John Pattison
You’re probably looking at this site as potential employer wondering if my history would benefit your business.
This site was developed for exactly that purpose because my history is diverse and few people in ‘recruitment’ can comprehend the common factors between my world wide projects and the relatively simple logistics role they want to fill.
This page provides an insight into the jobs I’ve done and the experiences I carried away from each. [Request CV]
Business Sector Manager (Middle East Transport)
Based in Dubai I’m with a the largest company of the region trading in Automotive retailing, Consumer Retail, FMCG, Automotive parts, Travel, Car hire, Middle East road transport, Construction, Sea freight, Warehousing & Distribution of global brands Toyota, Honda, Jeep, Volvo, Toshiba, Sanyo, M&S, Ikea.
A fleet of hundreds provide distribution across Arabia and distribution throughout UAE of new cars and spare parts.
A team of business managers take total responsibility for their business sector and its international workforce. My role is to introduce ISO, European transport standards and sustainable processes suitable for this part of the world.
Operations consultant
A group of investors trading in warehousing, distribution and the retail marketing industry had joined forces and wanted to move into point of sale installations. They had experience in their individual areas of business but lacked a leader to focus and market their services under one banner. I accepted a proposal to head this operation. Popi was formed, marketed on minimal budget and won its first contracts with high street retailers and household brands. Popi will undoubtedly take custom from its complacent competitors in the near future with their new approach to providing top quality project management and after sales support.
Visit website POPI Ltd - Retail POS installations
Head of Operations
After returning from a logistics contract in Kazakhstan I was approached by a company to join them as Head of Operations. Their business was the project management of multi site installations of display equipment into retail outlets involving project planning, warehousing, stock control, transport, distribution, quality control and reporting systems.
The company had been trading for about ten years and grown steadily but directors wanted more rapid growth. I was asked to provide the processes to achieve that. They were fraught with systemic flaws affecting success with tenders, turnover of people and management systems for health & safety and waste disposal. They did not have a transport manager so the use of goods vehicles had not been managed often breeching regulations out of ignorance. Directors at least recognised the need to improve and establish management systems more in line with their size.
I headed a management team covering all operational aspects of the business so not all the credit for improvement belongs to me but the processes and changes I introduced provided the foundation continual improvement. The NVQ I developed and submitted on behalf of the formerly unrecognised industry was welcomed by the training standards board and the awarding body City & Guilds. Unqualified project managers were offered Prince 2 training. Sustainable processes and sequential working practices were implemented. Tenders then included more than just a figure on a piece of paper they demonstrated the company’s commitment to complying with changing legislation and to the welfare of their stake holders.
Within two years turnover was substantially increased. Risk was minimised by revised terms of business, and disaster recovery plan. Health & safety and environmental management systems were accepted and supported in practice. Transport was operating legally and I’d achieved significant reductions in fleet costs. I’d achieved everything I’d set out to do and moved on.
www.cjservices.co.uk
Operations manager
A thoroughly enjoyable experience with a company I’ve had a long relationship with. This was a logistics project providing specialist services to the oil industry but involved a hefty chunk of engineering expertise before the logistics could begin. I headed a multi skilled team based in Belgium ship yard refurbishing and modifying two 40 ton hovercraft to suit the sub zero conditions and specialist functions they were bound for in north Kazakhstan.
One of craft took the form of a cabriolet to carry containers, fuel tanks, or oil spill equipment. With the roof and seats refitted it became a personnel carrier for crew changes. I designed and installed equipment to enable oil spill recovery from the shallow waters of the Caspian. I also devised a system of changing from freight to personnel carrier within 30 minutes to cater for any unscheduled personnel movements.
The second craft became an evacuation craft in case of life threatening emergencies on one of the rigs the hovercraft served. In order to attend any emergency within minutes the hovercraft sat 25 miles off shore on a converted barge mid way between the rigs. The barge was modified with landing ramps, maintenance and 12 hours shift facilities all of which enabled the client to meet their targets and develop a successful gas field now supplying Europe.
The seals, sturgeon and flamingos of the Caspian had to be protected from risk and disturbance so it was my responsibility to enforce strict environmental restraints right down to the disposal of waste from chemical toilets on the hovercraft and landing barge. This was an all encompassing role covering logistics, health & safety, environmental, engineering, fleet management and liaison with client and other suppliers.
Arriving at Atyrau from Aktau a few hundred miles south we met a dramatic change in temperature. I left Aktau in sunglasses and shorts arriving to 20 degrees below and it was only September.
