Kock moves up to the board

Hans-Joachim Kock becomes the new head of the Extruded Products business area. He knows this business well since, since 2007, he was CFO for Aluminum Products (as it was then called) and later for Extruded Products.

"For someone who comes from the rolling division like me, the press work and its special structure was a little strange at first. But I found it to be exceptionally good and effective, and last but not least, I was impressed by how the various sectors and business units resisted the financial crisis when it struck in 2008. It's a business and a culture that I like to continue developing, ”says Kock.

The Primary Metal business unit, which is managed by board member Hilde Merete Aasheim , is responsible for the 51 percent stake in the Brazilian aluminum smelter Albras and its 1,200 employees.

Now the planning of the extensive integration process, which is led by the board member Arvid Moss, begins. This process will continue until operations in Brazil are finalized, presumably in the fourth quarter of this year. & Nbsp; & nbsp; Work on establishing the organizational structure for the new business area and making adjustments in the Primary Metal business area will begin shortly. The schedule for this process will be presented later in May.

The steering committee for the integration work is headed by CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg, further members are Hilde Merete Aasheim, Wenche Agerup, Jørgen Rostrup and Johnny Undeli. The actual integration will not take place until the transaction is approved and completed.

Back to his roots

Obviously, Johnny Undeli is jumping from one extreme to the other - from Extruded Products, the business area closest to the end user, to Bauxite & amp; Alumina at the other end of the scale.

A closer look reveals that the jump is not that far. Undeli was trained as a mining engineer, studied at the Technical University in Trondheim, now Norway's Technical and Natural Sciences University, and worked for the French oil company Total for several years before joining Hydro's oil and gas division in 1983. He has held key management positions in Hydro's aluminum division since 1989, and has been a member of the Group Executive Board since 2009, and will remain in his new position.

"I look forward to returning to my groin. I am actually trained for this new task. Last but not least, I can hardly wait to work with the exciting tasks in one of the so-called BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - these countries have the highest growth rates in economic output. I was responsible for our pressing operations in South America for several years, including Acro in Brazil. So I know what resources and opportunities our Brazilian employees have. Acro is one of our best press shops, and the job we take over from Vale is one of the best in the industry. & Nbsp; Our starting point is therefore very good. Vale also has a foundation of values and a corporate culture that resembles ours in many ways, ”says Johnny Undeli.

3,600 Vale employees bring in a lot

Undeli has more than 30 years of experience as an international manager - 16 years outside of Norway. He looks forward to working in an exciting region with many opportunities.

"What do you think you and Hydro can bring to the business we take over from Vale?

“What interests me more is what we can learn from Vale's 3,600 employees. This is a business they do better than anyone else. At the same time, I am convinced that Hydro has competence in process and project management, which can help to strengthen the activities that we take on. I have been interested in the connection between security, good operation and continuous improvement for many years, and I have seen up close how effective a good security culture can be as a platform for successful integration. It is an experience that I take to Brazil without hesitation. My goal is that we will increase bauxite production to more than 10 million tons a year and alumina production to six million tons a year. "

Johnny Undeli adds that Hydro will have a five percent global bauxite and alumina market share after the acquisition, making it one of the top five mining companies worldwide. The others are Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Alcoa and Rusal.

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