Stuart McOnie

Managing Director Stuart McOnie started his career in engineering at the age of 16, following a childhood spent building models and repairing cars and being fascinated about how things work.

His studies began with a four year engineering apprenticeship with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) where he learnt the core skills of welding, fabricating, machinery and vehicle maintenance. Studying while also in full time work, Stuart went on to gain a Technician Certificate and finally, a Higher National Certificate (HNC), in mechanical engineering.

Stuart’s corporate career began with Sabre Safety where he spent two years working in the breathing apparatus research and development team.  He was part of the team that fundamentally altered the physics and dimensions of previous equipment, simplifying the design and performance and ultimately creating a product that required less maintenance.

Stuart’s conceptual vison, his understanding of where products could be used and how key features worked with each other, led him to pursue a sales focused role. When he joined Draeger Safety Ltd, Stuart worked across sales, marketing, and product development. His ability to talk product technicality and performance, as opposed to solely advocating key benefits was welcomed by customers – a concept he would later instil in his own sales force.

After four years, Stuart returned to Sabre Safety’s Gas Detection Division as General Manager and, for the first time, his sector focus shifted from breathing apparatus, to electronics and gas monitoring. He went on to become General Manager of Life Support Engineering.  This role moved him into the aviation industry for the first time and the servicing of essential aviation products. His final role before starting his own business was General Manager of Tempex Industrial Products.

Utilising the sector experience he had amassed throughout his early working life, he started his own business, Semmco. The company was founded in 1993 and today, is a global business operating across Australasia, NorthAmerica, the Middle East and Europe.

Stuart’s years of experience with different, leading global businesses, has culminated in him being able to achieve accelerated growth through improving product design, processes and production. He has integrated this approach into Semmco and it is this concept that has resulted in the design, manufacture and distribution of the range of products that the business promotes today.