DAMPA_75_years_of_quiet_design_ENG - Flipbook - Page 202
Jens C. Magelund retired in 2004 and his successor was
Lars Østergaard, aged 38, whose previous experience was
as managing director of the roofing company Dansk Eternit
Holding. At DAMPA, he struggled to achieve profitability and
was replaced by Chicago Metallic in 2006 by one of its own
directors, Susan Wilson, who decided to close the Boxtel
plant and to move all of its machinery to Tommerup. Moving
production was, however, a complicated process as the
Tommerup factory was organised to produce large volumes
of limited ranges of standardised products, whereas the
Boxtel plant had made mostly bespoke ceiling designs, tailored for each customer. At Tommerup, it initially proved
challenging to meet the requirements for tailored designs –
but in the longer term it was beneficial for greater flexibility to
be introduced.
With hindsight, the integration was for DAMPA the beginning
of a significant change from being a traditional production-driven manufacturer, which sought customers for its
standard outputs, into one that was increasingly market-driven, making products that could be modified according to customers’ desires.
202
