Martinus Brandal, CEO of Aker Kvaerner, has just finished launching a new operational model for the company globally. “Making changes during periods of prosperity is vital,” he says. “Then everyone is forward looking and focused on the positive.”
As new CEO, Martinus Brandal started off by selling off Aker Kvaerner’s Pulping and Power business. Following this, Aker Kvaerner’s six operational business areas were reorganised into five global ones.
“I believe that timing is important,” he says looking back at the accomplishments of the past year.
This qualified electrician comes from a sea-faring Norwegian family, and he sailed as a ship’s electrician for two years before going ashore and taking up studies to be an engineer. After 19 years with ABB, he joined the Aker Group in 2004 and took up several board appointments before becoming CEO of Aker Kvaerner in 2006.
“The heads of the business areas are now responsible for the entire value chain – from marketing and sales all the way through to operations,” he explains. “This is a major business and mind-set change for us. We want to have a focused, efficient, market-oriented organisation in what we call a Global Business Area Operational Model. We are aiming for increased synergies, reduced costs, less bureaucracy and more operational efficiency – all of which lead to better earnings at the end of the day.”
Aker Kvaerner’s financial goals for 2009 are the driving force behind this operation. “The challenge is to bring out the dynamism; to make all the employees motivated to change their behavioural patterns.
I spend a lot of time on this, not least in those countries where the change will have the greatest impact,” explains Mr Brandal.
Bringing in the locals
Of 28 countries, seven of the ten largest now have country managers that are to be Mr/Ms Aker Kvaerner in the country and responsible for optimising the operations. Five of the seven country managers are locals: in Brazil, Australia, the USA, Canada and India, while an American is the country manager in China and a Norwegian is in charge of the Malaysian operations.
“It’s important to have local managers and local knowledge in order to understand the local market and culture,” says Mr Brandal, who spends most of his time out of the office, meeting customers, building relationships, meeting employees and motivating people.
He also believes it’s important to have an open dialogue within the company. “In such a change programme, communication and the processing of information become increasingly important and more and more difficult. As managers, we have to come up with ideas at an early stage and stay at the forefront.”
Preferred energy partner
Aker Kvaerner’s vision states that Aker Kvaerner is to be the preferred partner for projects, products and services in the energy sector. “Together with our six values, this is the cornerstone of our international operations,” states Mr Brandal.
And the already global Aker Kvaerner is becoming more and more international. Of revenue of NOK 50 billion in 2006, 35% came from the Norwegian continental shelf. Growth is now taking place in Southeast Asia, off the west coast of Africa and in the Americas (Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and Canada).
“The market has hit an historic peak. We are experiencing strong markets within all the industries we serve – and we expect this trend to continue in the next three to five years,” he says.
Technology development will continue to be a main focus area – with specific attention being paid to technology for increased oil recovery development, subsea boosting and gas compression, tubing drilling, and well intervention among other things. Much of this development work is done together with clients.
High standards
But with the position as a strong global company comes responsibility – the responsibility to set high standards.
“In a complex global business environment like ours, that’s not always easy. Our goal is to live up to our responsibility by living our values, and two areas of corporate responsibility are particularly important to us; New market entry requiring cultural understanding, and environmental protection.”
With this in mind, the company is motivated to be part of future solutions regarding for instance CO2 capture technology and biofuels.
Labour the greatest challenge
The greatest challenge, however, according to Mr Brandal, is to retain and attract the best people – a challenge encountered in all countries and cultures.
“This requires painstaking, hard work every day. I think we succeed at this and are viewed as an attractive employer. Last year we hired 4,500 employees – while 2,100 left the company of normal attrition – out of a workforce of 23,000. When recruiting and teambuilding, we often talk about how important it is to complement each other. That’s easy to say and more difficult to do,” says the 47-year-old CEO, whose natural modesty should not be misunderstood when tough and wide-ranging decisions are to be made.