Little firm grew big by giving fine service

Graham Wells is a typical modest Taranaki bloke who likes to keep his business out of the limelight.

Trouble is, his business has become such a significant contributor to the Taranaki economy that he's finding the limelight-shirking more and more difficult.

So last week he agreed to make himself available for an interview.

"I'm not too happy about this," the owner of Wells Instrument and Electrical said as we sat down for the chat.

But the Taranaki Daily News was delighted to have the opportunity to cover a business that has been in existence since 1984 and boasts a staff of more than 450 throughout New Zealand.

That's a long way removed from Graham Wells' business beginnings as an apprentice with the former New Plymouth City Council's electricity department.

Graham and his brothers Brian and David all worked for the department at the same time - he and Brian as sparkies and David as a mechanic - and once he had qualified he joined the army where he served for six and a half years.

Once he had completed his term of service, he returned to his home town where he and Brian went into business together, forming Wells Instrument and Electrical. After a couple of years Brian sold his shareholding, leaving Graham in sole charge of the business.

Graham Wells has been a big believer in building relationships with his clients, and cites this has been the major reason for his company's success.

He has been able to develop long-term relationships with clients in the petrochemical, oil and gas, dairy, and electricity and telecommunications industries, as well as electrical, gas and water utilities and retailers right around the country.

"I firmly believe that business shouldn't be about extracting as much profit as possible from projects, but about building long- term relationships," he says.

"If delivering the best service means having to jump through hoops for a particular client, then I expect my whole team to jump through hoops. It's all about providing the best possible service."

As a result, many of Wells Instrument and Electrical's business contracts have been very long-term.

For example, the company has supported Shell Todd Oil Services' instrument and electrical service for the past 15 years, and has set up and maintained New Plymouth's annual Festival of the Lights for the last seven years. Other contracts and commercial relationships have been going for 20 years.

One project Graham Wells is particularly proud of is a 1999 wiring project for flood-lighting at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth. The job had to be done in just seven weeks and the Wells people did it - installing 10km of cabling in a project that involved 22,000 man-hours.

The company won a national electrical industry award for that project, with the judges describing it as an extraordinary triumph.

That's jumping through hoops, as Graham Wells puts it.

So far, he has been a very hands-on business owner, personally getting involved in most of the company's projects and contracts. But now he's decided to pull back from that a little.

"We've developed a new management structure which is allowing me to work on, rather than in, the business," he says.

"The business has reached the size where that's the best value I can provide. I can't be all things to all people. So my role now is to work on things without being as close to the action as I have been in the past."

- © Fairfax NZ News