Ejlert Rosenkrands Olsen was born on November 20, 1920 in Holbæk. He was apprenticed as a potter at the age of 14 at a pottery factory in Holbæk. After a few years as a foreman in Middelfart, he was hired at the age of 22 in 1942 as operations manager at the newly started “Dania” pottery factory in Skive.
The linen factory was a great success and in 1947 Ejlert Olsen became director. When Dania became a limited company in 1947 with founder Jens Martin Skov, Ejlert R Olsen joined the board. As early as 1952, the factory in Skive closed and moved production to Sorring, where Dania had bought the Østjyden linen factory. Linen manufacturing was in sharp decline after the easing of import restrictions after the war, when there was easy access to new materials such as plastic.
Ejlert R. Olsen had won a competition to create a drip-free tea pot – the MEDOVA teapot – and Dania was awarded production of the pot. When production moved to Sorring, the Medova teapot moved with it, and over a million pots were made. Ejlert R. Olsen supervised the company and came for weekly visits. He continued to have a connection to Sorring into the early sixties.
Gyro and Skivehus Kork-og Asfaltfabrik
Ejlert Olsen came via Poul Møller, whom he had met during his work at Dania, for a short period at GYRO, where Poul Møller sat on the board. In August 1953, he moved to Poul Møller’s own company Skivehus Kork-og Asfaltfabrik on Godthåbsvej, where they manufactured roofing felt. In 1949, a branch was opened in Jegstrup, where they manufactured cork sheets for parquet flooring – later ISOKET. Ejlert Olsen worked both at Godthåbsvej and in Jegstrup, where he became operations manager at the cork factory, which in 1953 had 30-35 employees.
The work in Jegstrup led Ejlert Olsen to a couple of longer stays in Portugal. During his stay, he saw some Belgian WANSON hot air units designed for heating large rooms – units so simple that Ejlert Olsen could easily imagine how they could be put into production at home. The market was emerging in Denmark and it would grow as the industry picked up after the war.
Ejlert Olsen suggested Poul Møller to start producing heating units, but in 1952 Poul Møller had become director of Gyro and in 1957 he was very busy as the general manager had fallen ill. So the answer was no.
Dantherm 1958
At home, work continued on the idea. His wife Erna Olsen and friends supported him and, not least, he found Salling Bank to help finance the idea. He resigned from Skivehus Kork-og Asfaltfabrik and in 1958 the first Dantherm aggregate was manufactured, the further history is described under Dantherm.
The clay continued to have its hold on Olsen, he had his own workshop with a turntable set up on Dantherm.
Management style
The first years at Dantherm were characterized by pioneering spirit and “family”. Ejlert Olsen – Dantherm Olsen or ERO – was the undisputed leader – and the management style was “enlightened autocracy”. Works councils were set up, but they were very informal and Olsen set the agenda. Information to all employees came from Olsen as beer crate speeches or “mountain sermons”.
Ejlert Olsen hated bureaucracy and unnecessary administrative work. Product development could easily be done by sketching on the back of an envelope and after a bit of cutting and pasting “some arrogant academic could come along and draw it afterwards” as the sons say in the anniversary book from 2008.
Local involvement
During Dantherm’s growth years in the 60s, the company acquired a private plane based at Viborg Airfield. Ejlert Olsen was instrumental in the establishment of an airport in Vinkel in 1975, and among other things, he provided lighting systems on the runway by purchasing and renovating the old lighting system from Billund Airport. Dantherm’s aircraft were then stationed at Skive Airport.
Ejlert Olsen supported Skive getting a well-developed marina, he was active in the establishment of Skive Værkstedshuse and Hotel Hilltop. He received several invitations to run for local politics, but declined.
Generational change
From the 1970s, Ejlert Olsen planned to retire as CEO of the Dantherm Group when he turned 60 and then concentrate on the development department. It didn’t quite work out that way. He was the undisputed leader until 1983.
1. on December 1983 – the 25th anniversary of the start in Roslev – Ejler Olsen stepped down as CEO of A/S Dantherm. For a period after that, Dantherm went through many changes of directors, and things did not go well. Eventually, Ejlert Olsen had to sit in the CEO chair again. It wasn’t until 1990, a few months before Ejlert Olsen’s 70th birthday, that Alex H. Nielsen took over as managing director. By then, Ejlert Olsen was already suffering from illness.
10. in June 1991, Ejlert Olsen died at Skive Hospital. At the time of his death, he was still Chairman of the Board of Dantherm Holding.
Sources
- Dantherm – clean air for people 1958 – 2008 by Niels Mortensen, published by Dantherm A/S
- Skive Folkeblad June 11, 1991 p.5