Alfa Laval Reveals New Identity - New Direction for Historic Swedish Company

Alfa Laval Reveals New Identity - New Direction for Historic Swedish Company Swedish multi-national engineering company Alfa Laval - a world leader in separation, heat transfer and fluid handling - today revealed a new global visual identity. The new identity is symbolic of changes, which the company is making to its organizational structure and market philosophy. CEO Sigge Haraldsson: 'We are actually introducing a totally new company, founded in 1883. Our core competencies remain the same: heating, cooling, separation and fluid handling. Rather than providing single products we'll make it easier for our customers to work with us. Therefore, we have re-engineered the way we organise our business, adding a much stronger customer focus summarised in our new identity and corporate mission: "To optimise the performance of our customers' processes. Time and time again". Alfa Laval was acquired by Industri Kapital from Tetra Laval in August 2000, a deal which is the largest Scandinavian leveraged buy out transaction to date. With new owners and a new board Alfa Laval is re- engineering itself for further growth, with a view to a possible public listing within a three to five year period. A new company structure, based on ten customer segments, has been created. The aim is to add further value to customers by offering highly customised solutions and an even higher service level, a process that began in early 1998. 'We now have a greater opportunity to build on dynamic expertise within each customer segment, and offer customers total solutions. Contact with Alfa Laval will also be made simpler for the customers. Before, they may have had three different contact routes, whereas in the future it will be just one', says Sigge Haraldsson. 'While decentralising sales, we are centralising key areas such as purchasing, production, logistics and IT. We are also applying our shared service concept, which entails joint administrative services between several units. This not only reduces costs, but makes it easier to co- ordinate and develop our core competencies and release the administrative burden.' According to Alfa Laval, the benefits of the new structure are already beginning to show through in its performance in 2000. 'Orders received rose 16%, ending at 1,818 million Euro. The aggregate profit (EBITA) was 135 million Euro, an improvement of 31% from 1999 (103). I'm very satisfied that all business areas and business segments have contributed to the improvements, Sigge Haraldsson says. Alfa Laval is a leading provider of specialised products and engineering solutions. The company provides services to a vast array of blue chip clients including BASF; Bayer; BPAmoco; Cargill; Coca-Cola; Du Pont; Heineken; Nestlé; Tetra Pak and Unilever. The new identity, which was created by international design consultants Landor, will be promoted by an advertising campaign in national and business media in Sweden on March 14 2001, with a global rollout to follow. The advertising was created by Stockholm based agency Ehrenstråhle & Co. Notes to the editor Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialised products and engineering solutions. Our equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimising the performance of their processes. Time and time again. We help them heat, cool, separate and transport products such as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuff and pharmaceuticals. Our worldwide organisation works closely with customers in almost 100 countries to help them stay ahead. Further information can be found at www.alfalaval.com For further information please visit: http://uk.alfalavalpress.dk or contact: Peter Torstensson Vice President Corporate Communications, Alfa Laval Tel: 046 - 36 72 31 peter.torstensson@alfalaval.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/09/20010309BIT00530/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/09/20010309BIT00530/bit0001.pdf