But he is also keen to stress that there is much to learn from the process Automotive has been through.
"You've really got to know what you're doing when you put a business up for sale. We employees felt that there wasn't sufficient understanding for the fact that the automotive industry is extremely concerned with predictability and reliability. When a subcontractor's future is shrouded in uncertainty, the customer puts his foot down. And no new orders come in. This is exactly what we experienced, and it naturally leads to a lot of uneasiness," states Hall.
"Then there's another aspect. A sales process drains the organization of resources. Much of the work done in obtaining documentation has to be carried out locally, and this tends to have a negative impact on production," he adds.
Employees find new jobs
As a union man, and one of two employee representatives on the board of Aluminium Structures at Raufoss, Hall believes that he had good access to information relating to a potential sale. He is also a member of Hydro's corporate assembly.
"I think that the other union reps were also reasonably satisfied with the information they obtained during the process. For the remaining employees it was rather different, as some of the information was confidential. The uncertainty easily leads to speculation about scenarios that are worse than they need be. In such a situation some employees apply for new jobs and we lose people. This is one of the serious aspects of what we've been through," emphasizes Hall.
Job satisfaction
But now the picture looks different. Six months after Hydro decided to continue to develop its Automotive business, Hall says he considers his most important task as employee representative is to help promote understanding for the fact that Hydro really is serious about concentrating on this business area.
"In-house surveys reveal that the employees are happy at their work; the working environment is good and they see challenges in their jobs. But uncertainty about the future does tend to detract from their job satisfaction. We need to do something about this."
Complex business
"Even though management is expressing their willingness to continue to develop Raufoss, we don't have any illusions about this meaning greater investments that can result in improved productivity. The directives we get are about more down-to-earth plans intended to quickly improve our bottom line. But the nature of our sort of business is really complex. New orders mean that we incur costs long before we see the revenues coming in," he continues.
The long-term is key
"Upstream, Hydro has a long-term perspective. Our customers also have a long-term perspective. I believe we would be better served if management stated, in even clearer terms, that Hydro has a long-term perspective in our area," he adds.
"We can see that global society is changing. Several of our most important competitors who make aluminium automotive components have recently been exposed to even more dramatic processes. This has given us such a long list of orders that our production capacity is now the bottleneck. Of course, we can also use this as a great example that explains why we have such faith in our future.
As a union man, I am keen to see that the Norwegian state maintains its stake and influence in Hydro. This should help to ensure a long-term approach and is therefore an advantage, both for us working here in the plant and for our customers," says Michael Hall.
