Business

In Conversation With...

Issue 88

Tony Wells, CEO at Merit

What were your career ambitions growing up?

Growing up I wanted to race Formula 1 or fly fighter jets in the RAF but somehow, I ended up being an Electrical Controls Engineer at British Steel. In fact, British Steel was a great first step into the world of work and an exciting place to train and be an engineer.

Tell us about your current role, and what are you most enjoy?

I enjoy my role as CEO of Merit now more so than any other time in my professional career.

In 2015 I realised that something had to change in the continuous Groundhog Day of the construction industry, so I announced to the then Merit management team that whatever we did in the past, we won’t be doing moving forward. This effectively destroyed our business model, but the path ahead meant we would stay relevant as a business, developing something entirely new and exciting.

Like with all uncharted waters, choosing the difficult and long-term path to develop a unique platform design for disruptive innovation was not an easy decision, and I certainly received some raised eyebrows. But for those that followed me on this exciting path towards disruptive innovation have never looked back.

Reinventing the business from the ground up meant we could embrace change rather than hide from it, from technological innovations in the digital manufacturing process, to greater investment in research and development.

Today, the product development we do, the constant evolution of our systems, learning new things every day, means this is without a doubt the most enjoyable time in my career – we finally have a successful company with a ‘start-up’ feel.

What is your proudest business achievement?

I don’t like the word proud, so I’ll replace this with ‘happiest’.

The easiest answer would be to say winning Northeast company of the year in 2018, because that was pretty special. We won that award based on a business model that we were in the process of destroying and reinventing, and therefore deciding to have the courage and commitment to go our own way with the development of a bespoke integrated platform design for construction is the thing I personally feel happiest about.

How has your industry evolved in the last decade and what changes did you see in the next decade?

On a global scale, the construction industry is famous for ineffectively fighting change for decades, if not centuries. It stubbornly refuses to reinvent itself into a manufactured product-based approach believing itself to be unique, and that all buildings are different when that clearly is not the case.

Across the world, construction has failed to integrate digital technologies and automation into its delivery model, and unlike every other industry, it is becoming more labour-intensive, not less. This has led to stagnation in productivity growth and with it, unaffordability of construction projects.

We at Merit, are endeavouring to make an abrupt and transformational change in the way that we deliver new building projects. Industrialised construction has been talked about by scholars and government for decades, and it is now our commitment to make this happen finally.

So although the last 10 years in the construction industry look identical to the decades before, we hope that the next 10 years will be entirely unrecognisable, defined by efficiency and innovation that will also ensure a zero carbon ethos across the sector.

What are you currently working on?

We currently have multiple products being developed in parallel, making this an incredibly exciting time for Merit. We spend 12 times the construction industry average on research and development, and this allows for huge opportunities for productivity improvement and innovation.

We are currently expanding one of our factories and planning not just the next expansion of Factory Two, but future factories as our new business model gains traction.

Productivity is a hugely useful measure for our success, sitting at the core of all of our decision-making, so producing a delivery model that creates ten times productivity growth is our ultimate goal.

Net zero also remains a key driver for us and our clients and is something we are looking to further refine this year. Through intelligent use of new technologies, renewables, heat pumps and heat recovery systems, we are producing zero-carbon emission, high-tech, facilities, but our approach goes one step further in to embodied carbon, too. By manufacturing offsite, we are minimising the carbon footprint associated with travel and material logistics, and this year we’re aiming to lower these emissions even more.

Tell us about the team you work with?

When developing a new business model in an industry that has not changed for decades, it is difficult to find people with a similar vision. We have therefore leaned less into the imperative of decades of experience, to focus on hiring happy, proactive, intelligent people with integrity.

This means Merit has an incredibly diverse team, with a highly successful apprenticeship program in place, hiring 20 new apprentices this year alone. We employ 57 graduates, nearly ten times more than in the last five years. Whatever we did in the past is being challenged and reinvented – it’s an exciting place to work and great fun, too.

What is the best peace of business advice you have ever been given?

My Austrian boss from my Siemens days was both the scariest guy I’ve worked for and the best guy I’ve worked for. He said to me, “Good people, you look after, bad people, you fire immediately.” I’m not sure that is the most politically correct statement that I have ever heard but it has certainly stayed with me!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

The great thing about working at Merit right now is that I have no idea what I’ll be doing in 10 years. It will entirely depend on how successful we are at reinventing the construction industry through digital manufacturing. That change is within our gift and will determine the answer to my future.

Fundamentally, as long as my family and the business are happy and healthy, everything else is a bonus.

Who would be your for ideal dinner, guests, dead or alive?

Ayrton Senna would be someone I would’ve loved to have had a conversation with. Business wise, although also not around today, I’ve watched a lot of Clayton Christensen and his thoughts on disruptive innovation would be incredibly interesting to hear over dinner. Sheck Exley’s Cave Diving exploits would definitely grasp my attention. If had to pick someone who is still alive then Elon Musk would be right up there.

How do you unwind outside work?

Outside of work, I race European Le Mans series sport cars which is great fun and a privilege. I enjoy spraying champagne on the podium and collecting the occasional trophy!

I’ve also Scuba dived since 1989, although my days of dry suit diving in the North Sea have long since passed! I much prefer tropical warm water with hopefully plenty of wreck diving if available.

Favourite book and box set?

In terms of books, on the business side, I like Robert Ringer – his book “Winning Through Intimidation”, which I will emphasise is not about intimidating to win but winning in spite of intimidation.

On more recreational topics, my favourite book is “Caverns measureless to man“, by Sheck Exley, which is just the most amazing cave diving book. Undoubtedly the world’s best cave diver, Sheck’s ability to maintain self-control under the most difficult circumstances is incredible. Unfortunately, breaking records whilst cave diving is never going to end well, and your heart is in your mouth whilst reading about some of the near-death experiences along that journey.

On box sets, Boston Legal is one I would recommend – hilariously funny, but lots of innovative problem-solving at the same time.

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