Journey

1974

I first worked alongside my life-long friend Eddie Delaney, and fellow founder of Enigin PLC in 1974 against a background of surging oil prices and the government backed ‘Save It’ campaign. It was also the year that an RSA (of which I am a fellow member) report examined the use of energy resources, pre-dating popular modern concerns about the environment. Eddie is a very astute businessman and one of the most genuine, caring people I have ever met. A business is really about people more than products and things. While Enigin PLC may be a relatively new company it has deep roots.

1982

Having made the decision to diversify into the energy saving business, I commissioned the installation of the very first, ‘Digistat’ microchip based energy saving controller within the UK, originally developed by American Stabilis, which was my initial introduction to a new ‘emerging’ industry that would ultimately lead me to where I am today. Following hundreds of successful installations these became a benchmark for a new generation of digital energy management systems. I believed then, as I do today, that you have to constantly innovate to remain at the forefront.

1986

Many people in the UK will remember the “SAVE IT” campaign of the seventies. In 1986 the Government launched a similar campaign entitled ‘Get More For Your Monergy’ – a clever play on the words money and energy.

To coincide with this campaign I engaged the services of a national promotional company and embarked on a “fuel Saving Crusade’ which caught the attention of national TV. This co-coordinated effort included a massive poster campaign in every major city and town within the UK, mobile “poster’ trucks (as shown in the picture) in support of locallised exhibitions and seminars, all of which were planned to augment the Governments energy awareness campaign. At Enigin we place great importance on marketing and we have various PR campaigns to help both distributors and end-user customers alike, develop their corporate ‘green’ image.

1987

Amongst the companies that sought to benefit from the increasing demand for energy saving products, Smiths Industries launched a great new product via their Environmental Controls division called the Centroller 3000. Although Smiths apparently have a tradition of never producing products unless they carry the ‘Smiths’ brand, the National Sales Director of the division decided to break the mold of this 100-year-old company and, allegedly for the first time in the history of the company, agreed to the exclusive ‘own branding’ and nationwide distribution of the Centroller 3000 marketed as the “FuelBoss Envoy” – Why? At the time my company FuelBoss Ltd accounted for 25% of all their Centroller sales and they were seeking to secure the potential long-term. At Enigin we have been able to build on solid relationships with technology partners to ensure we can deliver the most efficacious energy saving products on the planet.

Above is a picture we used as part of the marketing material at the time. What few people know is that the beautiful little girl in the picture is my daughter Lana, who is now married to Enigin’s Sales Director Ben Willcocks.

1991

Having been introduced to the concept of ac Induction motor control by the late Colin Rowe in the late eighties, 1991 saw the culmination of many years development of the world’s first and then only truly intelligent single phase AC motor controller. The principles of controlling voltage and power factor by phase angle control had been well established by NASA, however the potential had never been fully capitalised because of the need for engineers to arbitrarily ‘set’ the savings on each installation on-site – hence we developed a new ‘dynamic’ motor controller. Originally codenamed ‘Electromiser’ this was subsequently launched under the PowerBoss brand and became the forerunner in a range of intelligent fixed speed motor controllers, that were ultimately sold commercially to Cadbury’s Schweppes, Coca Cola, Gillette, Hitachi, Jaguar and numerous other blue chip companies. Enigin’s iMEC range provides solutions for both variable and fixed speed applications, covering the vast amount of motors in daily use.

1992

With a mission to deliver turn-key motor control solutions to a waiting global market, I was primarily instrumental in the formation of Somar Environmental Systems Ltd, of which I was a founder, director and shareholder (later to become Somar International Ltd). I put together the initial team responsible for the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of the new PowerBoss product.

Early success was achieved following an Energy Audit undertaken by ETSU, which led to negotiating terms and coordinating the installation of over 4000 motor controllers across 600 sites, for the UK national chain of Dillons Convenience Stores on behalf of one of the distributors I had appointed and trained personally.

1995

The real difficulty came in transferring the complex control algorithms utilised within the single phase to a range of three-phase industrial motor controllers. This was ultimately achieved in conjunction with Professor Peter Unsworth and The British Technology Group – achieving what many said, “can’t be done”. Interestingly this was also the year that Enigin’s Marketing Director, Troy Wrigley and Commercial Director, Tim McMahon began working together in the technology division.

