Annual Report 2007 - Muehlhan AG

12
Strategy
Our goal remains: We want to be ahead of the competition.
We are aiming for the position as the world’s leading service
provider for marine surface protection. In doing so, we are
concentrating on our core strengths: The application and
restoration of corrosion-prevention coatings on steel structures.
Along the way, we have already been able to work our way into
the group of the top 5 in our market in recent years.
Whoever wants to be right at the front must be able to react
with flexibility and a clear view of the requirements of the
markets. When in doubt, processes are to be changed and
structures are to be adjusted. in 2007, Muehlhan did everything
necessary in order to keep the company on its future
course: based on the operational events, we reviewed the
organizational processes and then established new structures.
today, the Group is invigorated and can attend to
the fragmented market for surface protection even more
effectively.
Economic point of reference is
“profitable growth”
in addition to the market objectives, we orient our actions
to solid commercial key figures: We will go down the path
of growth not at any price, but with a focus on the parameters
of profitability and healthy cash flow.
our economic objective is “profitable growth”. in this manner,
we want to establish our Group as a globally present
and networked company that can support its customers
at all relevant marine locations comprehensively. in order
to achieve this objective, we make use of three strategic
levers:
1. Growth from the core business:
Development out of the core markets and regions
on the basis of our overall strategy, on the basis of
general strategic competitive advantages, and taking into
account the opportunities that the markets offer to us,
we increasingly strengthen our business from the markets,
because even though our market is global, the
laws according to which it functions are regional. our
branch offices know their customers and link us to them.
Short communications channels enable speed in the
decision-making and coordination processes. as such,
we remain close to the customer and close to the project.
our focus on the core markets ensures that we concentrate
and use our strength where the potential and development
opportunities are the greatest.
in Ship Newbuilding, we can build on long-term customer
relationships. Having been included in the production
processes as a partner over the long-term, our company
will benefit from our customers’ good backlog of orders.
their full order books through the next decade ensure a
high degree of transparency with regard to our expected
activities. We want to further increase our sales by intensifying
the existing collaborations. in addition, we will acquire
more newbuilding shipyards as customers, particularly in
the growing newbuilding market China, and thus participate
in the high sales growth rates for shipyards there.
Each ship that is currently under way as a newbuilding
on the world’s oceans represents potential business in
the field of Ship Repair after its fourth year of service.
Muehlhan’s reputation as an exacting surface protection
company is excellent, especially for the overhaul of fundamental
ship parts such as water ballast and cargo tanks.
We will use our good reputation and our excellent knowhow
in this field in order to further expand our successful
work at European repair shipyards and in the Middle