From 37 to 900 colleagues
When I started at the company 45 years ago, it was called Dansk Stålkonstruktion A/S, and we were 37 employees. Later, DS was added in front of the company names, and today DS Gruppen has grown to around 900 employees. It has always been a company in development, and I myself am a good example of that, because from day one you were given responsibility and broad authority within your own area, and a real opportunity to develop your own little business.
As a new employee back then, I quickly got a sense of camaraderie, where you were not left behind on the platform, and that experience has actually stayed with me all the way through. It is one of the things that has reassured me most that I recently received precisely the same feedback from a newer employee. Creativity has always been high, and ideas for streamlining and improving things, regardless of level, have been valued.
Even back then, there was great professional breadth in the company. Among other things, we had an engineer who carried out structural calculations primarily for steel, but also for foundations and other structures, and a draughtsperson who was responsible for the project drawings. There were no actual departments, but in reality that is what has today become the design department with engineers and architects. There has always been an opportunity to find your place, even if it was not defined in advance.
Senior arrangement as Key Account Manager
My working life at DS has spanned many roles and companies. I started as what we called an “assistant case handler”, and worked with both sales and the execution of projects within steel structures, steel cladding, turnkey contracts and later Flexhaller. Along the way, I became a project manager, part of the executive management at DS Stålkonstruktion, Managing Director of DS Flexhal and later Sales Director. Today, I have a senior arrangement as Key Account Manager, where I am still affiliated with DS and work with customers and relationships I have built up over many years. It works well for me, because the connection to the company is maintained, while working life has taken on a different form.
