MAN strategic shift drives new investments

The company, which announced its name change from MAN Diesel & Turbo yesterday, is aiming to generate more than half of its business from sustainable technologies by 2030. In an exclusive interview, Jones said that the company’s choice of recent acquisitions and investments fed directly into the new strategy.

Among recent acquisitions in sustainable technologies, MAN bought Swedish fuel gas supply system specialist Cryo AB in 2016 and took a 40% stake in Canadian energy systems integrator Aspin Kemp & Associates last year.

“Historically we would have looked at companies similar to ours in order to build our volumes,” said Jones. “We look differently at acquisitions and investments now.”

Jones confirmed that MAN has a “war chest” to strengthen its competencies in new focus areas – particularly electrical engineering and digital services – although he noted that collaborations and internal research and development would also be important.

A plan to build a new research engine in Copenhagen is a further example of the company’s new investment direction. The engine will begin operations in 2020 and will be used to test gas fuel operations as well as new low-sulphur distillates.

Thomas Knudsen, senior vice president and head of two-stroke business, MAN Energy Solutions, said: “We have a research engine in Copenhagen which runs for 500-600 hours a year. The rest of the time it is being rebuilt for different tests. A second engine will improve our productivity.”

The company’s organisational structure has also changed to enable a greater focus on providing systemic solutions, said Jones. Engineering divisions are now organised in a matrix to improve cooperation and coordination across departments.

NOTE: Look out for a full report on MAN Energy Solutions’ new direction in our July/August print issue.