The shake-up in management at the company is by no means confined to the top brass, and following continued losses this year, the head of Digital Equipment Corp Deutschland GmbH is to be replaced. According to Computerwoche, Hans-Jorg Rieder is to be replaced by Hans Wolfgang Dirkmann at the start of October. An electronic engineer and management expert of 20 years standing in the company, Dirkmann’s current position is that of managing director and chairman to the Digital-Kienzle Computersysteme GmbH acquisition. Three-figure losses have been forecast since last year’s results came out, but the situation has been exacerbated by several factors. Firstly, the setting up of a branch in Munich caused turnover to stagnate at $1,216m. Secondly, the integration of Digital-Kienzle and Philips-DV into the company also helped to bring about losses, despite the fact that only a year ago, Rieder had predicted a two-figure growth in sales. Thirdly, sales goals for VAX were not attained as customers have to wait until the New Year for the Alpha RISC chip to be delivered in commercial quantities. Nevertheless, DEC hopes that systems equipped with the chip will help the high-performance segment back on its feet during this fiscal. In addition, despite a good level of sales for personal computers and workstations, the fall in price made this area of business un-profitable. The reported losses reflect a year-long financial decline in the sales and service side of the second-largest American computer manufacturer.
