Top of the Chain

with Simon Lee PRESIDENT OF NORTHSTAR CONTROLS

Northstar Controls, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, provides a full line of inductive loop vehicle detectors along with other vehicle detection categories. Working in a global market, President Simon Lee aims to stay a step ahead by focusing on market share growth and increasing volume with an eye on cost containment, while ensuring all products are manufactured in the United States.

WHAT LED TO YOU ESTABLISHING NORTHSTAR CONTROLS IN 2002?

I have worked for several companies in the vehicle detector industry since the late 1970s and having brought vehicle detectors to Eberle Design and established their vehicle detector and manufacturing divisions, it seemed a natural step to start my own company.

Your degree is in electrical and electronic engineering, and you were previously the CEO at Electronic Devices prior to Northstar, so there is a clear love of electronics. What do you enjoy about that field?

Although my degree is in engineering and I am still actively engaged in design and engineering, my interest has always been manufacturing, the logistics and processes involved in making things, maintaining consistent quality and constantly upgrading methods. This is a major reason that Northstar manufacturers all products in-house.

WERE YOU HESITANT TO JUMP INTO THE ENTREPRENEURIAL REALM OR DID IT STARTING NORTHSTAR FEEL LIKE THE NATURAL NEXT STEP?

I think there is always a hesitancy to go out on one’s own but with the experience gained in product design and manufacturing processes, it was the next logical step, and I believe the success of the company confirms this.

WHAT WERE THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF NORTHSTAR LIKE?

We started with key contacts at some distributors which enabled us to make initial sales and that really got the company off the ground.

Manufacturing grew from being essentially based in my house in Phoenix, Arizona to a small facility in nearby Tempe. The increased sales volume that we experienced in the first few years led us to find a larger facility in Sarasota, Florida, a move we completed in 2007.

DESCRIBE THE BUSINESS CLIMATE PERTAINING TO NORTHSTAR.

The vehicle detector market is a global one, as a new company starting up in Phoenix, Arizona, Northstar needed to compete for customers across the entire US.

HOW HAS THE COMPANY GROWN OVER THE YEARS?

From humble beginnings, we have always tried to keep the company focused on containing costs. We have grown exponentially in terms of both volume and market share but we remain a small company in terms of number of employees.

Our emphasis on automation allows us to improve our productivity with the employees that we have. We continue to expand our workforce in a measured way which allows us to maintain our quality while giving us the capacity to meet the needs of our expanding market share.