Evolution Of MAN

MAN Diesel & Turbo has changed its name to MAN Energy Solutions as part of a new company strategy. According to the company, the new strategy has two central aims: to supplement its existing product range with offerings geared toward the decarbonization and digitization of industry and society; and to evolve from a manufacturer of components to a supplier of solutions.

MAN Energy Solutions provided this question and answer with Uwe Lauber, the company’s CEO, to help explain the strategy and name change.

Mr. Lauber, are the rebranding and the new corporate design connected to the new company strategy?

Uwe Lauber: Yes, absolutely. They embody the strategic and technological transformation of the company. We are expanding our range to include hybrid, storage and digital service technologies and, in doing so, are positioning ourselves as a solution supplier for the giant challenge facing both economy and society: the transition to a climate-neutral economy by the middle of this century.

What can you tell us about the company’s new name?

UL: ‘MAN Energy Solutions’ references our future role as a supplier of complete system solutions. Similarly, aligning the product range more closely with the mega trend of decarbonization is represented by emphasizing ‘Energy’ as a performance feature that connects the entire portfolio.

The name also focuses attention on converting energy into concrete economic and social benefits. The great importance of energy and its handling is inherent in every customer segment that we target. This is as true for marine-drive systems as much as it is for smart-energy grids or efficient industrial-process solutions. In future, too, these three sectors – shipping, energy and industry – will remain of central importance to us.

What do you mean by ‘Solutions’?

UL: ‘Solutions’ should be understood as complete solutions for a system or partial system, not just as the supply of components. In the marine sector, for example, MAN Energy Solutions intends to cover a ship’s entire engine room with its expertise – which in the future may possibly even encompass unmanned engine rooms. In the power plant sector, the company can offer customers complete EPC power plants. The systems expertise we already possess today will be expanded in future with hybrid, storage and digital-service technologies, as well as proactive customer support – simply put, a complete solution for the customer.

What then do you mean by ‘Energy Solutions’?

UL: That term connects our entire portfolio. While the power plant sector may be the first to come to mind, ‘Energy Solutions’ also stands for corresponding solutions in the maritime and other industrial sectors in which the company is active. Shipping, in particular, is facing great challenges with regard to more environmentally-friendly fuel sources. This is why we have been arguing in favor of a maritime energy transformation for some time now and the use of natural gases as the fuels of choice within global shipping. These gases can eventually be generated from renewable resources via the Power-to-X technology to achieve a climate-neutral shipping industry. We are one of the pioneers in Power-to-X and have built the first plant in 2014. Now the time is ripe for this technology which lets us leverage renewable energy to decarbonize maritime logistics.

Stemming from the new strategy, in which markets will MAN Energy Solutions be active in the future?

UL: The three sectors – marine transport, energy generation and the industry business – will remain central to us as they will remain central to the global economy. It is these sectors, where emission reductions have to be achieved to make the perspective of a climate-neutral economy come true.

Recent studies show that a main challenge decarbonization is facing is in the coupling of sectors, e.g. the ability to use zero-emission energy to generate heat and cold. 30% of all CO₂ emissions stem from heating and air conditioning. We have just introduced a new storage system together with ABB. Our Electro-Thermal Energy Storage System, ETES, is the only storage system able to store electricity, heat and cold at the same time and also distribute them to consumers.

Our customers are facing substantial challenges in the future and we have the skills and the technologies to guide them through this: By offering alternative and hybrid drives in shipping, by providing low emission decentralized energy generation and storage solutions to back up renewables and by maximizing the efficiency of industrial processes.

What kind of volumes is the company intending to generate with its new fields of activity and when is it hoping to achieve them?

UL: MAN Energy Solutions is tying its strategic realignment to a specific revenue target such that we intend solutions based on sustainable technologies to comprise over 50% of our business by 2030.

Finally, what can you tell us about your new slogan – ‘Future in the Making’?

UL: The slogan is in line with our new strategy. Whereas we previously referenced our long tradition, we now express the understanding that excellent engineering alone is not what creates a successful future; instead, the focus lies on an evolutionary and collaborative process that calls for continuous development.