About MEA
About Us
MEA is an Adelaide (South Australia) based company, founded in 1984 by its current Engineering Director, Andrew Skinner.
The History of MEA
In the early 1980's, interest in alternative energy was at a high - it promptly dipped to re-emerge 15 years later - and Andrew started a business to pursue his passion: environmental monitoring. The company's first project was to carry out the SA Wind Energy Survey from 1984-1987. His Masters Thesis which resulted from this work is still relevant in the wind energy sector today.
What is MEA?
MEA designs and manufactures environmental monitoring systems including...
Automatic Weather Stations
which measure climate conditions for use in agriculture, research, education, mining, pollution management and environmental policing.
Soil Moisture Monitoring Systems
which provide critical irrigation and crop management information.
Temperature Stratification Systems
which measure temperature gradients in reservoirs and oceans.
Renewable Energy Systems.
which identify potential wind and solar energy generation sites.
Why choose MEA?
Measured by Experience
MEA has over 25 years of experience in designing, building and servicing Environmental Monitoring Systems.
Experience in system design: Your project determines which parameters need to be measured and their degree of accuracy. Your project determines which sensors are to be used - MEA is not a sensor manufacturer so is not limited to promoting a restricted product range. MEA engineers have the skills and experience to meet all the design aspects of the most challenging projects, from electronic integration to installation hardware and software configuration.
Experience in data downloading: Download to a PC on site, use a GSM or NextG digital phone, or download the data from the internet. MEA will incorporate your preferred data collection method.
Experience in after sales support: The most important key indicator for any environmental measurement system is the data retrieval rate. MEA strives to maintain near 100% data collection ratios on all systems. MEA retains comprehensive system records for every measurement system ever sold by the company so that any service request can be met. System maintenance, sensor recalibration and software upgrades are provided by MEA technical staff. Phone and on-site support are provided for every MEA measurement system.
Fully Tested "Turn-key" Systems
MEA measurement systems are built and tested at MEA prior to delivery to site. There is no need for you to be engaged in electronic assembly or software configuration - MEA has done it all.
Quality
MEA will always recommend the use of high quality instrumentation to ensure long term system reliability.
Who is MEA?
MEA currently has 19 full-time and part-time staff.
Dr. Andrew Skinner PhD(Engineering) - Engineering Director.
Andrew started MEA in a rash moment back in 1984 while living in poverty with a brand-new wife and infant son in a $50/week rented farmhouse out in the Murray-Mallee. This clever move increased the poverty but was a pleasant change from designing mining instrumentation, which he'd been doing since 1975 in Australia, Papua-New Guinea and Canada. With the only company assets being a dilapidated Toyota Landcruiser, zero cash and a shed-full of tools, MEA got underway with a SENRAC grant for $9000 per annum to undertake the second South Australian Wind Energy Survey (the first was carried out in the early 1950's, while Andrew was still a toddler). This took three years (1984-1987), during which Mrs Skinner deliver two more sons and Andrew earned a Masters Degree in Electronic Engineering. The poverty remained pretty-much unchanged, supplemented by tractor work on the farm, shovelling pig shit and making wooden puzzles (Scrollcraft).
Perhaps not the world's best engineer, Andrew has one remarkable talent – the ability to select and foster really bright young folk and to provide them with technical challenges and a rewarding career. He knows this because many of them have been at MEA a very long time, just like him. His most brilliant coup was in talking his good mate Joe Hoogland out of the lucrative world of banking and into the impoverished world of engineering. Joe took over the helm as MEA's managing director in 1991, the poverty decreased, order increased and Andrew retired honourably to become MEA's engineering director, where he remains to this day.
In another one of those typically rash moments, Andrew decided to put one of his big feet across into the academic world, undertaking a part-time PhD in engineering while still turning up to work at MEA full-time, undertaking home renovations and community responsibilities, running the largest vegetable garden in the district, helping (somewhat minimally) to bring up the family, looking out for ageing parents and supporting his long-suffering wife through her own studies and small business start-up. This PhD-by-publication took over a decade and produced some of the newest instruments in MEA's stables. Andrew's dream remains exactly what it was 25 years ago – to be allowed to get out of company management and to retire to the bench to design evermore fantastic environmental sensors. As this still hasn't happened, he's become famous for turning up at MEA with new designs scribbled on the back of serviettes and put together on planes, trains, in cafes and over the kitchen table. Andrew is happily-married to his first wife, has three giant sons, is MEA's only tenor-horn player, and reads books and grows vegetables as an antidote to high-technology. He walks to work.
