40-Year Anniversary: “I’m driven by making Frode bigger and better”

On July 1st, Jan Hansen celebrates his 40-year anniversary at Frode Laursen – a career that started as an administrative trainee and eventually led to a key role as Director of IT and Customer Service.

“I’ve worked in every department that doesn’t have wheels,” Jan laughs. With his extensive experience, he has a solid overview of the business. He was part of the transition from paper and binders to digital solutions and has played a crucial role in developing systems like WMS and TMS, which today form the backbone of operations.

“I’ve always been driven by the goal of making Frode bigger and better. That requires solid, customer-tailored solutions – ideally ones we develop ourselves. If we simply buy what everyone else is using, we don’t gain any competitive advantage,” Jan explains.

Cost-efficiency is also a key part of his work. Small optimisations can have a big impact overall, but it’s also about knowing when larger changes make sense.

“Demands from both the business and our customers keep increasing. So we constantly have to spot new trends. If we change systems too early, we risk wasting time and money. But when the timing is right, we need to be ready to act. IT and customer service must support the business – not the other way around,” he says.

Even though Jan expects the pace of change and demands to keep growing, he remains optimistic:

“Our systems work, and they’ve been refined over many years. That gives us a strong foundation. And personally, I still feel I can contribute with unique solutions together with the team. So I still want to be part of it,” he says.

Privately, Jan lives on a small country property near Vitten with his partner of 30 years.

Jan will celebrate his anniversary with a reception at Vitten Forsamlingshus on August 15th at 15:00 – everyone is welcome.