Glasgow based S-Tec P.M. Services was founded by Les Smyrl MSc IEng MIMarEST MBCS.
Les spent 18 years in the Merchant Navy as an engineer. Learning to use the computerised Planned Maintenance Systems (PMS) that were being introduced onboard ships was Les's introduction to computers; that introduction sparked an interest in computers that took him off to University to complete a MSc in Computer Studies. He subsequently working with several software companies that developed computerised PMS for the maritime sector as well as shipping companies using the computerised PMS.
Like many applications used throughout the business world computerised PMS are data driven, and the application's effectiveness is heavily dependant on the quality and integrity of the data held in the application's database - and with computerised PMS this was especially the case as their operation depended heavily on having the databases populated with details of the equipment to be maintained; maintenance schedules, descriptions of the maintenance to be done, detailed lists of spare parts so that the spare parts required for the maintenance could be ordered, etc.. This led to Les focusing on working with the databases used by computerised PMS.
Working with SQL to query & manipulate data, Excel VBA to extract data to spreadsheets or import data from spreadsheets, and delving into the world of programming to create tools & utilities to provide a more user friendly way of working with the data, developed a range of skills that are useful across all data driven applications.