The Volvo Group has reorganized its truck business into geographic business units designed to “better utilize the global potential of the brands and products,” the company said in a release.
“The Volvo Group has seen fantastic development in the past decade and has grown into a truly global and leading player, particularly in the areas of heavy trucks, construction equipment and diesel engines,” said Olof Persson, CEO. “But a company’s work is never done and it is now time for the next step, using improved coordination between our truck companies and our development and production units to achieve even more distinct and better focus on our customers and brands.”
Sales and marketing activities will be organized into three regional units reporting directly to the CEO. Product development and production of trucks and engines will exist in two units.
“We are doing this to achieve a more agile and efficient organization with greater focus on our customers and brands,” said Persson.
The new organization will be in place as of Jan. 1, 2012.
The Volvo Group operates four brands – Volvo Trucks, Mack Trucks, Renault Trucks, and UD Trucks, each with separate marketing, sales, and brand responsibilities.
Denny Slagle, currently president of North American Trucks, will lead the new Group Trucks Sales and Marketing Americas, which will comprise all of North and South America, along with global responsibility for the Mack brand.
Group Trucks Sales and Marketing EMEA (comprising Europe, the Middle East and Africa) with global responsibility for the Volvo and Renault brands, will be directed by Peter Karlsten, currently president of Volvo Powertrain and Chief Technology Officer for the Group.
Group Trucks Sales and Marketing APAC (comprising Asia and Pacific) with global responsibility for the UD Trucks brand, will be led by Joachim Rosenberg, currently president of Asia Truck Operations, ATO.
The company is also forming the Truck Joint Ventures unit, which will be responsible for the Volvo Group’s various joint ventures around the world. Pär Östberg, currently responsible for Trucks Asia, will lead this group.
Product, purchasing and production for trucks and engines, which is currently the responsibility of Volvo 3P and Volvo Powertrain, will be organized in two new organizational units.
The Group Trucks Technology unit, led by Torbjörn Holmstöm, currently president of Volvo 3P, will focus on product planning, product development and purchasing for trucks and engines.
Global Trucks Operations will handle the production of trucks and engines and all logistics services. Mikael Bratt, currently Group CFO, will lead Global Trucks Operations.
Production, product planning and product development for the non-truck business areas will remain with their respective business areas, the company said.
In response to the changes, Volvo Group also has made a number of other personnel changes. These include:
Håkan Karlsson, currently president of Volvo Bus Corp., will become chairman of Volvo Aero, Volvo Buses and Volvo Penta and of a new business area, Governmental Sales. The head of Governmental Sales will be Stefano Chmielewski, currently president of Renault Trucks. The heads of all of these business areas will report to Håkan Karlsson, who will continue to report to CEO Olof Persson. Karlsson will also be chairman of the board of Volvo Construction Equipment.
Anders Osberg, currently head of Volvo Treasury, succeeds Mikael Bratt as new CFO. Osberg will also be responsible for Volvo Financial Services and Volvo IT.
In conjunction with the introduction of the new organization, the following changes will be made to Volvo’s Group Executive Committee:
Staffan Jufors, president of Volvo Trucks, will retire at the end of the year. Satoru Takeuchi, continues as president of the legal company UD Trucks.
Stefan Johnsson, currently responsible for HR and a number of business units, will leave the group on Dec. 31, 2012. Kerstin Renard, currently HR manager reporting to Stefan Johnsson, will assume a new position as responsible for HR reporting directly to Olof Persson.
Senior vice president communication & brand management Per Löjdquist will leave his position on June 30, 2012, but will remain as advisor until December 31, 2012, when he will retire. He will be succeeded by Mårten Wikforss, currently responsible for media relations and corporate news at AB Volvo.
Karin Falk, currently head of the NAP business unit (Non-Automotive Purchasing) is appointed head of strategy. Magnus Carlander, currently head of Volvo IT, has been appointed new CIO.