Conditions change that quickly and any marine equipment still out there when the sea froze over could be lost. The lowest temperature recorded during operations off shore was minus 40. 2000 tons of freight & 30,000 personnel were moved throughout the construction phase. When drilling began after the winter we provided emergency services in water often too shallow for work boats. Water depth changed dramatically with wind direction. The entire Caspian seems to move east or west with the wind affecting shorelines, depth and accessibility unless using hovercraft. No other form of transport could provide this 24/7 cover.
On the way home there was a short term project surveying a war damaged oil jetty in Sierra Leone West Africa. Luckily the war had ended but the devastation remained. Structural examination above and below water, estimating electrical reinstallation, pumping equipment and infrastructure repairs.
Transport manager
This company is a division of a well known parent in USA trading in oil recycling. The USA market was buoyant but the UK market was in decline as major customers in power generation concerned about global
warming, EEC regulations and public opinion were moving towards cleaner fuels. In addition to the day to day management of a tanker fleet and drivers I needed to diversify and optimise fleet utilisation to fill the gaps left by reducing sales. The transport issues were second nature, reducing costs in fleet hire, tank renewals and maintenance came naturally. The retention of existing custom through improved service levels was achieved but ultimately doomed due to market changes so improvement had to come from diversification and the streamlining of the transport function. Agents were used and paid by load to collect waste into regional storage and owned fleet used to trunk to and from the refining plants. The release of the smaller collection vehicles serviced new business in domestic fuel to produce additional revenue and the probable demise of the company was avoided.
Logistics manager
The project began in San Antonio Texas where I headed an engineering team remanufacturing a 720 ton hydraulic plant formerly used to mass produce single cast concrete buildings in the Middle East. Those of you that have holidayed there may have stayed in hotels built by this machine. The owner of this company had sadly passed away years earlier leaving the plant obsolete, corroding and encumbered by bank charges. The new owner released the charges and wanted the plant rebuilding. I managed the rebuild which was completed to plan followed by transportation by road to Houston and shipped to Nigeria. Fortunately the plant was in nine sections and transportable on the wide Texas roads even if the Nigerian roads proved to be more difficult.
1/9th of the plant leaving San Antonio for Nigeria
There were over 3600 hydraulic hoses, electronically controlled valve blocks and literally thousands of feet of hydraulic pipe and joints to be replaced. The chassis and most of the metal work was retrievable although there was several weeks of welding work to be done in repairs and modifications but the biggest problem was manpower. San Antonio had an unemployment rate of less than 1% so it wasn’t easy to get reliable people for short term work.
The plant consisted of nine mould systems with hydraulically operated walls and ceilings to release the final product. Door and window blanks were inserted to plan before pouring.
Plumbing and wiring looms were installed before pouring leaving only internal fittings to complete a home in just a few hours. The plant was capable of producing nine homes a day by using a steam curtain to accelerate hardening of the concrete. Each casting had locating pegs and sockets making it possible to stack the castings like a Lego set into any formation.
During the shipping phase the team and I went ahead and prepared the 400 hectare site for city development on the Nigerian coast and procured $40m of transport and construction equipment globally.
The environment can be threatening with armed robbery and disease all around. Bodies burned in tyres lay cluttering the road side.
Our American vehicles with tinted glass and permanent side lights were stopped daily by armed police and drivers fined on the spot for window and lighting infringements introduced to coincide with our arrival. A drain on the project but insignificant in the overall plan.
I lead a multi-national team of ex-pat’ section heads leading 500 workers in construction disciplines.
The plant was commissioned for production. The fleet of Caterpillar and Mercedes were fuelled at the station we built, much like the one down the road from your home. I negotiated with Mobil to supply fuel and I set up suppliers of materials and services for most other sections of the project. I wrote the maintenance manuals, plant maintenance programme and trained teams of operators. 150 tons of fuel was consumed and building materials sourced in Nigeria and neighbouring states would continue to arrive after I moved on.
Fleet engineer
The employer was a world class manufacturer of commercial vehicles providing fleet hire to industry.
The mission was to refurbish a flow of 6000 vehicles a year returned from contract hire and to recover costs in accordance contractual agreements. Logistically, storing 6000 out of service vehicles between return refurbishment and resale can be an problem. The job evolved into a combination of standardising the process for inspection, reporting, costing, stock holding, refurbishing, recharging and coordinating remote storage. The new workshop facility was ill equipped initially but I provided the equipment lacking, the leadership needed on the shop floor and the movement of a Swiss clock throughout the entire process.
