Jan Kjærsgaard, recently appointed as FLSmidth’s Cement President, shares his views on the challenges and opportunities facing the cement production industry. He discusses how FLSmidth is taking bold steps to help the industry address some of the most pressing issues, highlighting the need for greater simplicity, more focus on the full lifecycle, and embracing the inevitability of digital.
ICR: What role has FLSmidth played in the industry’s transformation over the last 30 years?
Jan Kjærsgaard (JK): It’s important to note that I’m quite new to the cement industry. But I’ve worked for many years in industries that have faced similar challenges, including the renewable energy sector. That industry is young, especially compared with cement. There, I was part of a highly-successful, global organisation that prided itself on constant innovation to stay ahead of the market. This was a prerequisite of success in an industry that was inventing itself. We needed constant insight into what customers require today so we could best foresee the needs of tomorrow.
