Future looking good for Corus - Kirby Adams
Sep 3 2010 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette
A leader who led shake-up
KIRBY Adams is the managing director and chief executive of Tata Steel Europe.
Since taking up the top post in April 2009, the 55-year-old American has impressed his Mumbai bosses by cutting $1bn (£648m) of costs out of the European operation and bringing the company back into profitability.
In May he delivered a storming set of results, given a backdrop of falling world demand for steel products and an inexorable rise in raw material costs: 2008/9’s $813m loss was transformed into a $513m profit.
Just last month Tata Steel reported strong profits rising from the extra demand in the European automotive and aerospace markets.
But the turnaround came at the cost of 5,000 job cuts and the controversial mothballing of TCP.
He leaves the company next month - a move which has been described as “an entirely personal one”.
He will return to Australia where he was previously chief executive of the country’s biggest steelmaker BlueScope, from where he will act as an advisor to Tata with whom he retains a place on the board.
His appointment was announced in January 2009 and just months later he succeeded Philippe Varin, taking to the helm days before a consortium of buyers pulled out of a 10-year contract with Teesside Cast Products.
In the last 18 months Mr Adams has come under fire from a number of quarters - including local MPs. In May he hit back at union criticism of his management style saying “I am a straight shooter, I don’t sugarcoat and I might irritate some people.”