Engineering manager
I’d sold my business and by chance I met a group operating a logistics management company in Angola. You will have recognised these international projects as you worked you way down the page.
I joined the company in Peru to set up a new logistics operation for a gas field project in the Amazon basin.
I was appointed partly for my engineering skills to manage the maintenance and operation of hovercraft supplying logistics services and for my transport management, navigation and self employed background which provided a deeper understanding of commercial aspects than perhaps a regular employee might have.
Fuel delivery by hovercraft
Gunshot damage to the hovercraft
Under my leadership we achieved targets for the construction of logistics and drill sites, power generation, fuel storage, accommodation, the removal of a 10 year exploration site. Daily trips from Atalaya to Nuevo Mundo 120 miles upstream towards the Andes enabled the project to continue throughout wet and dry seasons of the Amazon. The hovercraft base at Atalaya was constructed from local material to enable the replenishment of the jungle after we moved on. Amazingly, nine months on when as passed on route to Brazil there was no sign of us ever being there.
Initially the indigenous people were suspicious of our 25 meter machine. Our attempts to wave and be friendly as we passed villagers doing their daily chores at the river bank didn’t ease their fear. The hovercraft was said to be a monster using blood as fuel and the rubber skirt was made of Amazon skins. The twin bow thrusters mounted on top of the craft were its eyes constantly twitching and scanning the river banks for prey. It wasn’t long before we were being shot at with barbed arrows and shotguns. We took time out to circulate an invitation to villagers to board the craft, meet the team and relieve their fear. We were welcomed from there on and provided many services to the villagers in times of flooding.
Winning hearts & minds after shootings
Hovercraft to the rescue during flooding
Left: Native Amazonians
Right: Hands on when needs arise
At completion I was part of two man crew to take the hovercraft through a record breaking 1800 miles overland journey to Manaus for the start of a project laying pipe throughout the Brazilian Amazon during the dry season. The pipe would later carry gas to South American cities for power generation.
Amongst the work ethic we maintained a strong social policy. We imported and presented an orthopedic bed to a bed ridden woman in a nearby village. We sponsored a local school for its football strip and were rewarded with a very noisy but actually quite tasty rooster. Local men worked in our team learning basic engineering skills, lubricating the hovercraft and operating mechanical pumps to load and discharge aviation fuel and diesel at the project sites. We helped out with many local disasters and became part of the community.
Owner of retail automotive repair business and commercial fleet maintenance business
My early years of automotive engineering took me through various areas of the motor industry from dealership, motor sport to fleet maintenance for a multi-national utility company. It was there I struggled to meet rising mortgage rates and raise a family so I set up a small business providing overnight maintenance to other fleet users.
That was successful in more than one way. Not only did it generate an income exceeding my modest salary but it won a lucrative contract to the same utility as privatisation forced the reduction of labour in favour of contractors. My former employer became my biggest customer.
I acquired additional sales and repair facilities in the form of a loss making garage business and turned that around quite quickly turning my £400 investment into a £1m business funding my motor sport interests.
Motor Sport
Fleet Management
Well there you have it, an adventurous history in international logistics ranging from shorts and mosquito repellent to pin striped suits, sub zero oil fields to delicate retail and team leadership to team leadership. Spot the common factor? For those who actually got this far you must have found it fairly interesting and hopefully now understand that there may be a difference in these roles with regard to industries but the management practice differs only slightly. It’s a versatile ability in supply chain, stock control, distribution, IT, fleet & people management that makes the recipe for a successful project. Don’t invite me if you really want to continue struggling with your problems rather than face analysis or change because I am a doer not a spectator but if you found this interesting and think I could benefit your business I’m open to interim, contract or long term opportunities. Contact John Pattison
Amongst the things I learned in so called 3rd world’s countries was the satisfaction of giving and caring. Some of the people I’ve met have left their mark on me and I’d like to think I was remembered with the same fondness. Just one of many stories of a friendship built on caring is the time when an Nigerian employee left his 7 year old son at home while he came to work. His son chopped off his fingers with a machete whilst preparing firewood for his father’s return. The hospital bill was $25 which was too much for the single parent family. I paid to have the boy treated and the bond grew from there. There are many such stories of genuine friendship built on leading from the front and integration with all levels of the workforce. Perhaps not the British way but think how successful Toyota have been with such team building theory.
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