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Chris Hallsworth, Global Category Manager,
Contracting and Procurement: Retail Engineering,
Automation and Real Estate for Shell
Frequent visitors to London will know that
there is one building on the South Bank of the
River Thames, next to the London Eye and in
front of Waterloo Station, which is extremely
difficult to ignore, especially if you happen to
be involved in the business of retail petroleum.
With 27 floors and standing 107 metres high,
towering above the thousands of tourists who
walk past it every day, the Shell Centre is an
icon in the Oil and Gas industry, but more
to the point it was where I was to meet up
with Chris Hallsworth, who after 23 years
working with Shell in various capacities, finds
himself heading up Global Contracting and
Procurement for Retail Engineering, a sector
he had only left 8 years previously, plus site
automation and real estate.
Re calling the time he was last involved with
this market, Chris comments “From 1987 to
2001 I had worked in the UK for Shell Retail,
variously managing construction, maintenance
and special projects, eventually setting up and
managing the European Engineering Hub.
This period spanned some exciting times for
Retail Engineering and a progressive move
away from local solutions to regional and global
approaches. In those days a significant part of
the job was what is now called Contracting and
Procurement and in 2001 I moved to a newly
established Global Procurement team where I
led C&P stategy development for Shell’s Global
Lubricants Business. As a development from
this in 2004 I established and led a new company
in Netherlands, Shell Lubricants Supply
Company BV, as the centre of excellence and
prime trading vehicle for Shell’s lubricant additives
requirements. After enjoying my time
in The Hague immensly I returned to the UK
in 2009 to take up my current position, back
with my alma mater, Retail.” I asked Chris if
any one thing stands out as being different to
when he last worked in this market, to which
he answered, “Many things stand out. We tend
to think of this industry as being quite slow
moving and conservative but the changes in
the 8 years I was away have been profound.
Just 3 examples are that outsourcing has moved
from tentative beginnings to being the norm,
data of all types is much more available and
robust, decision-making is based on Total Cost
of Ownership and not just acquisition cost.”
www.shell.com
Chris Hallsworth, Global Category Manager, Contracting and Procurement: Retail Engineering, Automation and Real
Estate for Shell, returning to the retail sector, after a gap of eight years, following his move to Shell lubricants.
Apart from chatting about old times, this I
felt was a good opportunity to ask Chris about
the structure of Shell’s C&P and Engineering
departments, both of which have to be
understood by suppliers should they become
involved, or potentially involved in Shell’s
retail business. Chris was quick to point out
that two Project Management Companies
(PMC’s) Coteba (headquartered in Paris)
and SKM (headquartered in Kuala Lumpur)
feature heavily in Shell’s operations around the
world, although he added “Whilst driving our
construction through PMC’s is our favoured
approach, we are not yet covered in several
emerging major markets like Russia, India or
China. The overall objective is for Shell to drive
the investment programme, standards, harmonisation,
and those elements of procurement
deemed strategic, whilst empowering selected
third parties to manage non-core activities.
Brand image, customer value proposition,
standards and safety policy and objectives
are kept tightly under our own control as
each in its own way impacts on the value of
the business.” Chris explains that the PMCs
are specialists in managing and delivering
large and complex multi-national programmes
and they coordinate the designs, regulatory
approvals, tender for building contractors and
some equipment and supervise construction.
In terms of specifying equipment and services
used on sites throughout the world Shell has
established three levels of control, which as
mentioned earlier, reflects the need to keep
An interview by Nick Needs
certain activities close to their chest. The highest
level, controlled by Shell, includes items
such as fuel dispensers, pipe work systems
and signage. The next level, controlled by the
PMC includes appointing the construction
companies and sourcing certain equipment
categories such as underground storage tanks,
canopies, shopfittings etc. The lowest level,
most often dealt with by the main contractor,
relates to essential commodities such
as perimeter lighting, electrical switchgear,
drainage items etc. Once the site is finished
the keys are handed over to Johnson Controls
Inc, who provide facilities management at the
majority of company owned sites in Europe,
Asia, Latin America and Canada.
Supporting Chris at a Global level are, Yi-Boon
Teoh (Category Manager, Design, Construction
and Real Estate), Joseph van Calster (Site
automation), Craig Robertson (Site equipment)
and Andries Nelemans ( Site maintenance).
Beyond this there are another 15 C&P professionals
working at regional and country
levels. On the subject of personnel I asked
Chris what he thought of erpec, having first
been at the event back in 1999 when it took
place in Cannes, France. He said “erpec is
ideal for me and some specific members of
the team to meet and talk with companies
on a European and global level that we don’t
usually get a chance to see”. I would expect to
see Shell represented in Barcelona next May
for erpec 2011. Thank you Chris, we look
forward to seeing you there.
SHeLL
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