FSG re-organises Top Management
Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) will be headed by a new management team from January 1st 2015. Current Chief Technology Officer Frank Bywater will be joined by Markus Bartsch as new Chief Executive Officer. Current CEO Peter Sierk will take over the management of FSG parent company NSH (Norddeutsche Schiffbau-Holding) and as a result take responsibility for overall strategy as Chairman at FSG.
“Over the past 2 years we have seen how the switch from series to special ship building at our yard has brought with it an enormous new set of demands”, says Peter Sierk. “Contracts are getting more complex and processes more multi-layered. If we now say that our 750 employees have to adapt and optimise then it stands to reason of course that the same has to apply to the management”. He adds that, because of this, a decision was taken with the yard’s managing partners at the start of the year to broaden management, create additional areas of competence and spread the overall burden of responsibility across a number of shoulders. “In spring we were able to win Frank Bywater for the yard – an internationally recognised and established shipbuilding expert – and in Markus Bartsch we are in addition now gaining an engineering expert whose reputation is just as great”, Sierk says. The planned restructuring of management will be completed in January 2015. “We will strengthen the entire concern as a result and, together, jointly ensure that the shipbuilders of Flensburg will continue to operate with success on the global market.
Markus Bartsch was with the firms of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and VAW between 1991 and 2001 in various management functions. Since 2002 he has been with the medium- sized Butting Group as Managing Director during which time he has steered Butting Anlagenbau to a position as market leader and to sustained economic success. During his tenure as Managing Director the group’s Rohrwerk Knesebeck has also shown outstandingly good growth. Here, as with the other firms, supplying the offshore oil and gas industry was a main area of activity. “I am looking forward to leading FSG and its competent crew into a successful future”, says Markus Bartsch. I have been convincingly impressed by the company’s enormous know-how, by the extremely high level of customer satisfaction it enjoys and by the motivation of the entire FSG team”.
Peter Sierk to become MD of FSG parent company NSH and Chairman of FSG Markus Bartsch to become new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frank Bywater to remain Chief Technology Officer (CTO) The work of Frank Bywater as head of planning between 1992 and 2005, substantially shaped the way in which FSG operates today. Over the last few years, he has advised many well-known shipyards throughout the world (for example in the U.S.A., Australia, Canada and Turkey) on how to develop both the strategic and operational aspects of their shipbuilding operations. “We are on a very good track at FSG. I am extremely happy that in Markus Bartsch we have won the services of an experienced and highly regarded expert to lead FSG forward to further sustained growth based on its successes to date, particularly those in the new offshore business sector”.
Peter Sierk has been Managing Director of FSG for nine years and was its head of finance for nine years before that. During this time the shipyard, founded in 1872, has established its reputation as the world leader in the building of RoRo ships. It was the global banking and financial crisis, along with a sagging demand for charter tonnage, that finally prompted FSG to enter the emerging offshore market parallel to its RoRo business. Access to this market was quickly followed by the first orders from leading global market operators like RollDock BV, WesternGeco and most recently Siem Offshore.
FSG has already delivered its first seismic ship to WesternGeco – in May this year – and said the customer had been extremely satisfied with the product and had described it as “the best ship in our fleet”. Captain and crew were also reported most impressed and had spoken of extraordinary overall performance. “These are the best possible preconditions for perhaps also ordering further ships from us that might be needed in the future”, Sierk said. As Managing Director of the FSG parent company NSH he will now concern himself more with looking after the strategic development of FSG and its sister company Flensburg Ship Design (FSD) in Hamburg.