the first time, every time”

We strive to live up to these statements every day and two recent examples of the fastest specialist hand controller company in action demonstrate this:

- A military customer required an urgent pull-forward of four customized joysticks; they were shipped within four weeks.

- Another urgent in-the-field specialist joystick replacement was shipped in three working days (Daco was ready in two but the customer did not know which facility the unit should be sent to).

In both these cases, no specific support agreement exists. The flexibility / capability of our supply chain, staff and systems all play their part in providing customers with the solutions they need, fast and in compliance with our accreditation to AS9100, ISO 9001:2000 quality management standard.

For further information regarding our AS9100 accreditation or any questions, please telephone +44 118 981 7311 or email apps@daco.co.uk.

1st June 2007

Multi-Function Military Joystick in 4 Weeks

Late last year a leading armoured fighting vehicle customer had 3 prototype joysticks developed and delivered to their specification within 4 weeks of first contacting us.

Custom content included various proprietary switches (11 switch functions in addition to a guarded trigger and deadman's handle), CARC paint and a customer-specific RS422 electrical interface.

24th January 2005

Smaller Displacement Joysticks

In the light of considerable interest in rugged displacement joysticks with a smaller footprint (typically less than 70mm / 3" above and 50mm / 2" below panel), over the past six months we have developed and supplied a variety, from standalone units to a combination of controls within customer-specific enclosures.

Tested mechanically and electrically to over 5 million deflections, our core design is based on our proven MP1 series and uses the same conductive plastic potentiometers.

With a miniature displacement joystick (less than 20mm / 1" above and also below panel) also developed and supplied within this same period, the range of solutions we can offer you, quickly and cost effectively, continues to increase at a rapid pace.

5th February 2004

Additional North American Representative

We are delighted to confirm that Positioning Technologies of San Diego today joins our network of representatives, focusing on supporting customers in California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

Founded by Rex Carroll who has over fifteen years of experience providing positioning solutions for demanding applications, Positioning Technologies is well placed to provide the knowledgeable, practical support you would expect from our network.

This appointment re-affirms our commitment to providing you with the fastest solution to your specialist hand controller needs, wherever in the world you may be, and completes the first part of our plan to further strengthen our network through 2004.

27th January 2004

ISO 9001:2000

We are pleased to confirm that BSI recently certified our quality management system to BS EN ISO 9001:2000. From an original registration date of 1 July 1989, this latest certificate reaffirms our commitment to meeting or exceeding our target customers' quality requirements.

8th September 2003

Benelux Representative

We are delighted to announce that sensor and MMI specialists FETERIS Components of The Hague are to work with us in the Benelux countries, further strengthening our technical and general customer support network in support of our goal to provide you with the fastest solution to your specialist hand controller needs.

28th March 2003

Strengthening Customer Service

In response to the growing number of projects to deliver and our commitment to provide you with the fastest solution, Mahendra Patel has joined us as Sales Coordinator.

With extensive customer technical support experience in a fast-moving environment, Mahendra will provide an additional point of contact for our customers, supplementing our existing sales and engineering teams.

19th December 2002

London Marathon

John Ridout , our Quality Assurance Director, is set to run in his 4th London Marathon this April.

John has already raised more than £5,000 for Leukemia Research in this manner and aims to improve on his previous times despite (to use his own words) his "advancing years".

If you would like to join those helping John to raise funds for Leukemia Research then you can do so via www.justgiving.com/jr2003

17th February 2003

Hard Roller Trackerball Option

Extending our trackerball product range, we can now offer you a hard roller (motion sensor) solution.

Originally designed for environments where your trackerball is likely to get exposed regularly to oils or certain solvents, subsequent customer trials have also shown that some users just prefer the slightly different "feel" of the hard roller.

The hard roller option remains true to our design concept of separating the functions of supporting the ball and sensing its rotation to enable each to be optimised.

Please click here if you would like further information about this or any other development in hand at Daco or if you have an idea for a product improvement.

22 January 2003

Faster Response to Design Changes

Our new control grip casting, designed primarily so that we can respond faster to your wish to add more functions to our control grip, is now in the final stages of development.

As a result of being a pressure diecasting, this grip also enjoys a number of secondary benefits, including reduced weight, greater strength, improved surface finish and tighter dimensional tolerances.

The casting essentially fits within the same envelope as our current grip. The only minor changes are shown on the installation drawing. [Download Installation Drawing].

Just one of many product enhancements currently in hand at Daco, we are also releasing a CAN bus for our joysticks and USB interface for our trackerballs.

Click here if you would like more information about any of these developments, to share your idea for a future product improvement or to discuss how we might work together to deliver the fastest solution to your specialist hand controller needs.

22nd October 2002

New Managing Director

We are delighted to announce that Roy Engel has joined us as our new Managing Director. Roy brings with him an impressive track record of building customer-oriented businesses in the aerospace and automotive industries, both in the United Kingdom and in North America.

After nearly fifteen years at the helm, Peter Kerrison is standing down as Managing Director but he will remain actively involved in the business. Initially Peter will work alongside Roy to ensure a smooth and professional handover before taking up a consultancy role through which we shall continue to benefit from his breadth of knowledge and, in particular, his technical expertise.

Under Roy's leadership we aim to further enhance all aspects of our customer service and to establish ourselves ever more clearly as our customers' natural choice for custom built hand controllers or pressure calibration services.

13th September 2002

CONTROL GRIPS FOR AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, one of Germany's leading military system manufacturers, has selected Daco Scientific to supply the control grips for their LeFlaSys light air defence system.

LeFlaSys was developed in response to a requirement identified by the German Armed forces. They needed a new weapon system that could be deployed shortly after airborne troops had landed, offer effective protection against air attacks over a wide area and have an unrestricted mission capability in all climatic zones of the world. A further requirement was that the system should utilise carrier and weapon systems already in service to ensure affordable development costs for the user.

The LeFlaSys solution consequently adopted a modular approach to the problem and brought together STN ATLAS' ASRAD missile system and a range of carrier vehicles such as the WIESEL, CONDOR, TM170 or WOLF . A similar modular approach was adopted by Daco who provided an enhanced version of their MG1 Modular Grip range for the man/machine interface. The grips are supplied in pairs with each housing 5 functions, one of which, in the right-hand grip, is a miniature force sensitive joystick. By using their modular range Daco were able to follow the customer's original design ethos that ensured a proven, well-focussed solution was provided at reasonable cost and with very little design risk.

Daco Scientific Limited, Vulcan House, Calleva Industrial Park,Aldermaston, Berkshire, RG7 8PB, UK.
  tel: +44 (0) 118 981 7311 :: fax: +44 (0) 118 981 9963 :: email: sales@daco.co.uk

Industrial Joysticks :: Military Joysticks :: Trackballs :: Control Grip Manufacturer