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The story behind Ib Andresen Industri is very much one of a successful entrepreneur in modern industrial society. Over time, civil engineer Ib Andresen purposefully developed his technical expertise and his business acumen to the stage when in 1967 he founded the company Ib Andresen Industri.
As a former lieutenant at Holmen Naval Base in Copenhagen, he was very aware of the importance of working towards defined goals. After the Navy, Ib Andresen spent ten years abroad. He spent periods studying in England and Germany and then began work for the American machine manufacturer Cincinnati Inc., initially in the USA and then in Scotland, where he worked for the company's Scottish subsidiary.
Then, as now, Cincinnati Inc. manufactured machine tools for the steel industry, and the company gained a new customer with the founding of Ib Andresen Industri. The new company's business area was, and remains to this day, the processing of steel and metals, and its role was, and still is, to act as a subcontractor. The company began with four employees and a few hundred square metres of premises. Today, approximately 600 employees have approximately 100,000 m² at their disposal.
During the intervening period, the company has grown continually. In the company's early years, production doubled annually, so that by the early 1970s the company already had 20 employees. A few years later, Ib Andresen Industri introduced the coil concept, whereby the company could store its customers' steel coils and then cut them and deliver them according to its customer's current needs. In 1976, the company introduced roll forming, and within 12 months demand and production had grown to the extent that the department moved to an independent factory.
During the 1980s, the company was one of the first to introduce employee-activated production development. Gradually, more and more businesses began to realise that their staff had the key to increased productivity, and at Ib Andresen Industri the management has always placed great emphasis on generating commitment and involvement amongst the company's staff. We still do.
During the subsequent years, the company also worked to improve its competitiveness, an initiative which proved to be particularly important during the 1990s. During the following decade, the company began to strive to internationalise its operation. Today, exports account for nearly 50 % of the company's turnover of approximately DKK 1,5 billion.
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