In June 2005 Stig Gustavson turned 60 and retired from his position as president and CEO of KCI Konecranes and moved ‘upstairs’ to become chairman of the board. In the 11 years since leading the management buyout of Kone Corporation’s crane interests, he has grown turnover fivefold to close to a billion euros and firmly established the company as a global powerhouse. This has been achieved by cost reduction through outsourcing and moving production to low cost countries (including China), targeting and encouraging the growth market of maintenance services – KCI now has a quarter of million lifting units under service contracts worldwide – as well as through more than 40 acquisitions.
Gustavson is a recent past chairman of FEM and the Federation of Finnish Metal Engineering and Electronic Industries.
With a 3.1% stake, he also remains the largest individual shareholder in Konecranes.
Gustavson has made the 250m Finnish Marks (€42m) that was invested in the buyout from former parent company Kone Oy look like a very good deal for the investors.
