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CAD/CAM - international magazine of digital dentistry

18 I I feature _ interview Gilles Pierson, CEO of the Acteon Group, and Matthias Diessner, Account Manager, DTI. CAD/CAM 1_2012 _During the 2011 conference of the Associ- ation Dentaire Française (ADF) in Paris, Dental Tribune International spoke with Gilles Pierson, CEO of the Acteon Group, about the company’s history, new products and future strategies. _CAD/CAM: Your business units Satelec, Pierre Rolland and Sopro were unified under the Acteon Group in 2003, followed by your Italian businessunit,DeGötzen,whichjoinedthegroup in 2006. At IDS Cologne 2011, you introduced your new corporate identity and the new Acteon logo.Whatwasthemainreasonforthisrebrand- ing? The change in the group’s name is due to the fact that at the very beginning in 1980, Satelecexistedonitsown.PierreRollandmerged with Satelec in 1985 to become Satelec–Pierre Rolland. After 1995, we decided to grow the company through acquisitions, so we acquired different companies like Sopro and De Götzen. It would not have been feasible to have named the group Satelec, Pierre Roland, Sopro, De Götzen andsoon.Wesawthenecessityforagroupname while maintaining the companies’ individual names. So the group is now named Acteon but the different companies that we acquired and that merged are identified as companies with their own history and their own products. This is also good for the employees, who still identify with their original companies while belonging to a large group. So we have kept the history of each company, but we have grouped them under the umbrella of Acteon. Satelec is still known in countries like France. Pierre Rolland, which is a 60-year-old company, is still famous, so it’s a lit- tle bit difficult to introduce the name of Acteon. Eight years on, awareness is growing, although the individual company names of Pierre Rolland and Satelec are still better known than the um- brella group of Acteon. In countries where our history is shorter, like the USA, Asia or Australia, Acteon is now known as a company, and the different companies like Satelec, Pierre Rolland and Sopro as divisions. Wefoundawaytokeeptheidentityofeachcom- pany in the group, while building a brand name that encompasses all of them. _Withaturnoverof €113millionandagrowth rate of 16 % in 2010, last year was a tremendous success for the Acteon Group. 80 % of sales were recorded in France. How was 2011 for you, and which markets do you consider most important for the group? 2010 was another big and successful year with a 16 % increase. In 2011, we expect another 9 % increase in sales, which is good if you consider the economic situation. Europe will “Our growth is definitely driven by innovation and quality” An interview with Gilles Pierson, CEO of the Acteon Group