Joe Hoogland BEc- Managing Director.
Ignoring one of the basic laws of starting your own business – never go into partnership with family or friends – I joined Andrew in 1991 when MEA's office was Andrew's lounge and the factory and warehouse was the back shed. For eight years we expanded within that constraint, building a bigger shed, assuming control over ever increasing sections of backyard. In 1999 we relocated to our current premises, selected because it is equidistant from the two owners, allowing each to walk to work. We left an area of 80m2 and moved into 450m2 and couldn't believe the amount of room we had. Within six months the place seemed too small. In 2008 we assumed control of the warehouse next door and it too, promptly filled to capacity. Rubbish expands to fill the void.
So I spend my time endeavouring to bring some order to the chaos that is business growth. This task is made easier by flexible and ever cheerful staff, and by patient and accommodating customers.
There is no time to rest on laurels – our customers continue to push us down new paths, accept new challenges, deliver new puzzles to resolve.
Jack Hoogland BE(Mech) - Mechanical Engineer & Renewable Energy Manager.
Jack has been with MEA since 1993 and has seen the company change from a four man garage band to the current ensemble of 19.
A first year spent in familiarising himself with the world of measurement and data logging saw him working from domestic energy monitoring for SAHC units in Adelaide to power generator monitoring in the APY lands in the far North of SA.
As the company expanded, Jack undertook the role of production management and as a mechanical engineer, he also undertook the work of component and system design. While he still does some of this, he is also involved in the design of some of the new MEA products.
The last few years have seen a lot of activity in the renewable energy fields, particularly wind, and he has ensured that the company designs and builds to the exacting standards required by the industry. With a strong hands on approach, Jack still conducts field work and can from time to time be seen on remote and windswept hillsides supervising the commissioning of monitoring systems. Jack is a member of the management team and contributes to the day to day running and longer term planning of MEA. .
Tanya Liddell - Marketing Manager.
Tanya started with MEA in 2001 as the seventh staff member in a very blokey place. Beginning in Administration she sorted that out then progressed to Marketing Co-ordinator and since 2006 has been MEA's Marketing Manager.
Always out and about you will see Tanya at agricultural expos and field days demonstrating our range of soil moisture monitoring equipment and automatic weather stations. Tanya also provides information and quotes to the Renewable Energy sector particularly in Wind and Solar monitoring systems.
Originally from Cummins on the Eyre Peninsula she likes nothing more than to get outdoors and speak with the farmers and growers on their properties. As part of MEA's management team she is proud to be involved in the planning and direction of MEA's future.
Sonja van Wegen BBtec(Hons) - Business Development Officer.
Sonja started with MEA in 2009. She has responsibility for the suite of Irrigated Agriculture and Plant Science products offered by MEA.
Sonja spent four years at university learning the ins and outs of all things Biotechnology before embarking on a meandering career through plant research, forensic biology and data analysis in Australia and overseas. She grew weary of the Public Service and in the most inspired 2009 New Years Resolution ever, threw it all in to spend 6 months working on South Australian farms (WWOOFing). Sonja is Tanya's trusty sidekick in the soil moisture monitoring world but will soon be forging new ground in the exciting frontier of academia and research.
Tracey Wilson BM(Marketing) - Operations Manager.
The newest member to the MEA management team, Tracey joined the company in mid 2008. Holding a Bachelor Degree in Management with a Major in Marketing, Tracey's role is to coordinate all production work for the technical staff.
Once an order is received Tracey will manage the design, manufacture, delivery and after sales support of that system. She also arranges site visits for system installations and maintenance as required. Tracey also handles the purchasing requirements for projects and general stock.
Bruce Stasinowsky - Technician.
