As Niclas wrote, we had the honor of experiencing some exciting and instructive days in Linköping last week. It was especially rewarding and interesting to meet some of SAAB’s young graduates. After an informative and interesting day at SAAB we had the chance to test out their advanced JAS-simulator, and apart from causing nausea and dizziness to most of the graduates, it was a pleasant experience. By the way, a bird whispered that Niclas forgot to pull up the landing gear when performing an emergency landing on the road E4 outside Linköping, but it’s probably just rumors. Now, our second rotations is turning to an end, therefore, I take this opportunity to comment on my time here at the R&T (Research & Technology) department. However, this time I was more assigned a project rather than a specific department, which of course, has been very exciting. I have no previous project management experience whatsoever, and therefore my time here has been very rewarding in terms of experience. The project I lead extends over a few years and I will therefore keep some focus on that particular project during the continuation of the graduate program. Project management is extremely fun and I can see myself working as a project manager in the future. I also want to praise my colleagues at PTC (”Production-Technology Center” a part of the R&T department) as incredibly nice and competent, and I will miss the wonderful atmosphere there.

Activity week 3 is soon upon us, and I will now hint a little about what we are embarking and which sites we will visit. Joining us for this trip will also our American graduate colleagues, and the goal is to establish a close and personal contact with them. The underlying aim of the study visits are to connect with people on site, increase the overall picture of what GKN do and how we operate globally, and at the same time, act as ambassadors for GAS. Described below are some of the sites that we will visit, all of them in England this time.

GKN Aerospace Luton is a world leader of electro-thermal ice protection system for military and civilian application. The goal is to learn more about this product portfolio from design to application.

GKN Western Approach manufacture wing structures in composite materials and there we will get an insight into the latest composite technology for aircraft structures from design to production.

GKN Aerospace Filton is the “center of excellence” for EBW (Electron Beam Welding). The main focus of this study visit will be to find out as much as possible about this additive manufacturing-technology, as well as to get an insight into the preparations for a large-scale industrialization of additive manufacturing.

GKN Driveline Birmingham is a part of GKN plc, unlike GKN Aerospace that focuses on technologies that operates in and above the atmosphere, GKN Driveline focuses on the manufacturing and developing of technologies that move on the ground, i.e. cars. Surely, it will be interesting to find out how GKN Driveline differ from us in strategic and operational management.