Business milestones of growth and development
Matthew began by sharing the development of the business over the last 35 years: “Centre Tank Services (CTS) has now been established for 35 years and over those years there have been significant turning points for the company. These points have helped the company grow more and more and resulted in us becoming one of the UK’s leading suppliers for fuel dispensing, storage tank, lubrication and AdBlue equipment.
“CTS was established in 1987 by my father, Mike Terry, along with a business partner, initially to sell products such as brass fittings and pipeware.
“A key milestone happened for us in 1989. After seeing Piusi at Mostro Convegno in Milan, Italy, CTS became the exclusive distributor for Piusi products in the UK!”
Matthew expands on that initial meeting with Piusi: “Our first involvement with Piusi was a chance meeting at an overseas exhibition. They were leading with a small aluminium trigger nozzle, known in today’s market as a Self 2000 nozzle. A couple of years later, CTS was appointed as Piusi’s Exclusive UK Agent, and we have worked closely on product developments since then. Funnily enough, we’ve sold a lot of Self 2000 nozzles since the first chance meeting we had 30 plus years ago!
“We are also a master distributor and stockist of other industry-leading brands. One being Husky, a manufacturer of fuelling products for both forecourt and commercial, and another, Goldenrod, which is a filtration brand.
“In 1998, we joined the Flowmax Group, the holding group in the fluid handling industry, and we are still part of Flowmax today. We were the third company to join Flowmax and the group now consists of 15 companies in both the UK and overseas.”
In 2013, after 15 years of working at CTS as a commercial director, Matthew Terry, took over from his father, Mike Terry, becoming the new managing director and beginning a new chapter for the business.
The CTS head office
In 2010, CTS purchased the unit next door to the company’s existing space resulting in increased office space and the doubling of warehouse capacity to 14,000sq ft. allowing over 2000 product lines to be stocked.
Matthew explained why they are so pleased with their current setup: “The CTS head office is based in a central location in Birmingham, UK. We are close to all major motorway networks, and this enables us to service our UK-wide customer base easily.
“We trade out of two units which total over 14000 square feet. Pre-pandemic, we invested in a ‘build, development, test’ centre. This allows us to deal with the ever-growing demand of our OEM customer base. It also gave us the opportunity to further develop our own CTS branded products: the Tank Alarm range and the Recirculation Unit, which we recently exhibited in the Middle East.
“Exhibiting in the Middle East was a new step for us, but we are committed to international trade to try and do as well as we have done in the UK, and we feel well set up for that.”
Investing in the team and growing the business
The team at CTS appreciate the importance and value of staff within a business as Matthew confirms: “We invest in people heavily. One example is Gurdeep Lakhanpal, who you may know in the industry. He joined us in 2014 in the technical department and, 8 years on, he is now the CTS sales manager. It shows that the business has a good technical depth in the sales department, and that spans across the whole sales team who have the technical knowledge to support our customer base.
“There are those who may not be aware that CTS is actually a group of companies. In 2012 we acquired a pump company called Castle Pumps, and in 2018 we ventured further into the pump market and acquired a company called Whisper Pumps. Being part of a group also offers opportunities for our current team members.
“Michelle Jackson is an example of this. She’s been with us 10 years, starting as a marketing assistant, and is now the CTS group marketing manager and looks after all three companies. Acquisition is still firmly in our minds, as we look to acquire further companies over the next 2 to 5 years, so it’s an exciting time for CTS and the CTS group of companies.”
35 years in business
“I just want to thank our customers; the loyal customers that have been with us from the start, new customers that are joining every day, our principal suppliers who supported us all along this journey and, more important than ever, our brilliant employees from the start of the business in 1987 to the present day,” Matthew concluded. “I believe all the way through my time at CTS we have always had an extremely strong team.
“A thank you to all involved, we couldn’t be happier to be celebrating our 35th anniversary.”
Fuel Oil News wishes Matthew, along with the whole team at Centre Tank Services, a very happy 35th anniversary and looks forward to following their future progress!
