Celebrating Milestones At Cokebusters Technology Centre

In the year that Cokebusters turns 20, there have been and will be many other milestones to celebrate within the team including long service awards, promotions and significant birthdays.  Last week our Chairman and Founder, John Phipps MBE, turned 70 and we couldn’t let the moment pass without gathering everyone together to share an enormous celebratory birthday cake!

A Milestone Birthday for Our Founder

John was 50 when he established Cokebusters back in 2005 and had already been very active in the niche world of mechanical cleaning, or “pigging” as it was commonly known, for over a decade.  He had spent his 40s travelling the world from oil refinery to oil refinery being very hands on as an operator in the chair of the early Pumping Units, building relationships with clients and gaining experience in the field.

This meant time away from home and family – a first-hand experience which means John understands the lifestyle implications travel has for our operators who often miss out on significant events at home and leave wives and partners to do the lion’s share of the family labour in their absence.  He has always expressed sincere gratitude to operators and their families for all their effort and sacrifice.

Founding Cokebusters was a courageous move, but John knew there was a great deal of growth to come in the sector.  From the outset Cokebusters introduced and patented a new design of scraper pig which revolutionised site performance; cleaning tubes quicker and more thoroughly.  His next focus was to make progress with the inspection technology.

John Phipps and his daughter Victoria at the NPRA San Antonio in 2006, less than a year after he founded Cokebusters

A key selling point for Cokebusters has always been the “combined service” of mechanical cleaning AND inspection of tubes and pipelines, which remains a rare offering to clients today.  The Intelligent Pig was still in its infancy back then, but thanks to consistent investment in research and development the technology had come on leaps and bounds over the past 20 years and the capability of the 3rd and 4th generation of Cokebusters Smart Pigs is staggering.

From humble beginnings in Hawarden, North Wales Cokebusters now also operates out of Houston TX with further expansion on the horizon.

It is thanks to John’s strategic focus and leadership that Cokebusters has become a leader in its field and looking forward the company continues to grow and diversify to meet changing client needs in the global energy sector.

John was very pleased with his cake and took the opportunity to talk a little about the bright future ahead for Cokebusters, thanking the team for all they do for the company.  He commented the last time he received such a cake was for his “retirement” 5 years ago, which is still a work in progress!

The birthday boy cutting his cake alongside the Janets – Mottrom and Sandford.

We wish John a very happy 70th birthday!

Honouring Long Service and New Talent

Alongside John’s birthday celebration, was a long service award for our Master Welder – Simon Taylor, who has been at the company for 15 years.  Increasingly the UK Technology Centre is becoming the hub of innovation and manufacturing and quality fabrication of machinery and tooling is vital to the success of the company.

John was very pleased to present Simon with his long service award and a small gift from the company in gratitude.

Our new NDT Development Manager, Dr Chris Peyton also had a big birthday turning 30 recently!  Having originally joined us back in 2023 as part of a KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) with the University of Strathclyde, Chris has now taken on a permanent role and we’re delighted he’s decided to stay!  Director of Technology, Nick Bettley, was pleased to pass on a birthday gift from the company.

Celebrating the People Behind Our Success

As we head into our busiest season for operations and to a certain extent it’s “all hands on deck”, it’s easy to let these milestones slip by without any fuss.  However as Cokebusters expands, we feel it’s increasingly important to celebrate the people behind the company who each play an important role to make it the success that it is.