Focus on technology and globalisation

Arnfinn Unum, the new president and CEO of Jotne AS, has his background from the vendor industry in the oil and gas related markets. For a number of years, he held key positions in Kværner Process Systems, a company he founded together with Kværner and a management team in 1989.

He summarises his goals for Jotne and its subsidiaries quite clearly:

Focus on technology and product development
Growth through internal development, alliances, acquisitions and mergers
Establishing Jotne as an international industrial group
Listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange within 2005

Attracting investors for capital contributions will be one of the necessary actions to achieve these goals.

Workshops and engineering

"The workshops and engineering expertise are the core of the Jotne Group's assets and will continue to be the basis of the companies' development in the years to come. And the technology elements represent the jewel in the crown," says Unum.

The new Jotne manager will give high priority to offshore business in the development of the Group. However, activities in other segments such as defence, rotating machinery, rolling stock, construction and traditional land based industry are also on the agenda.

Priority will be to find niche segments in all these areas. Subsea deliveries is one of several sectors where Unum is convinced that the Jotne Group has growth potentials.

Unum has a degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU). His first job was in Alfsen & Gunderson, where he in the years 1980-1983 helped establishing the offshore group that later became part of ABB-Miljø.

His next job was at Ankerløkken Offshore Engineering (which is now READ Process Engineering), where he worked with process equipment supplies for the oil and gas industry. Unum was part of the team establishing Read, the company acquiring - and later selling the Ankerløkken's shipyards in Florø and Førde.

Hungry for challenges

In 1989, Unum was among those who started Kværner Process Systems. From an initial team of four men, the company has grown to an international group of seven companies with subsidiaries around the world totalling a peak of nearly 800 employees with a turnover well above NOK 1 billion - and with a profit generation within the first six months of its existence.

Unum was made president of KPS in 1992 and has held that position until he joined Jotne.

"Quite frankly, I was hungry for new challenges," said Unum. "I'm an entrepreneurial businessman - I like to generate and develop new activities and I believe it is possible to do with the Jotne Group something similar to what was done with KPS."

"The Jotne Group has a technical solidity which attracts me, and the employees have a professional attitude in their work; a solid platform to develop further business."

A longer-term Group strategy is developed. "We will concentrate on co-operating with international companies that can supply equipment and services to the Norwegian offshore market, using Jotne as their gateway. At the same time, we want to establish some presence in the most important oil & gas centres of the world. In doing this, it will be a goal to avoid conflicts with existing clients such as Kværner and other Norwegian contractors," explains Arnfinn Unum.