Mogens Riisberg, engineer at DS Steel Construction

I started at DS in 1974. Back then, the company was still young. We were five employees in the office, there were three landline telephones to share, and steel structures were drawn by hand on A4 sheets. The same sheet of paper followed the project all the way from the engineer’s drawing board to the metalworker in production and on to the fitter at the construction site.

I qualified as an engineer in 1972 and first worked at Nellemann and Partners in Aalborg and later in Sæby. But the distance to Hobro, where I was born and raised, became too great. When Svend Møller Hansen was looking for an engineer, I sent an application. A couple of days later, he was standing at my home, and then I was hired. It happened fast.

Customers came to us at trade fairs and wanted to buy steel

It was busy from the start. The office buzzed with activity, and I was quickly involved in both turnkey projects and sales to Sweden, Norway and Germany, among others. A lot was done differently than today. The customers would often come to us themselves at exhibitions and ask whether they could buy steel. Then we’d work out a price, and from there the projects developed.

After several years at a high pace, I began to have problems with my back. Svend’s solution was that I should do more physical work on the side. I bought a farm, and since then I haven’t had back pain. This meant that for a period I both ran a farm and worked as an engineer at DS, which could lead to some slightly “special” situations. For instance, when we were going to a meeting in Copenhagen’s Freeport to speak with the municipal authority’s fourth department. We took the morning flight, and only when I sat down on the plane did I discover that I was still wearing clogs. For the rest of the day, I had to hide my feet, because we were also meeting the mayor.

A brief spell away from DS on “work placement”

After eight years at DS, I chose in 1982 to try something else and was hired at Svejsecentralen. That turned into quite a few years away from DS, and most recently I worked at Karl Molin, which was acquired by DS at the end of 2012. When I returned, I continued with the same customers. Svend said that I had been on “work experience” during those years.

A lot had changed. DS had become a larger company with more divisions, and both DS Elcobyg and DS Stålprofil had been added, while DS Flexhal had been spun off. But even though the company had grown significantly since the 1970s, it was still DS that I came back to.

Exciting to be in a company that is moving forward

I have always been happy to be here. DS has treated me well, and I am only grateful for that. It has been exciting to be part of a company that has constantly moved forward, and where I have been able to develop throughout my entire career.

If I were to give one piece of advice to my colleagues – new and old alike – it is that they should speak up if they would like to try something different. There are good opportunities to stay within the same framework at DS while also getting the chance to take on new tasks.