Profile: Tim Bentley

WALKING into the foundry at William Cook Rail is like stepping back in time.

“It’s very industrial revolution isn’t it?” says managing director Tim Bentley. “It’s like a dark satanic mill.”

It’s eerily quiet when we walk round on a cold Friday morning - staff work a four-day week - which adds to the haunting atmosphere.

The Leeds foundry is where the company makes castings for its rail systems. Induction ovens melt the metal, which is then poured into the moulds. “It’s a very old process but the sophistication is in the metallurgy,” Bentley explains.

Castings are then moved to the highly-skilled machine shop to iron out any defects.

William Cook Rail, which is part of the £60m William Cook Holdings group owned by Sir Andrew Cook, manufactures complete rail systems for bogies, couplers, drawgear assemblies and brake discs for the world’s trains.

The site used to primarily make castings for drilling equipment for the oil and gas markets but following the prolonged downturn in those industries, the company decided to refocus on rail instead. It has invested £10m in new machinery and buildings and increased the size of its skilled workforce to more than 100 people.

The family-owned business is currently 80 per cent rail, exporting most of its output to train manufacturers, including Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens, in France, Spain, Germany, the US, and Poland.

The firm has a growing coupler workshop, which manufactures and overhauls coupler systems for both passenger and freight trains and currently turns over £2.5m a year.

Although sales in the rail business are increasing and total turnover is expected to rise by 20 per cent from £12m to £15m this year, the firm made a £2m pre-tax loss last year due to the oil and gas situation.

Bentley, 51, was brought in last June to turn around the fortunes of the business and make it profitable by focusing on rail. “It’s a big loss for a company of this size which is why you need the Andrew Cooks of this world to have belief and confidence in it,” he says.

Bentley spent most of his career designing, building and servicing trains by working his way up the career ladder at Alstom. He was instrumental in doubling the size and profitability of its Mainline business over five years.

He recently spent two years living in Sydney and working as group commercial director for the rail division at Australian engineering firm Downer, which designs, builds and services trains.

The married father-of-three returned to the UK last year and was headhunted to William Cook Rail. “I came to look round and I was compelled by Sir Andrew Cook and the firm’s capability,” he says.

Bentley’s short term goal for William Cook Rail is to maintain and survive and then prepare the business for growth. “We see the rail industry as a good source of growth because more trains are being bought around the world than ever before as populations increase,” he says. “The US market is also a focus for us.”

He adds: “It is a hugely competitive market and it has forced the price of trains down significantly over the last decade. We have to compete on quality and technical excellence as well as be cost competitive.”

The turnaround of William Cook Rail is no mean feat and made more difficult, according to Bentley, by the lack of support for UK manufacturers from procuring authorities.

The UK does not have a national champion train-builder and all new trains are imported, making it difficult for the firm to enter the supply chain.

The Government set up the Rail Supply Group, which aims to strengthen the capability and competitiveness of the UK rail supply chain. But, according to Bentley, the strategy is flawed.

“There is a responsibility on the part of the procuring authorities to make sure there is a strong local manufacturing content in train manufacturing. We need clear and firm, contractual action,” he says.

“We had a very smart guy from HS2 turn up and he presented the case for how they were going to buy the best train on the planet but would not specify UK manufacturing content. He said they would encourage it but not demand it.

“My view is that unless you dictate it, you won’t get it.”

He adds: “We compete on a global basis, yet for trains travelling between Leeds and Manchester, we can’t get a look-in, even with all the talk about the Northern Powerhouse and encouraging local jobs.”

Skills is a key focus for William Cook Rail. It is addressing the issue through its apprenticeship scheme and also recently employed its first female engineer.

Bentley says he gets a kick out of working with clever engineering types to make things. “I like setting ambitious targets and getting a group of people to work out how we’re going to achieve those goals,” he says. “If you set people little challenges, nothing changes but with huge challenges they have to work in a completely different way.”

Born and brought up in Manchester, Bentley was the son of a railway engineer. He says he didn’t set out with an ambition to join the rail industry but after studying engineering at university, he fell into the world of trains.

He has lived in Hong Kong, Italy and Sydney but the family has always had a base in Manchester.

In his spare time he plays the guitar after teaching himself in Australia. “Left to my own devices I’d play Noel Gallagher every time,” he says. “I’m a legend in my own bedroom.”

Fact File

Title: Managing director of William Cook Rail

Date of birth: October 15, 1965

Education: Mechanical engineering degree at the Bradford University; MBA at Warwick University

First job: Paper round

Favourite holiday destination: New York

Favourite film: Class of 92

Favourite song: Slide Away, by Oasis

Last book read: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari

Car driven: Audi Q5

Best advice received: Make decisions

Most proud of: My family