Brik

"Shortly after the subsidiary directors’ meeting, which ended in a general slashing of Brik, Hans called Åke Gustafson, who was now working on entirely different projects, and asked him to come back and help Tetra Pak. Although he would never have admitted it openly, Hans was desperate; the losses for Brik and the development costs for Rex and Rigello began to devour the capital that had been borrowed and the money that had been freed up with the sale of Åkerlund & Rausing. And the money that could have been used – the commission money that went into the foundations – the company was not allowed to touch by Ruben. If the situation was as bad as the subsidiary directors described, there were only two possibilities to solve the situation. One was to borrow more money to resolve the liquidity crisis that had arisen, but that would, on the other hand, be only artificial respiration. The other possibility was to once and for all get Brik in order so as to avoid this large black hole that just sucked capital."

"Without showing it, Hans was shaken by the subsidiary managers’ message. Eventually, he realized that the company could not solve the problems on its own. What was needed was Brik’s chief designer, Åke Gustafson – the man who left Tetra Pak in 1964 after being forced to exaggerate the machines’ excellence and hasten their delivery times. Since his departure, efforts had been made to make the machines and materials work reliably – attempts that were largely fruitless."

"Gustafson succeeded in what few within the company believed he would manage: to produce an aseptic Tetra Brik machine that worked flawlessly. By the spring of 1972, the new, improved design was ready and many within the company management were amazed. Hans, who had led the Brik project, but who had started to doubt it over the last two years, could not believe his eyes. Erik Torudd, who had never believed in Brik, wanted to wait and see until the machine was tested out in the field. Ruben was relieved, although in the long run, he expected Rigello to outdo Brik as the company’s most important product."