Annual Report 2007 - Muehlhan AG
Annual Report 2007 - Muehlhan AG
Annual Report 2007 - Muehlhan AG
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12<br />
Strategy<br />
Our goal remains: We want to be ahead of the competition.<br />
We are aiming for the position as the world’s leading service<br />
provider for marine surface protection. In doing so, we are<br />
concentrating on our core strengths: The application and<br />
restoration of corrosion-prevention coatings on steel structures.<br />
Along the way, we have already been able to work our way into<br />
the group of the top 5 in our market in recent years.<br />
Whoever wants to be right at the front must be able to react<br />
with flexibility and a clear view of the requirements of the<br />
markets. When in doubt, processes are to be changed and<br />
structures are to be adjusted. in <strong>2007</strong>, <strong>Muehlhan</strong> did everything<br />
necessary in order to keep the company on its future<br />
course: based on the operational events, we reviewed the<br />
organizational processes and then established new structures.<br />
today, the Group is invigorated and can attend to<br />
the fragmented market for surface protection even more<br />
effectively.<br />
Economic point of reference is<br />
“profitable growth”<br />
in addition to the market objectives, we orient our actions<br />
to solid commercial key figures: We will go down the path<br />
of growth not at any price, but with a focus on the parameters<br />
of profitability and healthy cash flow.<br />
our economic objective is “profitable growth”. in this manner,<br />
we want to establish our Group as a globally present<br />
and networked company that can support its customers<br />
at all relevant marine locations comprehensively. in order<br />
to achieve this objective, we make use of three strategic<br />
levers:<br />
1. Growth from the core business:<br />
Development out of the core markets and regions<br />
on the basis of our overall strategy, on the basis of<br />
general strategic competitive advantages, and taking into<br />
account the opportunities that the markets offer to us,<br />
we increasingly strengthen our business from the markets,<br />
because even though our market is global, the<br />
laws according to which it functions are regional. our<br />
branch offices know their customers and link us to them.<br />
Short communications channels enable speed in the<br />
decision-making and coordination processes. as such,<br />
we remain close to the customer and close to the project.<br />
our focus on the core markets ensures that we concentrate<br />
and use our strength where the potential and development<br />
opportunities are the greatest.<br />
in Ship Newbuilding, we can build on long-term customer<br />
relationships. Having been included in the production<br />
processes as a partner over the long-term, our company<br />
will benefit from our customers’ good backlog of orders.<br />
their full order books through the next decade ensure a<br />
high degree of transparency with regard to our expected<br />
activities. We want to further increase our sales by intensifying<br />
the existing collaborations. in addition, we will acquire<br />
more newbuilding shipyards as customers, particularly in<br />
the growing newbuilding market China, and thus participate<br />
in the high sales growth rates for shipyards there.<br />
Each ship that is currently under way as a newbuilding<br />
on the world’s oceans represents potential business in<br />
the field of Ship Repair after its fourth year of service.<br />
<strong>Muehlhan</strong>’s reputation as an exacting surface protection<br />
company is excellent, especially for the overhaul of fundamental<br />
ship parts such as water ballast and cargo tanks.<br />
We will use our good reputation and our excellent knowhow<br />
in this field in order to further expand our successful<br />
work at European repair shipyards and in the Middle