Vilhelm Industries

History:
Vilhelm Industries is an Imperial registered sector wide corporation based on Gerim in the Caledon subsector of Reavers' Deep. The Chairman of the Board and CEO of Vilhelm Industries is William Morgan Vilhelm II, the head of a highly respected merchant family on Gerim. Vilhelm Industries has been a family-run business for five generations and was registered in 916.
The company operates large numbers of merchant ships across the sector and has land holdings on many of the worlds. These merchant operations cover both Reavers' Deep and Daibei sectors, including Imperial, Solomani and independent state space. In the last fifty years Vilhelm Industries has started to diversify more, purchasing shares in a dozen other smaller companies that are showing promise. Especially noticeable in the last ten years is the fact that Vilhelm Industries has won major Imperial contracts and has a virtual monopoly on some routes.


Divisions/Corporate Structure:
Vilhelm Industries is divided into five divisions; bulk transports, general shipping, bulk cargo ship construction, cruise liners and special purpose carriers. Each division is run by one of William Vilhelm's children as a separate entity. Some of the best known examples of the ships include the Type D Frontier Trader, the Sampson Bulk Carrier and the Elegance Lines luxury liners. These ships are constructed from tech level 10 through 13, depending on which of the half dozen Vilhelm Industries shipyards they are built in.


Corporate Culture:

Vilhelm Industries is run with a very open structure, with inventiveness and business skills highly rewarded. Employees can rise to almost any position within the companies, given the right skills and success. Only the president and Vice-president positions of each company can be held by a family member, although it is possible to marry into these positions.
There is generally an open door policy for ideas and plans and anything not illegal will be considered. Due to some high level contracts with the Imperial military Vilhelm Industries has kept a clean record within Imperial boundaries. Outside the Imperial borders control of executives are a little more lax. Below is the Vilhelm Industries corporate logo.

Corporate Affairs/criticisms:
As stated above Vilhelm Industries has kept a very clean record within Imperial circles and has won a lot of contracts with the Imperial Army and Navy over the last ten years. It is rumoured that these contracts were given as personal favours to Count William Morgan Vilhelm III, the youngest son of the Vilhem family.
The Count spent 20 years with the Imperial Navy where he served for many years as an Attaché. The title of Count was bestowed on William III for services to the Navy. Currently there is no proof of these rumours however discontent continues to rise against companies directly run by William III and this has caused some conflict within the family.
Criticisms have also started to rise in recent years against Vilhelm Industries exploration arm, Frontier Trading, due to perceived conflicts with trading companies from the Principality of Caledon and the Carrillian Assembly. These conflicts are always caused by Frontier Trading's habit of arming its Frontier Trader class of ships with heavy energy weapons.

Current Projects:
Current projects of note are a new class of 10,000 dTon bulk carriers and a contract for a new line of 30k dTon light cruisers destined for the Solomani border of the Daibei sector. The prototype cruiser has already been delivered and accepted by the Imperial Navy. There are rumours of a joint research facility with the Imperial Navy at Aries however all parties deny these rumours.

Stock ownership: Vilhelm Family - 100%