Hello!

My namn is Josh and I am one of the graduates from America that is starting my international rotation here in Trollhättan. It has been 4 weeks now since Nick, the other American´, and I started here at GKN Sweden with this year’s new trainees. We started our first week learning about the company here in Trollhättan as well as a brief experience in the apprentice school they have here at GKN. This school is designed for high school students to get an opportunity to learn to manufacturing processes and machines using manual and CNC mills and lathes. It was a great few days of learning and hands on work. This is a great opportunity they have available to the high school students in the area that provides useful skills and even an opportunity to work on the shop floor. In America students do not have an opportunity to go do this type of school/training, yet there is a large demand for operators with these skills. If you have interest in the school, take advantage of this opportunity. There are graduates from that program that work on the shop floor and decide to go to university and come back in engineering or even into the Trainee program they have here at GKN.

While the new trainees have been learning about a variety of products out on the shop floor, I have started my position for the 6 months in Trollhättan. I am working in the shop on a new program for GE’s LM9000 in new product introduction (NPI) management. Bringing on a new product involves much development, testing, engineering, and collaboration. I am working with all the members of our LM9000 team to meet our schedule to deliver the part. It can be a challenge to manage the many facets to developing a new program and it also presents many obstacles that I have to adapt to overcome. For GE the LM, which stands for land and marine, products use the jet engine design for non-aviation products such as ships or power generation. The LM9000 is designed for power generation and will be designed to generate 65 Megawatts of energy or enough to power around 6,500 homes. This engine will be an aeroderivative of the GE90-115B, the world’s most powerful jet engine.

I will also be working on an Industry 4.0 initiative here at Trollhättan. Industry 4.0 is considered the next industrial revolution with the integration of modern technology such as computers and the internet to improve different areas of companies. One of the major issues in a manufacturing facility is machine breakdowns. If the machine is not functioning properly, GKN will not be able to produce parts. The concept I will be exploring will revolve around predictive maintenance in order to reduce the downtime of machines. With modern technology, data can be collected and analyzed to determine if a machine is about to fail.   This information allows GKN to be proactive and limit the downtime of the machines. Industry 4.0 opens the door for many improvements for companies like GKN and will open opportunities for those who are interested in studying the skills to implement these improvements.

Last week the trainees were traveling to Stockholm to visit companies in the aviation and space industries! We will be sharing our experiences on this blog so make sure you look out for the posts!

/Josh