Holger Crafoord

"Åkerlund backed down when faced with a done deal. However, the issue was not resolved with this. Åkerlund definitely wanted to get rid of his bond commitments totaling 700,000 kronor. And Ruben wanted to get rid of Erik Åkerlund’s option to avoid future problems. Therefore, a series of negotiations began that were only resolved in 1937 when the bank director Richard Julin, who was responsible for Åkerlund & Rausing’s credits at Enskilda Banken, stepped in as a mediator. The settlement consisted of the bank approving Åkerlund & Rausing’s loans of 700,000 kronor to remain, against publishing mortgages in the company. At the same time, the bank took over loans from Åkerlund to the company totaling 500,000 kronor on the condition that Ruben, Holger Crafoord, and Börje Svenby provided guarantees for the money. In addition, Ruben had a personal debt to Erik Åkerlund of 400,000 kronor for his share of the shares. This debt was also resolved through loans in the bank. Shares in the company were given as security. Against a commission of 50,000 kronor, Enskilda Banken had saved Ruben’s business."

"When development had progressed this far, Ruben decided that the milk packaging business should be placed in a separate company. He was well-prepared: as early as 1946, he had applied for the registration of Aktiebolaget Alicante to have on hand in case the tetrahedron became something. Now was the time, and in 1950, on Erik Torudd’s suggestion, the small 10,000-krona company Alicante changed its name to Tetra Pak. It was also decided that the company should be registered in 57 different countries—big plans were being made within the walls of Åkerlund & Rausing’s headquarters. But for now, there was no actual business in Tetra Pak. The development work was still being conducted within the framework of Åkerlund & Rausing. The shares that Ruben had so far been the sole owner of, were transferred after a couple of years to Ruben’s three sons, Gad, Hans, and Sven. They each received 25 percent. The remaining 25 percent went to the partner Holger Crafoord. The sons also took over Ruben’s share in Åkerlund & Rausing. The Rausing share was controlled through AB Vapor."

"When he invited his Deputy CEO, Holger Crafoord, to lunch at the house on Tomegapsgatan, he still was not convinced. Now he wanted to hear what he thought about the tetrahedron’s possibilities. But at the lunch, it was instead Ruben Rausing’s wife, Lisa, who said the liberating words. She suggested exactly the same thing as Erik Torudd had done. But her husband still resisted. “It’s not possible. You cannot seal the packages straight through the milk without it taking on taste,” he objected. “Have you tried?” asked Lisa Rausing."

"After returning to Sweden, Erik Torudd continued to advocate for the use of the S-50 and to apply HP Smith’s method to it. Now, it seemed that the winds were changing within the company. The board of Tetra Pak now included Ruben, Gad, Hans, Holger Crafoord, Erik Torudd, and the company’s skilled lawyer, Carl Borgström. When the dark-suited gentlemen gathered for a board meeting on the morning of February 4, 1952, they decided to build a copy of HP Smith’s machine. Erik Torudd and Harry Järund, who was co-opted onto the board, fought hard against the decision. Both thought it was better to either buy a finished machine or drawings. Otherwise, they risked several years being lost to development. Moreover, they thought it was immoral to copy someone else’s work. But they spoke to deaf ears. Tetra would copy the HP Smith machine. Responsible for the project were the technical genius Nils Andersson and Gad. The decision was bold, but entirely legal. Carr Sherman had voluntarily shown them a design that was not yet patented."

"Without Holger Crafoord’s scouting in the USA in the early 1930s where he reported home about a single-use paper packaging for milk, Erik Wallenberg’s crucial invention in 1944 of a milk packaging in paper shaped like a tetrahedron, Erik Torudd’s ideas about continuous filling, and Harry Järund’s filling machine which solved the problem of producing an affordable packaging and which, through the efforts of many employees, led to an aseptic packaging system for milk and other liquid foods, the Rausing family’s mega-fortune would never have occurred. The story also shows the significance an innovation can have for communities, employees, owners, and other stakeholders, and that many of these stakeholders were also involved in the creation of the innovation. It is not entirely easy to go from an ingenious idea to realizing the idea and taking it out in the market and building up a multinational industrial conglomerate that spreads the innovation globally in the world and which is still market-leading after all these years."

"In 1932, the company’s history was eventful in other ways as well. That year something occurred that would be very significant for the strategic direction Ruben chose a decade later. On May 2, 1932, Holger Crafoord embarked on his delayed scholarship trip to the USA. Like the other scholars, he was instructed to be attentive to new packaging opportunities. During the summer, he sent a letter stating that he had found a conical milk packaging in paraffin-impregnated paper. Sealcone, as it was called, was manufactured, filled, and sealed entirely by machine. Ruben, who was fully aware that milk was one of the most important daily goods, became enthusiastic and telegraphed back for Holger to bring home all available information about the packaging. It was the first time Ruben came into contact with a disposable packaging for milk."

"In the first half of the 1930s, Ruben was increasingly worried that he would lose the skilled Holger Crafoord as a colleague. Ruben himself, with his imagination and creativity, was not particularly well-suited to handle daily affairs and management in a company. His talent was more on the strategic level. But Holger had just the talent that he himself lacked. During the company’s first years, despite his youth, he had gradually taken over more of the company’s ongoing operations. Ruben had simply become dependent on him."