About Rinstrum

Paul Cooper, our Chairman

Paul was originally approached to invest in Rinstrum in 2003 by the founders of the company.  After taking a small stake in the company, Paul and his wife, Helen, as well as our MD Darren Pearson and Leanne Pearson, bought out the founders and jointly owned the company along with a number of staff who participated in our employee share programme.

Paul spent 25 years in accounting and tax before joining Rinstrum part time in 2012. He now focusses on the governance, tax, risk, and compliance aspects of the company and is also a board member of several other companies, Not-for-profits and government boards.  Paul has six children and six grandchildren to occupy his time when he is not calculating taxes or dealing with tax audits in Rinstrum’s global business.

Paul has invested in and successfully built manufacturing companies for more than 20 years.  Paul was appointed Chairman of Australia’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre by the federal government and serves as advisor on manufacturing to the Minister of Industry in the Australian government.

Darren Pearson, our Managing Director, longest serving employee, Technology Lead and Head Salesperson

Darren started with Ranger Instruments as a young electrical engineer when the company was operating out of a backyard shed and hand-making ten model 9000 indicators a week.  As the chief architect of our first export indicator, the model 5000,  he had to learn the hard way about  European trade approvals, working in a lab in Darmstadt Germany until it passed pre-compliance testing.  Trade approvals and pre-compliance testing are now part of Rinstrum’s DNA.

Darren has led the design and engineering of every indicator family produced by Rinstrum since the original model 5000 series indicators in the 1990’s.   This experience in design through to the very top of the company is foundational to Rinstrum’s corporate culture and a key part of the ‘Smart Weighing Solutions’ brand.  Darren took on the Managing Director role when the original founders retired in 2005 and has led the company through its expansion into Germany, USA and Sri Lanka over the past 17 years.  The best part of his job, though, is working directly with customers to find clever solutions to weighing problems.

Darren spends his spare time offshore sailing on the Great Barrier Reef and on challenging DIY projects.  He was a foundation member of the successful Team Arrow solar racing team, building and racing the Arrow 1 across the deserts in Australia and the Middle East.  Currently he is building a 1940s style teardrop camper and trying to gain some Blacksmith skills on his backyard coal forge.

Blake Anderson, our Australian Hub Manager

Blake brings with him 16 years of experience in the weighing industry to the role of Australian Hub Manager. He began his weighing career in April 2008, as an apprentice he learnt scale calibration, repairs, and fault finding before moving into a Scale Technician role.  He originally joined Rinstrum in 2011, moving quickly into a Sales Engineer role, notably contributing to the training of new dealers in the USA.  In 2015 he left Rinstrum to join SWIA in Brisbane as a Regional Manager where he gained invaluable managerial skills and operational insights before returning to us in 2020.

Since his return, Blake has supported our Australian operations as 2IC, working closely with David McKinley. His leadership qualities and commitment to excellence ensures that we will continue to provide exceptional service to all of our Rinstrum dealers.

Blake spends his spare time watching Ice Hockey (Let’s Go Red Wings!), playing and watching cricket and enjoying time with his son.

David McKinley, our US Hub Manager

David has been working with the Rinstrum management team for 15 years and even longer with some of his team members. He has over 32 years’ experience in the measurement and weighing industry in many roles, developing, and adapting to the challenges of business and personal life.

David is a firm believer that the way to get the best out of his teams is to allow them flexibility to develop their own ideas and to grow personal confidence and professionalism within the Rinstrum game rules. While he may not own the business, he makes it his own and encourages the CAN-DO attitude within his teams. After leading the Australian sales team for more than 10 years, David took on the role of US Hub manager in 2020 leading both teams from Sydney, Australia. From 2024 he is managing the US Hub full time.

When David is away from work, he likes to study strategy and has a keen interest in Military history along with a collection of military vehicles from scale models through to full size ones! While mainly focused on WW1 vehicles, the best one for fun is his 1942 restored WWII Willys jeep. It was designed to go anywhere, get through anything and get the job done and certainly is not too fancy. Guess there is some comparison to his work ethos.

He also believes that the best creativity and ideas flow when lubricated with a red wine and good company.

David got involved in measurement as a fitter and machinist as a young man. During apprentice skill rotation he ended up in the metrology section calibrating gauges, inspection and tool setting. Due to external circumstances, he ended up staying in this role for quite a while.  Later on, while studying marketing, he met his wife to be. Coincidently, David’s future father law owned a measurement and calibration company, and it was not long before he started working for them. Many years later an opportunity arose to join Rinstrum, where he has been able to utilise a lifetime of experience in marketing, sales and management in the measurement and engineering industry.

Marek Swierzy, our German Hub Manager

Marek is an electrical engineer with 18 years of experience in developing hardware and software and a keen interest in creating and understanding technology.  He built a successful company designing and manufacturing remote display, LEDiT GmbH, which was acquired by Rinstrum in 2016.  After the acquisition, Marek took over the role as Geschäftsführer (Managing Director) for Rinstrum’s European operations.

Marek enjoys working in a small global company, especially working on interdisciplinary projects with the skills and the knowledge from different countries.  He is a member of multiple service and network organizations such as the Round Table and Junior Chamber International.  Always willing to share his energy and enthusiasm, and a beer should the opportunity arise!