published every quarter, then monthly as more projects were designed. The concurrent boom in home computer ownership in the beginning of the 1980s, spawned by manufacturers such as Sinclair, Commodore International and Atari, created opportunities for Maplin. They produced home build project kits such as speech synthesisers, memory expansion cards, extension keyboards, cables, and connectors to plug into these computers. At the height of production of the home build kits Maplin's range was vast, with in house designed power amplifiers, radio kits, a weather station, and a full weather satellite receiving and display system and many others, as well as the Heathkit and Velleman ranges of kits. The catalogue, with its distinctive science fiction cover art by Lionel Jeans, contained hundreds of application circuits and hundreds of thousands of copies were distributed each year. Expansion Move to South Yorkshire In 1985, Maplin Professional Supplies was created to serve the expanding business market with a catalogue of products selected specifically for professionals and the business market. In 1989, a new National Distribution Centre was opened at Wombwell, South Yorkshire, and four years later a Far Eastern headquarters was established in Taiwan. By 1994, Maplin had a turnover of more than £29 million a year, and it was clear more help was needed to organise the business. In December 1994, Maplin was acquired by Saltire PLC. In 1999, Maplin launched its own website, and the following year, sales from the site hit UK £1million. The Southend-on-Sea headquarters also closed in 2000, and all operations were moved to Wombwell. In June 2001, the company changed hands again, this time with a management buyout backed by Graphite Capital. Far East Operations Maplin Far East Operations was first established in 1992 when Maplin Electronics set up its first Far Eastern branch office in Taipei, Taiwan to strengthen buying power. The office was in charge of product sourcing, purchasing, inspecting, shipping and payment arrangement from Taiwan and was known as the Far East Operations Centre. The Hong Kong Office followed in 1995 to handle the sourcing, purchasing and shipping from Hong Kong. As most production in Taiwan and Hong Kong had moved to mainland China, the company registered a representative office in Shenzhen under the Hong Kong Office in 2004. The three offices in the Far East handled more than 500 suppliers and 5,000 buying items for the parent company. The major product categories included cables,