Studies and early career
Gillberg was born in Hämeenlinna, Southern Finland. His parents were engineer, sales manager Oskar Rafael Gillberg and Hedwig née Heller. He did his abitur at Helsinki Finnish Upper Secondary School in 1944 and continued his studies in Mechanical Engineering Faculty of theGeneral Manager of Suomen Autoteollisuus
In 1971 Gillberg was selected the General Manager of the ''Sisu'' vehicle producer Suomen Autoteollisuus to replace the owner-manager Tor Nessling, who had led the company patriarchally for nearly four decades. The board of SAT wanted to choose a such manager who would modernise the organisation and grow the company. Gillberg began to lead the company to a modern, more delegating management culture. He gave more responsibility and decision-making power to the department managers and with his own example Gillberg started to democratise the organisation, that had been constructed strictly hierarchical during Nessling's era. At the beginning he astounded the older and most class conscious co-workers by walking into the company canteen casually in shirtsleeves. With his own example and optimism Gillberg managed to motivate the SAT organisation to further efforts. SAT became state-owned company in 1975 and was no more listed in the stock exchange. This brought Gillberg new challenges – in addition to the business environment, he also had to handle the political pressure.Tripartite agreement
A so-called tripartite agreement, that brought British Leyland and Saab-Scania partial owners of the company, was signed in October 1976.Mäkipirtti. p. 135. However, the great expectations of the partnership failed because of the bankruptcy of British Leyland and rumours of a merger between Scania and Volvo.Investment programme
Gillberg became also the chairman of SAT in 1977. The lorry, bus chassis and special vehicle producer went through an extensive product renewal under Gillberg's leadership. The company grew fast; its turnover was 119 million marks in 1971 and in 1983 it reached 609 million. Gillberg led the company through a massive investment program. The production was changed to order based principle which improved the small company's flexibility to answer the customer requirements.Moni-Sisu bus chassis
In 1978 SAT presented the modulised Sisu SB "Moni-Sisu" ("''Multi-Sisu''") chassis on which could be built many different types of buses and special vehicles. The chassis consisted of five modules, of which each could be tailored according to the customer need without touching the other modules.Mäkipirtti: ''Sisu SB "Moni-Sisu".'' pp. 183–184.S-series lorries
Military vehicle production
Markets and facilities
The company name was changed ''Oy Sisu-Auto Ab'' in 1981. In the domestic market Sisu was the leading make among the heaviest vehicles, such as earthmoving, road maintenance and logging trucks. Share of exports reached 23% at its best. The major export articles were terminal tractors, in which Sisu-Auto became the leader in European market, and military vehicles, XA-180 in particular. Terrain capability was one of the core competences of the company. The assembly plants were located in Helsinki, Karis and Hämeenlinna. The company opened a new facility in Mäntyharju for plastic component production in 1977. The decision was influenced by political control; Finland was suffering of high unemployment rate and the government pressed the company board, which was appointed on political grounds, to move production to an area where the unemployment rate was high.Blomberg. pp. 230–231.End of Gillberg's era
The state, which was the main owner of Sisu-Auto, was not satisfied with Gillberg's work because the renewal of the model range consumed quickly the savings which were reached before. Gillberg was removed from the office at the end of 1983 and replaced by Jorma S. Jerkku, who immediately started a heavy reorganisation programme. Sampo Siiskonen, the former sales manager of Sisu-Auto and close colleague of Gillberg, has later criticised the way how Gillberg was treated by the main owner. He believed that Gillberg had potential to do much better but his leadership was too much affected by politicians and therefore his possibilities to develop the company on commercial basis were limited.Blomberg: ''Sampo Siiskonen: Sisu on aina pärjännyt – vaikeista ajoista huolimatta.'' pp. 245–248.Positions of trust
After Sisu-Auto Gillberg worked as board member for Nescor Partners which was a company that offered the know-how of senior managers for the younger generation. Gillberg wrote the 20-year history book of the company. He had positions of trust in business and industry organisations and insurance and banking companies.Political career
Gillberg was in Espoo municipality council between 1961 and 1968 as aFamily
Gillberg was married in 1950 with Aila Annikki née Viljanen (born 1929). The couple had three daughters and one boy born between 1951 and 1962.Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillberg, Erik 1926 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Finnish businesspeople Finnish businesspeople Finnish chief executives Sisu Auto