History ::

Lawrence D. "Tony" Boden .. 1/14/1918 - 1/24/1999

Speedometer Service Company opened its doors in 1946 , servicing and repairing warranty and out-of-warranty speedometers, tachometers, cable and casing, clocks and other miscellaneous items for auto dealers and the retail public. The company also repaired and serviced generators and starters on an out-of-warranty basis. Located in downtown Atlanta at that time, the company was owned by Mr. Charles Rose, and was managed by Lawrence D. (Tony) Boden, a pre-war employee of Auto Electric Exchange. In 1947, the auto radio service line was added.

From 1947 to 1957 Speedometer Service Company developed into a stable, successful business. During this period, Charlie Rose deceased and a partnership was formed between Lawrence D. Boden and Lucy V. Rose, the widow of Charlie Rose, and operated as such until 1959 at which time Mrs. Rose's entity was purchased by Mr. Boden.

Speedometer Service Company continued to progress under the new ownership of its new owner/manager, who began to expand the services for both in- and out-of-warranty repairs. All service lines were broadened during a period from 1959 to 1978, which included the major manufacturers of electronic and mechanical accessories used by General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation, and several other minor companies.

Lawrence D. (Larry) Boden, Jr. joined Speedometer Service Company in 1971 and was appointed General Manager and Vice President under President Lawrence D. Boden, Sr. The company was incorporated in 1979.

In 1979, Speedometer Service Company moved to into its newly constructed building located in the Dunwoody area of unincorporated Atlanta. By that time the number and scope of electronic devices serviced had increased, including electronic dashes, electronic tachometers, electronic fuel data devices, electronically tuned radios, and electronic speedometers. Its own speed testing machine, the Boden Discometer was implemented, which enabled in-car speedometer testing of speed and mileage. Speedometer Service Company has since calibrated many police department and state vehicles with the Boden Discometer.

By this time our employee number had grown to approximately 20 and all bookkeeping had made a transition to full computerization. Because the quantity of items repaired had increased tremendously, a computerized job tracking program was developed to improve job handling, location, and status.

From 1979 to 1989 Speedometer Service Company was involved in the transition of the automotive electronic industry from mechanical devices, to electro-mechanical devices, to completely electronic devices using microprocessor technology. This change in technology required that future technical employees be graduates of an accredited electronics school in order to be considered for hire and that considerable intensive training of existing technicians would be implemented to meet the new electronic challenge. Both Tony Boden and Larry Boden earned the "General Class" FCC Radiotelephone License late in the 1970s and the "Class 1 Certified Technician Certificate" from the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers during the mid 1980s.

From 1989 to 1993 the volume of work steadily increased as we qualified our employees to meet the ongoing requirements of the manufacturers for which Speedometer Service Company represents. Because of the need for pre-shipping our consignment product we developed a pre-shipping computer program that will inventory our consignment stock and indicate location and status with aging capability.

In 1991 our cellular phone repair line began. Ericsson G.E. appointed Speedometer Service Company as one of five regional service centers. Ericsson G.E. has been a pioneer in digital cellular technology, making us one of the first to be trained in digital cellular transmission.

In 1992, Ford Motor Company selected Speedometer Service Company to participate in a pilot program that challenged us to achieve Q1 Status by conforming to outlines presented by Ford Quality Control Division. Speedometer Service Company achieved Q1 status June 21, 1993 and was officially recognized by Ford on September 1, 1993. We are now applying all of the requirements of Ford’s Q1 program and continue to use it as a guideline for further technical and administrative excellence since a "quality program" approach is generating a tremendous amount of interest throughout our industry.

The growth of Speedometer Service Company and the increase in employee requirements gave way to a new location in Roswell, Georgia during November of 1996. The new 20,000 square foot facility allows for increased future needs of manufacturers and dealer services in the automotive electronics industry, and ensures ongoing processing capability and quality.

In March of 1997, Speedometer Service Company became one of seven authorized service centers for the remanufacturing of electronic products for DaimlerChrysler Corporation. The products included in this program are manufactured by DaimlerChrysler Corporation in Huntsville, Mitsubishi, and Harman Motive. The use of the existing dealer electronic order system and EDI order processing is a key feature of this program, allowing for fast delivery of the product to the dealer. The entire DaimlerChrysler remanufacturing program was a unique venture since Chrysler encouraged the ideas and expertise of each of the seven service centers during the development of this program. The team approach proved to be very effective as well as rewarding.

During the annual corporate meeting held March of 1999, new officers were elected. Larry Boden was elected President and Ann Verville (25 year SSC Office Manager) was elected Vice President. Both Larry and Ann are company directors. Because of universal quality standards required of suppliers in the automotive industry, the company committed to the QS-9000 Quality Standard and received certification registration for both the QS-9000 and ISO 9002 standards in November 2000. As the Automotive Industry shifted its focus from the QS9000 standard to the TS16949 standard, Speedometer Service Company qualified to be registered to ISO 9001:2000 via Underwriters Laboratory in July of 2004. ISO 9001:2000 is the specified quality standard for second tier suppliers of the automotive industry.

Speedometer Service Company became an authorized service center for various musical instrument and amplifier manufacturers such as Fender, Peavy, Line 6, Crate, Ampeg, Marshall, and VOX. Not only are we authorized to perform all electronic and electrical repairs on amplifiers and effects modules, but also on guitars, keyboards, mixers, and other electrical music equipment.