Already in his tenure he has made major structural changes to the company. “My role is to be the change manager, and the manager who leads the company in a new direction has to bring trust and confidence in the total organisation,” he told Hoist in 2004. Then, he said that the company needed to extend into the entry-level segment from its dominance in the high end, and to cut costs.
Things seem to be going his way. In the current positive crane environment, the company’s performance has improved – its 2004/2005 financial year results – Euro 660m sales – were up 6% compared with the previous year, with 300 fewer employees.
Now that majority share owners US venture capital firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is likely to launch the company on the stock market, Joos becomes all the more important to the company’s success as the Demag figurehead.
