HKScan has announced management appointments that will strengthen its management team and allow the Finnish meat group to drive synergies, CEO Hannu Kottonen told just-food.

This week, the group appointed former Coca-Cola Co. executive Orvokki Knuutinen as SVP for sourcing, while Nokia’s Mika Huhtanen will become SVP with responsibility for supply chain.

Speaking to just-food, Kottonen said the announcement came in response to “many changes is the old team” as executives left the company. He added the group was “very light on senior management” when he took the helm at the company last March.

Since joining HKScan, Kottonen has redefined the group’s strategic direction in a bid to stem plummeting sales and profits. Significantly, the firm aims to achieve annual performance improvements exceeding EUR20m (US$26.1m) this year.

Kottonen suggested the senior management shake-up should be viewed in this context. “We can go to capture the group synergies, once you are resourced accordingly,” he said.

“Overall we will streamline, harmonise and simplify and, going forward, [this will be] visible soon in Sweden, Finland and partly in the Baltics.”

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For more on HKScan’s restructuring drive, check out our full-length interview with Kottonen, which was conducted earlier this month.

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