Tetra

"The first generation of employees, Harry Järund, Erik Torudd, Erik Wallenberg, and others, never fully experienced the fruits of their hard labor. They initiated the technology that was later developed and refined by their successors. The sales department, led by Erik Torudd, did a fantastic job in spreading the Tetra system to a large number of countries and contributed to rapid international expansion. During his time as Deputy CEO in charge of sales, Erik Torudd visited over 100 countries. The task of the salespeople was in a way completely hopeless; they were to sell a strangely designed and leaking package that no rational consumer wanted. But they succeeded."

"The company succeeded in something that is actually impossible; establishing a high-tech innovation company with limited capital without having to bring in external financiers as shareholders."

"In the spring, the company management was forced to start planning for what to do if they still couldn’t get hold of S-50 during the summer. Suddenly in April, what no one had seriously dared to hope for happened. British ICI had finally succeeded in developing a stable high molecular weight polyethylene. It had been seven years since Erik Torudd had asked them to try, seven years which had so far really only been filled with disappointing reports from ICI. Now, the Tetra management could hardly believe the news. But it was true; in their eyes, a pure miracle had saved the business."

"When the company’s real success product, the aseptic Briken, finally worked, the first Tetra employees had all been replaced. But by then, the marketers had already laid the foundation for Tetra Pak as a well-established brand. They had also been involved in building a service organization that customers knew they could rely on. Even though the tetrahedron as a shape was a relatively consumer-unfriendly packaging that took many years to become fully functional, the company had managed to acquire a quality image through its skilled marketing and service staff."

"Even though Kirsten, Finn, and Jörn have not had an easy and unproblematic journey as owners, they seem to have complemented each other well. Together, they have had control over the conglomerate but also an overview of the market and the external world to function in the owner role. This dynamic capacity of the owner team has been absolutely necessary to maintain the technological leadership within the industry together with various management groups within the Tetra conglomerate."

"Nils Andersson was employed at the company as a manager. The 35-year-old Andersson had originally been a typographer but was also a self-taught technical genius. Without any education in the field, he immediately understood complex technical relationships. Without plans, he could easily build the most complicated packaging machines, as long as he was told what they were to be used for. However, he could neither understand nor make any plans himself. He just saw the solutions in his mind."

"It took Hans fifteen years of pondering and preparations, equating to three years in terms of full-time work, before everything was ready for the move. In 1982, they increased the dividends in the Swedish parent company from five million to 79 million kronor, a sum that “coincidentally” matched the very low recorded value of the foreign subsidiaries – the market value amounted to about five billion. But the ingenious part was that the dividend was not paid out in money but in shares of the subsidiaries. Through another Tetra company, the shares were then transferred to Dutch Tetra Pak. In this manner, they very elegantly avoided being stopped by the currency regulations."

"It turned out quite quickly that Åke Gustafson was right. The problems were solved and the “torpedo” Palm had managed to get the technicians in order at the factories. Once it was working, Tetra had an aseptic packaging that was both easy to pack at the dairies and consumer-friendly. At the same time, the packaging was inexpensive compared to what the competitors could offer. The main competitor, Pure Pak, did not have an aseptic packaging and was thus excluded from many markets. The system gave Tetra Pak nearly twenty years of lead."

"Among contemporary observers, it was said that “When the company was started, Rausing had the ideas and Åkerlund had the money. Now, Rausing has both the ideas and Åkerlund’s money.”"