ANDRITZ annual report 2012 - ANDRITZ Vertical volute pumps

8
What one
has achieved
belongs to
the past
Michael Kneissler is a scientific author
and has written for numerous renowned
German publications, such as “Die
Zeit” and “Der Spiegel”. He currently
heads the editorial departments
of Gruner+Jahr’s Corporate Editors
based in Munich, which is responsible for
the journalistic section of the present
annual report. He moderated the
conversation with the ANDRITZ
Executive Board on the 2012
business year and the future
perspectives for the company.
Factory workshop M2 is 206 meters long
and 22 meters wide. It is one of the big
workshops at the ANDRITZ headquarters
in Graz, Austria, in which tailormade
machines and equipment, such
as hydropower turbines or headboxes
for pulp and paper plants, are manufactured.
On the way to the interview, the ANDRITZ
Executive Board members stop from time to time to
talk to the workers. “How are you today? Everything
OK?” one of the Executive Board members asks a
man working on a filter press. “And the equipment,
too?” Production in the workshop continues during
the interview, cranes move plant components weighing
many tons, and men in protective clothing operate
computer-aided tools for machining oversized stainless
steel parts. The working atmosphere is one of
concentration – exactly the right environment for a
meeting with the Executive Board.
You have chosen this factory workshop as the venue
for our talk today. Why are we sitting here and not in a
comfortable office or conference room?
Wolfgang Leitner: The five of us sit in our offices
less than people perhaps imagine. We spend a lot of
time traveling, visiting our customers and employees.
Since manufacturing is one of our core activities, we
have decided to come here to talk to you about the
past business year and to thank our staff for all their
efforts.
2012 was yet another successful year, wasn’t it?
Wolfgang Leitner: Our performance was satisfactory …
… sorry for interrupting you: only satisfactory? No better
than that?
Wolfgang Leitner: No – no better or worse. We did
not lose our footing, and do not wish to do so in the
future, either. The performance was satisfactory because
we were able to grow organically together with
the markets we serve and also broaden the products
and services we offer through acquisitions. We thus
consolidated our market position in all five business
areas. The bottom line is that we were able to increase
our sales and our profit. The order backlog is at a high
level and provides a solid workload. And given the
difficult economic environment, the order intake was
good, even though it did not reach the record high of
2011, when we received, after all, three large orders
with a total volume of about 1.4 billion euros.
How do you cope with these fluctuations in order intake?
Mr Hornhofer, the large capital business for the pulp
industry, for which you are responsible, is very volatile.
Of all the managers here, you must be the one who
experiences the most sleepless nights …