Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 1999)

FINLAND FOCUS

Wartsila NSD: Powering Up For the New Millennium

Following its restructure, engine maker is geared for profitability well beyond 2000

While implementing a far-reaching restructuring program to put its business on a sounder footing after last year's severe deterioration in financial results,

Wartsila NSD's unshakable belief in an integrated manufacturing capability has been underlined by its recent takeover of Grandi Motori Trieste (GMT).

The Finnish group had obtained a 40 percent stake in the Trieste factory, one of Europe's biggest diesel engine production plants, attendant to the 1997 merg- er of Wartsila Diesel and New Sulzer Diesel. The common link in the transaction had been Fincantieri, the former proprietor of NSD and owner of GMT.

The early assignment of a Finnish manager to the

Trieste works had signaled Wartsila NSD's determi- nation to make the factory a cohesive part of the engine group's international manufacturing network.

In addition, the allocation of production of the extremely powerful, Wartsila 64 medium-speed design to GMT had denoted the application of Wart- sila NSD's focused-factory concept to the Italian domain. The process of assimilation of the extensive

Italian complex has now been given added momen- tum through the transaction which gives Wartsila

NSD full 100 percent ownership of GMT. In return,

Fincantieri's holding in the Finnish undertaking has been increased to 15.4 percent from 12.2 percent. The

Trieste site offers the capacity to machine, assemble and test the largest two-stroke and four-stroke diesel machinery, and its current activities are built around both Sulzer low-speed and medium-speed models as well as a growing orderbook for wide-bore Wartsila 64 units.

Plus factors for a 1998 fiscal period in which a heavy loss was sustained included the strength of the marine orderbook and the completion of the bulk of an extensive investment and product development plan which has sharpened Wartsila NSD's manufac- turing competitiveness while renewing the engine portfolio.

The company bit the bullet by incorporating a

FMk312 million restructuring provision into last year's results, reflecting measures central to the main goal of restoring profitability.

The process of what the company describes as

Technical superiority is the heart of Wartsila NSD, past and present. Pictured is the comparison of the combustion cham- bers of the original RTA84T (left) and Version B (right). Both designs result in the same component temperatures around the combustion space, while the Version B design is much sim- pler to manufacture.

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