Saturday, July 31, 2010

News & Events

CerPro as featured in Business Excellence Magazine

Discipline and standards

CerPro Energy Services president Peter Pleskie explains to Gary Toushek why he sees his oilfield services company as a shiny, well-oiled machine accelerating with controlled growth

The lucrative Alberta oil patch is getting crowded with exploration and drilling companies seeking the liquid gold, as well as the service companies that assist them in their quest. CerPro Energy Services is one such service company; it sprouted in 2004, established in Medicine Hat by Peter Pleskie, an industry veteran, as a diverse, value focused oilfield and industrial construction company. CerPro fabricates, installs and maintains a wide range of facilities, structures and pipelines; designs and engineers when called upon, and can also manage and supervise oilfield operations. This diversity of skills and services is a key element to CerPro’s success.

A welder by trade, Pleskie is a down to earth, hands-on guy who’s always been self-employed in the construction fabrication industry, mainly putting together equipment. He started working in the oil & gas business in the late 1970s, for Alberta Energy. Then after laboring for a variety of other oil & gas service companies, mainly as an equipment fabricator, then for a short time as a construction consultant for a major company, he decided to go it on his own, gathering around him other people he’d worked with who shared his passion for quality service. “CerPro came about because I’d been involved in a few businesses like it, and I’m an older guy; I was working with some younger people who expressed interest in working with me or for me, and my reputation was for getting work done properly, with discipline, following standards.”

He started with a handful of employees and today has about 250 people, mostly in the field, and on any given day his crews are working a dozen to 15 client sites in Alberta. The company has more than doubled its revenue annually through organic growth, and currently a larger CerPro head office is being constructed in Medicine Hat to amalgamate the four smaller locations. Clients include giants such as EnCana, Compton Petroleum, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, Pengrowth Corp, and Harvest Energy.

CerPro owns about 250 pieces of oilfield equipment, all purchased new. “I buy new because I’m in it for the long haul,” says Pleskie, “there’s less money down, and the debt is extended over a longer period of time and keeps up my cash flow.” Having enough equipment is important, since oil & gas clients have difficulty forecasting the cyclical nature of the business, so he keeps tabs to make sure enough new equipment is always on order to cover any sudden spikes in activity. “That way, if the market declines, and you suddenly find your equipment parked in the yard, you can always trade-in the older machines. Having more equipment is an incentive to find more work.” Three years ago when buying equipment to get CerPro started, there was a six-month wait for certain machinery, and that forced him to look at the long term.

In a job market that currently has zero unemployment, Pleskie’s secret for keeping good people is to challenge them, pay them as much as you can afford to, and they’ll pay you back with loyalty. “I try to pay them more than the industry standard, and I’ve found that they’ll give it back with their skills and service in the long run.” Training is mandatory for newcomers, beginning with a week of classroom training. CerPro pays for the courses and for their time during training. “You wouldn’t believe the satisfaction a person shows when they’re being paid to learn. In this tight job market, I think of it as a small price to pay to get somebody to stay with you after you’ve trained them properly.” The emphasis is on safety, and CerPro has a record number of congratulatory industry citations. 

Pleskie attributes the company’s success directly to providing value for clients, which he defines as maintaining the safety and competence of his workforce, the quality of new equipment, and doing the best job possible at a competitive price. “It’s not difficult, it just takes some sacrifice in the early stages. You create a company discipline that in turn, creates value. We don’t have any major capital backing, and profit is poured back into the company. We’ve spent three years building a client base by providing reliable value, and we’re rewarded with steady work.”

He has a reputation within the industry as a trouble shooter. For example, a client might call with a unique situation at an oilfield facility that needs to be done rather quickly; he has the option of taking his engineer with him to visit the site, and can provide a turnkey solution. He admits to wearing too many hats, and he prefers spending time in the field, rather than in the office. He doesn’t think of himself as micromanaging, but he likes to achieve high levels of accomplishment. He encourages employees to speak up if they see a better solution in a situation. “There’s a saying around here: ‘There’s the right way, the wrong way, and Pete’s way’. Some people working a job have never been challenged to think, so I encourage people to think, share their skills and network their experience. To me, it’s not what you know, but how you apply it. You may feel you know enough, but it’s far more important how you think about a situation, and how you apply your knowledge to solve it. To quote a very important person, ‘there is no sense of accomplishment unless it starts out impossible.’”

Once his new facility is complete, Pleskie will solicit more fabrication, manufacturing and other complimentary work that is a good fit because a lot of the trade skills and equipment are similar. Constantly pursuing diversification and providing value complements our people and equipment.  It creates opportunities for them to learn and gain new experience and in turn expand their skills and our market share in different sectors of the industry, instead of having to lay them off. Sharing your bottom line with results based compensation with your employee’s can be very profitable.”