News
The December
2001 issue of International Gas
Engineering and Management included a company profile by Peter Marsden which
is quoted here in full.
Wilcock Consulting's Route To The Top
Fast
Track To Success: With
annual sales rising from £468,000 in 1996 to £6-million in 2000, it is
hardly surprising that Wilcock Consulting is ranked 32nd in the
final 100 companies selected from over one-million for the Sunday Times Fast
Track 100.
As
the only gas company included in the Fast Track 100 league table, that makes
them a very special item in our industry.
But that is not all. In
the recent top 500 ranking of Europe’s most dynamic job creating
Entrepreneurs, Wilcock was ranked 142nd, a remarkable achievement
given the Pan-European cross-sector analysis employed.
This 2001 listing identified and selected 500 fast growing, independent
and job creating companies based on their performance between the beginning of
fiscal year 1995 and the end of fiscal year 2000.
The companies listed have created in excess of 252,000 jobs across
Europe in the last five years.
So
what is the secret of the company’s success?
Founder and owner Graham Wilcock spent 20 years with British Gas before
leaving in 1990 and establishing a consultancy business he subsequently sold.
He started Wilcock Consulting in 1994 and now has over 100 staff and
access to over 1,000 specialists with considerable technical and management
experience developed in the gas industry.
The company incorporates professional skills including accounting,
distribution, marketing, training, transmission and utilisation.
Accumulated experience
The
real secret however is that the company is built on a huge amount of
accumulated experience. For
example, Graham manages the business but is supported by four account managers
and this management team jointly has 150 years of experience in the gas
industry. Between them they are
able to provide clients with the knowledge and expertise necessary to develop
solutions to gas industry related problems.
Another secret, identified by the Sunday Times, is that the
company ‘prizes experience over youth in its consultants’.
The
policy has certainly paid off in a big way.
The company’s list of customers reads very much like a Who’s Who of
active energy companies. There is
current and recent work across the UK as well as projects in Chile, India,
Vietnam, Egypt, Brazil and Indonesia. The
overall spread also takes in Argentina, Eire, Israel, Japan, Norway, Pakistan,
South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, Uruguay, the USA and so it goes on.
The range of work is
similarly impressive. Most has a
significant technical content such as stress analysis, network analysis,
leakage assessment, pipeline route appraisal, pipeline uprating, transmission
procedures, commercial and industrial meter specifications, bid preparations,
technical specs, gas conditioning investigations, gas holder risk analysis,
safety reports, corrosion protection, CAD design, site supervision and many
many more, plus a complete range of training designed to assist companies with
the technical development of their employees.
In other words, everything in the down-stream gas industry.
The company however provides more to complete the full package with
legal, accountancy, communication, environmental, quality and insurance skills
to complete the loop.
What of the future?
So
where to next? The company continues to collect accreditations.
The latest is ISO14001 achieved for its environmental management
systems plus GWINTO course approval. These
just add to the list, which is best appreciated by a visit to their impressive
and well organised web site at www.wilock.co.uk
The
company is based in Barrow-in-Furness, on the coast of the English Lake
District under the influence of the Gulf Stream.
It might sound an out-of-the-way location for a company achieving so
much, but with modern communications, the world is seconds away.
There
is huge investment taking place in the UK gas industry and the world gas
industry is a further huge growth arena. With gas now the world’s second
most traded commodity, and environmental factors having an increasing impact,
the demand for the best expertise has never been greater.
The cream, they say, always rises to the top of the bottle.
As far as the future is concerned for Wilcock Consulting, it is already
at the top. As for further
awards, no doubt the expression is ‘watch this space’.
November 2001: Wilcock Consulting has been
recognised by its peers in the recruitment industry for its positive attitude
to age diversity in employment. The industry, with support from the
government, have established a number of annual awards called Age Positive
Awards of Excellence which are intended to recognise those recruitment
businesses which recruit consultants based on skills and abilities and not on
arbitrary numbers such as their date of birth.
In the category for agencies with 100 plus employees we were
placed second behind Office Angels. The Rt. Hon. Ian McCartney MP, Minister of
State at the Department for Work and Pensions, has written personally to
congratulate us on “setting a sterling example for the recruitment
industry”.
Europe's Most Dynamic Entrepreneurs, The 2001 Job
Creators: The Europe's 500
September 2001: Wilcock Consulting have been
recognised as one of Europe's most outstanding companies. In the
recently published results, Wilcock Consulting were ranked number 142.
The Europe's 500 is an annual Pan-European, cross-sector
listing honouring 500 of Europe's most outstanding companies. The 2001
listing identified and selected 500 fast-growing, independent and job-creating
companies based on their performance between the beginning of fiscal year 1995
and the end of fiscal year 2000. The companies listed have created in
excess of 252,000 jobs across Europe in the last five years.
Institution of Gas Engineers (IGasE)
June 2001: Wilcock Consulting has recently been
admitted to the Industrial Affiliate of the Institution of Gas Engineers (IGasE).
The Institution of Gas Engineers is a long established and 
respected
engineering institution founded in 1863. Royal recognition of its standing in
the world of commerce came in 1929 when we were granted a Royal Charter.
As an Industrial Affiliate, WCL will enjoy the following
benefits:
· Attend organised
briefings with Government Ministers, business colleagues and other senior
industry representatives.
· Dialogue via the
Institution with bodies such as the Office of Gas Supply, the Health and
Safety Executive, the Department of Trade and Industry and the British
Standards Institution.
· Up to six
nominated representatives can enjoy the same benefits as an individual
members.
· Place company
profiles and information in the IGE journal, which is now read in over 70
countries.
· Access to more
than 50 technical committees that establish Standards of Best Practise.
As a member of the Institution WCL will also
benefit from the organised activities, such as national seminars and
conferences, regular local meetings, social events and membership of industry
committees. You will find that you make valuable new contacts both in the UK
and world-wide and gain from sharing new ideas and concepts.
Ginto Course Approval
February 2001: Wilcock Consulting
are proud to announce that course approval has been gained from GINTO, the Gas
Industry National Training Organisation.
The following courses have been approved:
Pipeline Transmission Training Courses
Incident Management Training
Course Approval will run for a period of three years.
GINTO is the National Training Organisation for the UK
onshore gas industry frombeach to burner. GINTO is recognised by the DfEE to
act as the voice of gas industry employers to government on all matters to do
with education and training policy and practice.
ISO14001 Accreditation
January 2001: Wilcock Consulting has
demonstrated its growing professionalism by achieving accreditation to ISO
14001 for its Environmental Management Systems.
Virgin Atlantic
Fast Track
November 2000: Wilcock Consulting are officially
one of the fastest growing companies in the UK. In the recently published
Sunday Times league table we were ranked number thirty two. The final
100 companies are selected from about one million companies and involves
extensive research. Average sales were measured over three financial years
between 1996 and 1999. Wilcock Consulting is the only gas industry
company included in the Fast Track 100 league table.
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