Scene Scania:What’s your background, your potted history?
 
Hans-Christer Holgersson: While I originally come from Sweden, I spent many of my teenage years in Liberia, West Africa. The first six or seven years of my career were in the shipping industry, after which I joined a finance company as Financial Director. In 1985 I was recruited by Scania and appointed Manager for Financial Planning and Control for Scania Brazil. I stayed there for four years before going to Scania Spain, where I worked for a further four years as Finance Director. I then returned to Sweden to become Managing Director of Scania Finance. In early 1999 I went back to South America, this time to head up Scania’s operations in Argentina. Three years later I was appointed President and CEO for Scania Latin America before once again returning to Sweden in 2005 to take up the position of Group Vice-President and Head of Sales and Services Management. Then, in September 2007, I moved to the UK where I hope my broad Scania background globally and across a range of fields will stand me in good stead.

SS: Tell us something of your experience in Latin America. How, for example, does its transport industry differ from that of western Europe?

H-CH: In many ways, the two transport industries do not differ all that much. After all, both are doing the same job – that is to say transporting goods or, in the case of bus and coach operators, people. Just as here, Latin America has a mix of large and small operators and in many ways they face the same problems as their European counterparts.
It is, however, a special challenge to run over extremely long distances, as they do in Brazil for example. There, you are very much more vulnerable to breakdowns as it is far more difficult for manufacturers to build a network. In remote areas, service is more likely to be available only at a small local garage or via a mobile repair operator. In the UK, you are seldom more than 30 minutes from your nearest Scania service centre – but in Brazil, you may be hours away.

SS: What were your first impressions when you arrived at Scania (Great Britain) Limited?

H-CH: Although I’m new to the UK I’m not really a newcomer to Scania in the UK as in my 20-plus years with the company I have had frequent contact with the team here. So when I arrived I felt a great responsibility to continue building and developing what I already knew to be an excellent organisation and network. Both Scania (Great Britain) Limited and its independent dealers are already advanced in terms of the range of total transport solutions we provide today. I am intent on seeing the quality and breadth of our service continuing to improve as I firmly believe this is key to on-going and future success – both for ourselves and for our operators.

SS: What will be your key priorities going forward?

H-CH: Essentially, I would like to see our performance become even more customer-focussed and -driven. To achieve that, we need to further develop our relationship with each and every customer from owner-drivers to the largest fleets.  In short, I would like us to be challenged more – traditionally, customers mostly ask us about what we have, but I want to know more about what our operators want. So I am looking to see
our dialogue with operators extended in a way which will
make us both think out of the box. That, I am sure, will open up windows of opportunity and lead to many new and interesting ideas coming forward.

SS: What do you see as the main challenges facing the UK’s transport operators today?
 
H-CH: For a couple of years now we have had the situation of new member states entering the EU. This has raised the issue of cross-border salary levels, which in turn has toughened the competitive environment for western European transport companies. Equally, I am fully aware that operators are being squeezed by fuel prices, internal pressures to increase salary levels, plus a variety of other factors. There is also the fact that manufacturers need to increase their prices. This is due to the significant uplifts we have seen in the price of raw materials such as steel, rubber and plastics. I’m afraid there is simply no way out. Continuous improvement and efficiency gains will help, of course, but these will not cover the rising costs of fuel, salaries, manufacturing and raw materials – so freight prices will ultimately have to rise as a consequence.

Part 2 >>