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A reflection on 30 years of Industrial Technology Systems
ITS chief executive officer Malcolm Knott
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Malcolm Knott had a plan in 1991 - and 30 years later , the engineering company he formed , and is now CEO of , is still going strong . Here , he looks back at ITS ’ first three decades :
started my career with ICI in September 1971 - and to answer my kids ’ question , no , everything was not still in black and white then ! I will be forever grateful to the old ICI company for taking ( raw ) me and turning me into an engineer - chemical first , then process , then real time automation and computing . Everything I know is down to them - and my father , who turned out to be a lot smarter when I was 21 than he was when I was 16 ! I know everyone will say I am biased , but ICI turned out some brilliant engineers in its time , many of whom I still run into , working in all sorts of industries and countries , all with great tales of problems solved and the “ fun ” we had solving them . They were people who just seemed to have an attitude to get things done .
In the late 1980s , a venture I was working on with ICI Engineering department came to an end and I moved back on to the old ICI Wilton site . I took on a team which , over the next few years , I built by cleverly employing some great people to work with who made me look very good . Between us , we built quite the reputation for doing great projects , delivering on time and on budget , but something was missing . There were things we weren ’ t allowed to do - work outside ICI for one . And compared to that previous venture , that was something I missed . So there , in the back of my mind , a plan was forming .
In 1990 , ICI was looking to downsize , although I wasn ’ t even close to being “ at risk ”. In fact , when I said “ I ’ ll go ”, at first they said “ no ” - but eventually , it was accepted and I started my 12 month notice period . Unfortunately , towards the end of that period , the severance offer was withdrawn and maybe if I ’ d had any sense , I wouldn ’ t have left . But maybe common sense isn ’ t as common as you think , so I went anyway - and people who know me know that once I have a plan ...
Industrial Technology Systems Ltd ( ITS ) was born in October 1991 with a plan to provide the same level of engineering excellence ICI engineers were known for across the world , but
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