Matthew Berwick

‘I started working at PCS in 1997. The company was much smaller, only consisting of four people, two directors (John and Clive), one office manager and myself; our two directors are still working on PCS projects to this day.

I got to know PCS when working part time at an Engineering company called Viking Precision Engineers. I was studying Electronic Engineering at Hertfordshire University and had a friend who introduced me to Viking to help manufacture PCS equipment. This is how I got to know both directors. As the company was expanding, I was then offered a job at PCS. I began working in production, later supporting, and traveling to customers to install equipment.

I found life at PCS to be a very relaxed environment. There was no feeling of hierarchy within the company, and we often socialised regularly. Although we operated in a relaxed atmosphere, we worked extremely hard to support our customers.

We started expanding again, adding more staff including PHD graduates experienced in the tribology field who had been educated at Imperial College London. PCS to this day has very good relations with Imperial.

Having people who are engineers and tribologists, I feel PCS has helped me to understand many aspects of the how the instruments work for our customers, enabling me to give quality support. We all have mixed expertise to call upon and that’s been invaluable. If I do not know the answer, everyone will always make time to give advice.

Most of my PCS journey has been consumed by the HFRR (High Frequency Reciprocating Rig), our instrument that tests diesel fuels. In the early years of PCS, the HFRR had just become a standard diesel fuel test method and orders were beginning to slowly increase. As further test methods were later implemented for the USA and China, orders started to massively increase, meaning I’ve concentrated on the HFRR from production, support, and installations; I am still very much involved with the HFRR instrument.

It has been a pleasure to develop good working relationships with our customers and some relationships are as long as my time at PCS.

Working life at PCS has been very good for me, this is where I met my amazing wife and we have been married for 16 years. All of PCS were invited to the wedding. I have built many good friendships inside of PCS, old and new.

We are now a much bigger company than when I started 27 years ago. It’s been a pleasure working for PCS and credit must be given to both directors on how they ran the company, making it a great place to work at. This is why we have a lot of employees that have decided to stay for such a long time. With our new CEO, Steven Horder guiding us into the future, I look forward to carrying on the amazing journey.’