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E L E CT R I C AL CONNE CT I ON
S P R I NG 2 01 5
MILESTONES
“G’day, Robin Norris here...”
I
t’s an impressive feat for electrical
contractors to rack up 50 years on the
tools. It’s a rare milestone well worth
celebrating and a sign of someone doing
something right. But, what is an even rarer
occurrence is reaching 50 years working in
the wholesale sector.
In 2015, Sonepar Pacific chief executive
Robin Norris will join the illustrious ’50 Club’
by observing his 50th (and final) year in the
industry.
Sonepar Pacific is the parent company of
electrical wholesaler Lawrence and Hanson.
A born and bred Taswegian, football-
mad Robin knew from a young age that he
wanted to work in the electrical industry. At
the age of 15, he started his apprenticeship
with local contractor Phil Lovett, with whom
he worked for seven years before moving
into the wholesale sector.
“Back then, to get an apprenticeship was a
prestigious thing,” he says.
“They were pretty sought after positions.
“When I decided to leave school,
my mother was keen for me to get an
apprenticeship with the Hydroelectric
Commission, as it was known back then, or
with Electrolytic Zinc Company because she
said if you got a job there you’d have a job
for life.
“I didn’t want that. Instead, I applied for a
job in the paper.”
Robin explains that in those days, it took
a month between applying for the job and
getting an interview because everything
was done through the post. (“Today, if you
don’t reply within an hour the applicant is
no longer interested.”)
He remembers the interview process was
far more gruelling than today, too.
“The world has definitely changed in this
respect,” he says.
“The final thing that Phil did before he
gave me the job was meet my parents.
Could you imagine today if that was a
requirement? It would never happen.”
This isn’t to say that Robin believes young
workers aren’t as capable as those from his
generation.
“When people talk about ‘young people’
today, I don’t actually see a huge difference...
except their perception of time. They want
the same things that I wanted, it’s just a
different process – smart phones compress
time,” he says.
Modern times have also seen the rise of
the ‘specialist’.
“I don’t want to sound cliché, but so much
has changed in the past 50 years and so
much hasn’t.
“As a kid you did your apprenticeship
and everyone got the same qualifications.
We were all called electrical mechanics and
there was no such thing as a specialisation.
“You didn’t have people who were
specialists in industrial control or
automation.
“We were all trained to be generalists
and that was possible because the product
range was so small. The Clipsal catalogue
would have been 30 pages. Now, the Clipsal
by Schneider Electric catalogue needs to be
downloaded because it’s so large.”
Perhaps most impressively, throughout
Robin’s 50-year career, he has only ever
worked for three different companies – an
idea that would send shivers up the spine of
many a millennial.
“I worked with Phil Lovett for seven years
after which I moved into wholesale with the
old GEC, and then spent the next 37 years with
L&H, come ALH, come Pacific Distribution,
come Hagemeyer, come Sonepar.”
But, Robin says, the past 50 years in the
electrical sector almost never happened.
In his early twenties, Robin was a star
fullback for the Clarence Aussie Rules team.
He was so good that he was signed on
For the past 50 years,
Robin Norris has been a
dedicated member of the
Australian electrical sector.
Now he’s decided it’s time to
pull up stumps.