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Halden & Co. hires its first chief marketing officer in 140 years

The industrial group wants to sell directly to smaller customers

David Achebe

Published · 1 min read

Illustration: newsroom
Illustration: newsroom

Halden & Co. has hired a chief marketing officer for the first time in its 140-year history, a sign of how far the industrial group intends to go in selling directly to smaller customers.

Brightline Robotics will hold a briefing for analysts next month to walk through the numbers in more detail. Management has promised a first progress update alongside its third-quarter results.

Similar programs at rival firms have produced mixed results. In one well-known case, adoption exceeded projections within a year; in another, integration problems pushed the expected benefits back by almost eighteen months.

A survey of 400 mid-sized companies by the Northgate Survey found that 58 percent plan to increase their technology budgets next year, the highest share since 2021, even as most expect overall spending to stay flat.

The plan

Customers have welcomed the change. "Anything that shortens the time between order and delivery is good for us," said Felix Brandt, whose distribution business employs about 120 people and works with Brightline Robotics in three regions.

The project had stalled twice before, most recently last year, when a change in leadership at Brightline Robotics put several initiatives on hold. This time, the company says, the budget is approved and the contracts are signed.

The move comes as the sector adjusts to a year of slower growth. Analysts at the Northgate Survey estimate that spending in the category rose just 3 percent in the first half, compared with 11 percent a year earlier.

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