Skilled and unflappable, Bruce joined MEA in 1998. His key responisbilities are the design, construction, programming and testing of logging systems which cover the gamut of MEA's output.
Brett Hoben BA(Geography) - Documentation & OHS&W.
Brett started with MEA in 2004. He came on board to work in the production and service departments, building, testing and installing systems, and providing (mostly polite) customer support over the phone and in-field. Currently, his major responsibility is to drag MEA's product documentation into the 21st century.
Born in and raised in the Far West of NSW, prior to MEA Brett worked in a wide range of industries and positions including Jackeroo, Store Manager, Roadie, Event Staging, and Electronics Assembly. A keen amateur photographer, he also plays electric Bass in a tidy little covers outfit, and regularly cycles to work.
Raf Iacobelli - Technician.
Raf started at MEA in 2006 and is rapidly developing into a key member of the technical team. His responsibilities include the building, programming and testing of logging systems. He provides customer support, and also has a key role in the R&D department.
Terry Creer Dip Eng- Technician.
Terry joined MEA in 2009. Terry comes from an R&D background with a sound knowledge of Design for Manufacture. He is responsible for the assembly, programming and testing of logging systems, and for the provision of customer support.
Eanna O'Cualain - Technician.
Eanna joined MEA in 2008. He is responsible for the assembly of logging systems.
Richard Hallett - Technician.
Richard has been with MEA since 2001. Richard has been involved with the assembly of the complete cross-section of systems offered by MEA.
Richard trained as a Broadcast Technician, firstly with the Post Master General, then with the Australian Broadcasting Commission, for whom he worked for 15 years. He has worked in the horticultural and mining industries, and ran his own sound reinforcement business. Born and bred in the western suburbs, he escaped to the Adelaide Hills as soon as he could, where he built his own house and helped raise a family. He is very much into creative D.I.Y. and has a passion for post-industrial Installations influenced by the centrality of shelter in the human experience. He has a black-belt in brush-cutting.
Loe Lamberts - Technician.
Toolmaker, fitter and turner, welder. Also working part time, the multi skilled Loe brings many mechanical skills to the workshop.
Tansy Dunn BA(Fine Arts) - Administration Officer.
Tansy manages all goods inwards and outwards and does so efficiently and with good humour.
Elizabeth Hicks - Accounting Officer.
Elizabeth started with MEA in January 2007. She manages the entire finance side of the business including receivables where in the nicest possible way she ensures our valued customers pay for what they get (or should that be get what they pay for!!). She enjoys interaction with our customers.
Elizabeth is a country girl, from Colac in Victoria and a keen gardener and consequently has an affinity for our industry. As a mother of 2 young girls she is proud of the role MEA is playing in ensuring a more sustainable future for the next generation of Australians.
Gerard Rouse BCS(Hons) - Software Engineer.
Gerard joined MEA late in 2007 after completing his honours year of a degree in mathematics and computer science at Adelaide University. He is responsible for updating our Magpie software, which receives several releases each year. He has a penchant for figuring out how things work, or – more accurately – why they're not working!
As a member of the research and development team he is also involved in the design and development of new MEA products.
Christian Bischoff SE(Nachrichtentechnik) - Senior Electronic Technician.
Christian started with MEA in 2006. Born and trained in Germany, he is qualified in Communications Engineering. Christian is responsible for PCB design, EMC testing & technical production support.
He has worked in the wind industry, the automotive industry, and for small engineering companies. In 2006 Christian decided to look for work abroad so he moved to Australia. He enjoys cycling and has spent time cycling through Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Tasmania. He cycles to work at MEA every day.
Huw Jones BE(Mechatronics)/BCS - Electronic Engineer.
Huw joined MEA in 2009. As a member of MEA's R&D team, Huw is excited to be a part of the further evolution of MEA's product line.
Huw was born and raised in Melbourne, and attended the University of Melbourne where he attained the degrees of Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) with Honours and Bachelor of Computer Science. In his spare time he likes reading (his favourite author is John le Carre), tinkering with fancy computer hardware and training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Brendon Skinner - Production Assistant.
Son of Andrew, Brendon assembles a range of MEA products.