Tees Business Issue 27 | Page 91

NEWS
Growing - the ITS team

“ To say I am immensely proud to lead the people who work with me at ITS would be a massive understatement .”

this time as ITS engineers . What do we do ? People ask me that and expect clever technical answers , and we do the technical stuff and do it well . But in essence , we save lives - we make sure chemical processes operate safely and we make sure our pharmaceutical or medical device customers ’ products don ’ t get to market unless they are produced in a manner that assures they are top quality . We make sure nuclear facilities are monitored 24 / 7 and the people in all our customers ’ factories get to go home safely . And we specialise in highly regulated industries - chemical , pharmaceutical , medical device and the emerging biopharma industry over the last eight to 10 years . There are niches , Power – black start systems , ESD and F & G etc . That same model of aiming to employ clever people and get them to do their thing worked well for ITS too .
Over the years , you bump into people you think highly of and sometimes , you are lucky enough to be able to ask them to join ITS too - people like Dr Stan Higgins
OBE , who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in all our major fields , and Joanne Rout with a strong background in the chemicals industries around Teesside , but also a broader knowledge of manufacturing , Industry 4.0 etc . and the keen interest she shows in keeping ahead of the topical issues facing the industry . Dr Jennifer Thompson also adds so much more experience to our existing pharma / biopharma knowledge base and extends it too .
You interview people and find a perfect match for the culture of ITS and you grab them . It ’ s all about people . I remind our people that no one buys anything from ITS , they buy from people they know and trust . Our job is not to betray the trust .
Employees are encouraged to make decisions after asking themselves several questions . Is it right for the customer ? And is it right for ITS ? In other words , does it meet our core values of accountability ( am I prepared to take responsibility to make it happen ?), communication ( will I give good and bad news when needed , and find a route forward together ?), entrepreneurial ( will I commit to bringing innovative ideas to life ?) and Inspiring ( will I use my creativity to build new ideas or solutions ?). And , finally , teamwork : will I do what ’ s right for the customer and the team over my own interests ? Basically , is it just the right thing for us to do ? Sometimes that costs us a little money , but it makes us great people to work with .
So , 30 years on , we ’ re growing , we are still attracting new customers with their requirement for a proven track record in delivering engineering excellence , and we ’ re still looking at our customers ’ needs and working out how we can provide that by growing our capability .
By now , I ’ m just a figurehead , the founder . But to say I am immensely proud to lead the people who work with me at ITS would be a massive understatement . Thirty years of employing brilliant people who make me look good - I ’ ve made a career of it !
The voice of business in the Tees region | 91