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As Plastmo’s newest company in Norway was in need of crisis management, the company got the help it needed, with an interim manager who from day one understood the task at hand.

Interim CEO took control of the troops

At Plastmo, Chief Executive Karsten Due had been looking for a CEO for one of his companies. That kind of task takes time. There may have been consequences before the new manager had come into place, had Karsten Due applied the same model in the newly acquired company in Norway. Luckily, this did not happen. An interim CEO was hired into the company and took control. “I was genuinely nervous for the company, as the situation was both critical and chaotic. Since there was no time to waste, I chose to go for an interim manager. We were in dire need of crisis management, and I just hoped that the manager I assigned to solve the assignment was able to get through the period. Lucklily, he did.” Karsten Due says.

But how he tackles the task when he is standing with empty managerial chairs, depends entirely on the situation and nature of the job. In the case of the Plastmo company in Norway, here-and-now management was needed. Other times, the need may be to ensure ongoing operations for a limited period. And in other cases, the focus may be on getting strategic input from the outside.

“In my world there are wide limits to what you can use an interim manager for. The important thing is that the task is specific and clearly defined, whereas the level of management is not so crucial. I would think of using an interim on a top executive post as well, if the criterion alone is that the company should be run further. On the other hand, a temporary CEO will not be considered, if the requirement are that he knows the market and the customers really well,”Karsten Due says.

So, for the job in Norway, the specific task was to deal with the crisis the company was in. The thing was that Plastmo had bought a small Norwegian company in the industry with eight employees and where the transition was a bit problematic. Therefore, it was necessary to bring in a man who had long experience in dealing with difficult situations.

“For us it was about creating peace in the organization. We got an interim of over 60 years, who himself had run a business. The important thing was that he spoke the same ‘language’ as the previous owner, which he did very well,”says the director.

Gives time to find a permanent solution

From the same second Karsten Due had contacted Nextt Management – which he chose on the basis of recommendations – it only took four weeks before Plastmo had the interim manager in place in Norway.

“The process of finding the right one was really quick, and I can’t praise Torben Hvashøj enough. It struck me a lot about how many good and qualified candidates he was able to present and the speed at which it was going. The whole process was run right after the book,” says the director.

The permanent manager, in turn, now has time to wait, which he also highlights as one of the great advantages of going the interim route.

“Some might say that I can just take over myself when we are missing a manager for a while. But no one knows how long it will take. So, by getting a man you can hire temporarily and communicate with from day one is absolutely fantastic. The one we got in Norway is fully aware of what the task is. His focus is here and now and not on everything that can happen beyond the six months he is employed,” Karsten Due stresses.

Facts about Plastmo

Plastmo was founded in Ringsted in 1958 and today is the market leader in Denmark within gutters and light roofing solutions. Plastmo markets a wide product range within water management and outdoor environment. The company’s activities are run from two locations in Denmark and Norway respectively. Plastmo manufactures, sells and distributes its solutions for wood cargo and construction markets in the Nordic and Eastern Europe. Plastmo is owned by the German family-owned company ACO. The ACO Group has revenue of DKK 5.8 billion (2017) and employs approximately 5,000 people worldwide.