Peter Terry Jones FCILT

My work with and for the Institute commenced in 1970 after recommendations from my bosses in the British Oxygen Company (BOC /Lind) that I should enrol for Membership .Having been the only Graduate applicant to their transport Division I was fast tracked into the world of industrial gases and cryogenics logistics. I had also qualified from the Nottingham University Industrial Economics faculty which was (1966) the only UK Uni offering a "transport" specialism .That followed a gap year as a deck hand in the Merchant Navy with Union Castle ,Shaw Savill and Cunard so I was well versed in shipping issues too. Within 2 years as a front line superintendent at a small depot where we handled shunts between Canvey Island and towns in the SE undergoing conversion to North Sea gas.
It was clear palletisation was the way ahead and I mapped out the case for change from chained loading so was appointed to run the largest distribution depot in the UK in Manchester where, after strikes and much negotiation, palletised cylinder deliveries became the UK norm. Promotion to Head Office enabled me to re-hash the UK hydrogen fleet to make it profitable.
Palletisation beckoned however and so I moved to GKN-Chep and drove the introduction of the pallet pooling concept in the formative years converting many aspects of multiple UK supply chains with deals at Director level. GKN then shifted me to their ailing welding business where a switch to Distributors from direct sales enable profitability and subsequent sale to ESAB. Job done I cast around in the mid 1980's and joined the erstwhile United Carriers where we introduced the Betamax of tracking- magnetic ink tracking of tens of '000s day of parcels nationally. Thefts and losses plummeted . Having worked myself out of another job and old contact suggested I joined Biffa Waste services where ( owned by BET, Severn Trent and as a Plc) we grew turnover from £47m to £750m over 20 years only to succumb to a predatory VC enterprise. Thus it was time for retirement but all along I have benefited from the updates and inspiration to young entrants offered by the Institution.