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LANDSKRONA, Sweden — Haldex posted the following corporate update on its website:
The 24 months that have passed since executive vice president Mr. Stephan Kulle joined Haldex has proven probably even more hectic than even he expected; not only has the world been struggling with Coronavirus, but the company has also made some structural changes. Now, as the pandemic subsides in Europe, he outlines the Haldex strategy and situation.
“Corona has changed our priorities,” Mr. Kulle admits. At the commercial vehicle brake and suspension tier one OEM – and in the market generally – one megatrend has risen to the top: e-mobility. As a result, Haldex is accelerating development of its EMB, Electro-Mechanical Brake, which uses electrical signals rather than air pressure to slow even heavy commercial vehicles. Not only is the device faster than air brakes, and so offers a safety benefit, it also does away with the need for a power-sapping compressor on an electric vehicle platform.
Haldex-VIE has signed an agreement on pre-series production with a Chinese bus manufacturer – with several other bus manufacturers in that market evaluating the technology with prototype installations. And in Europe, two major truck OEMs have also been trialing the system. There were a few winter tests, Mr. Kulle reports, and now demonstration vehicles are also being prepared for further pre-launch trials.
Related post:
Strategy Update from Haldex
During the Coronavirus lockdown, as people have been prevented from travelling to meet physically, they found other means of connection, including e-learning and video conferencing. So too Haldex, which is building on this trend by developing more e-learning for fleets and customers, particularly in the premium segment. “One learning from Corona was the need to have a more digital discussion with customers, so we will focus on this in future,” Mr. Kulle adds.
That training, including technical and product content, has also been extended internally to sales staff along with coaching. That was part of an internal shift to a new matrix organization for key account (customer) management, which should improve the experience of customers now and in future. “We have done a lot, and used the Corona time to do this,” Mr. Kulle observes.
Meanwhile, new faces have come in at the very top of Haldex. They include a new CEO, Jean-Luc Desire, who took over in June from Helene Svahn. He has 20 years’ experience in the automotive industry, latterly from tier one supplier Tenneco.
New board of directors appointees also bring with them deep automotive experience. They include deputy chairman of the board Hakan Karlsson, former CEO of Volvo Bus; Detlef Borghardt, previously CEO of axle OEM SAF-Holland; Dzeki Mackinovski, formerly of Volvo and Knorr-Bremse; and Catharina Modahl Nilsson, formerly of Scania and Traton.
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States Mr. Kulle: “With these changes, we are increasing the sustainability of our organisation and focusing on business. We have experience now in management that helps a lot.”
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