1996

Because I had an early background in microprocessor based heating management systems, I seized the opportunity to actualise a new range of ‘Genesis’ solutions for the UK market. Many of these control systems were successfully installed to high acclaim in numerous diverse applications, including British Rail. One of the proposed evolutions of the Eniscope is that is will soon be monitoring not just the electricity used by client companies but also gas, oil and water which are often used to heat buildings.

However of much more relevance to Enigin is the fact that this was also the year I conceptualised the EnergyMaps program, which ultimately became the reason I divested of my interests in Somar (apart from the opportunity to work more closely with family). The main rationale for EnergyMaps was to make it easier for both distributors and customers to do business in an environment where everything would be transparent and the client could see exactly what was happening… in other words Eniscope, which is the first component of the EnergyMaps program which made the otherwise invisible now visible.

1998

To some extent writing, presenting and producing of ‘Winning More Customers’ for Richmond Training, was a slight deviation although I was delighted to learn it was hailed as “the ultimate formula for boosting sales”. The programme covers every aspect of customer acquisition from initial enquiry through to completion. The programme was ‘sold’ commercially to over one hundred companies, who then utilised it as an in-house training facility; including Barclays Bank plc, MacDonald Hotels plc, Norwich Union (now known as Aviva), British Glass, Tuffnells Parcels, Anglo Group plc… to name but a few. Because the examples used as part of the training sequences are based on selling an energy saving product, this programme now forms the bedrock for the training of all Enigin Partners and Sales Consultants.

2004

Enigin Sales Director Ben Willcocks embarked on a significant career change from financial services, where he had enjoyed conspicuous success with HSBC. He obviously made the right move…while banking is in turmoil, the energy saving business is booming! Ben also relished the opportunity to work as International Business Manager alongside both Troy Wrigley and Tim McMahon. The ensuing success, of which they were major contributors, resulted in the company receiving several prestigious awards. Interestingly it was also the year that Enigin’s first employee, Lindsey Davis, ran the international sales office for LASER when their product was chosen, against stiff competition, for the 2008 Olympics. Lindsey is now the Facilities Manager at Southview Head Office, which houses the thirty strong Enigin team.

2006

Enigin was legally incorporated as a Public Limited Company, and the fledgling organisation moved into new offices in the cathedral city of Truro. At the same time the company also created a presence in the Chrysler Building New York to further support our USA activities.

Troy Wrigley, Ben Willcocks and Tim McMahon left their lucrative secure employment in an established energy saving company to form part of the strategic team that would spearhead the Enigin Solution namely; Eniscope, augmented by our burgeoning range of load-side products that included iMEC, LESS, ACES & CUES.

Considerable work was directed into the development of various powerful business tools and web-applications to ensure only the highest levels of training, development and support were given to all Enigin partners and staff.

In the following year we were so impressed with the quality of work being achieved by one of our external software providers that we bought the company Monstervision outright, to bring the development work ‘in-house’. Enigin has a dedicated research and development team working on several new and very exciting innovative energy saving products and solutions.

2010

Never allowing the grass to grow under our feet, the Company moved twice since inception to cope with the inevitable expansion and now reside comfortably, in brand new offices on the St Austell Enterprise Park, with adjoining land to accommodate further expansion. We have numerous partners across the globe enjoying excellent success by taking our ethical, triangulated approach to energy management with both Eniscope and the most efficacious load-side products available on the Planet.

With the Directors firmly at the helm the expanded Strategic Management Team at Enigin is now able to boast a wealth of business experience from a team of real professionals, which includes: Andrew Booth – Operations & Finance Manager, Ken Cheyne – Head of Research & Development, Ed Raynham – Head of Software Development and Steve Hill – Media Manager, all of whom work to provide support to partners, distributors and customers through their respective teams.

At the 2010 NEMEX ‘Sustainability Live’ exhibition we were able to officially showcase our latest Real-time and Analytics software alongside our brand new Renewable Energy Public Display… all of which attracted overwhelming interest from major organizations and smaller business alike…