Aerobloggen

After a few weeks it is now time for an update from California.

As a start the working hours are generally longer here. There are no punch system as the one we have back home and the employee expects to put the time necessary to finish the tasks given with a minimum of about 9 hours per day. This is however the minimum and I estimate closer to an average of 10 hours so far.

After some initial speed bumps due to Export control- and IT-issues I finally got to start working. Initially I will focus most of my time evaluating a manufacturing concept for the 737 project. So far it has been very interesting and the tasks vary from material testing, design work to FEM analysis. Besides this I will also be a part of a joint venture project between Trollhättan and ASTECH but more on this later.

Boeing 737 Max is the big project over here at the moment and for ASTECH the contribution will be the engine inner wall made out of Titanium honeycomb sandwich panels. To be able to ramp up towards the large expected volumes the site has put a lot of effort trying to create a highly automated manufacturing process.

The advantage of the honeycomb structure is that you can create light structures with high strength and good acoustic properties.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_structure.

As mentioned before I have been housing some friends from back home and during weekends we have made another trip to San Diego and one to Las Vegas. Huntington Beach is famous for its surfing and I would be stupid not to give it a try while here. I can say it’s not easy but hopefully I will improve enough during my three month to be able to call myself a surfer.

Previous week we got visitors to ASTECH from Trollhättan. It were the last year students from the Industrial High-school programme in collaboration with GKN that had their finishing trip abroad before graduation. Here they got a lecture about the site, a shop floor tour and the opportunity to ask questions regarding projects and how it is to work in America. During Memorial Day they all were free to do what they wanted and I got to host Magnus & Magnus which followed the class as supervisors. We spent the day shopping at one of the outlets, hanging out in Huntington and finished off with BBQ with Jerry which is one of the other Swedes working here.

According to previous year’s blog posts from the Internship abroad, list with experiences has been very popular. Guess I give it a try myself as well!

• Finally learned how to respond to everyday greeting phrases like “Hi, how you doing?” or “HI, what’s going on?”. Clue, don’t ever respond to the actual question if the person doesn’t actually care and want to know. Because if you don’t respond then you are impolite. Sound unnecessary complicated? You bet!
• Seen people rent Scooters for their shopping since they don’t bother to walk.
• Made my first pathetic attempt learning how to surf.
• Had lunch at an American Diner out in Nevadas Desert
• Been driving an average of 120km per day, how are you otherwise supposed to get anywhere?
• Implemented Taco Tuesday as a weekly routine.
• Started to care about the dollar exchange rate in an almost unhealthy way (Salary still paid in SEK).

/Martin

When you spend a longer period of time in another country, far away from friends and family, it might happen that anniversaries falls during this time. Today is such a day, more specific my 26^th birthday. Happy birthday to me! It might not be the same thing to celebrate 26 years as 6 years, but a couple of “Happy Birthday” in my Facebook feed is nice anyway. As a small celebration, I took the opportunity to spread the tradition of “Fika” here at GANE. I know that former Swedish employees and graduates here have tried before, but it seems to be forgotten now. A chocolate cake might revive the tradition?

Unfortunately, I cannot spend my whole day eating cake, I have to do some work as well. My quality project with my supervisor Ryan is taking two steps forward and one back. Since no one here has worked in the software system before, we come across obstacles every now and then that we need to pass. It is kind of frustrating, but at the same time interesting to be involved in this kind of project. It demands for flexibility, new thinking and a large portion of stubbornness!

Last Friday, I and Anders got the chance to vary our work with a trip to the GKN site North Charlestown, situated two hours by car north of Newington in the state of New Hampshire. We were greatly welcomed by Steve who showed us the quite small and noisy workshop and thereafter had lunch with us. It was an exciting visit that differs a lot from what me and Anders are used to in Trollhättan.

 

Saturday, we go for our next trip, this time outside of work. Since Monday is Memorial Day we will take the opportunity to go to Cape Cod and Marthaäs Vineyard over the weekend. We have, among other things, heard that president Obama himself has a summer house there… Last weekend we spent in New Haven and the Yale University. We happen to pick the graduation weekend for our visit, so there were a lot of students in graduation clothes and well dressed proud parents! We felt a bit underdressed in our shorts and t-shirts, but still got a sentimental trip down memory lane, remembering our own time as students and graduations. We had lunch at a student café that had a clear vibe of raw food and healthy beverages. I think Anders summarized our experience of American food culture when he stated that his avocado sandwich probably was the most healthy he had eaten during the whole time in the US!

With some pictures from the day at Yale, I end this blog post. See you soon!

 

Time goes and I have soon spent three weeks in Cincinnati!

One day of rest to try to get rid of the jet-lag, was all I got before the work started, which was not quite enough. Anyway, I had to drag myself out of the bed and over to the breakfast and then get into the car to drive (yes… drive, because there are no sidewalks here) the three minutes to work.

At the site I met with a whole new group of people, where Rich and Oskar were perhaps the most important to remember. These are the two people that will supervise and help me with my work during my time in Cincinnati.

Rich had been working within the aerospace/space/defence industry for a long time before he joined GKN about two years ago as Director of Technology, Quality, Health and Safety for the sites in eastern USA (EPE, Engine Products East).

Oskar is sent here from Trollhättan on a mission to work with quality improvements and has been in Cincinnati since August last year.

These two gentlemen are my supervisors for the work I’m supposed to do here in Cincinnati. What am I then supposed to do here?

The past weeks I have intensely worked with preparation of the launch of a new document management system for all of EPE, where a lot of the focus has been on developing user manuals and descriptions on how to use the system. A lot of the time has been spent on trying to learn the software and understand how to convey this to a greater audience.

Moreover I have also been tasked with producing a EPE-wide Policy for change control and how to handle change request from our customers. From customer request, to evaluation and offering, to implementation of changes.

In short it’s a lot different from the work I’m supposed to do in Trollhättan in September, which on the other hand makes it a lot more interesting!

Finally I’ll give you some non-work related pictures!

 

A few weeks into our internship over here in Newington, we have not only had time to (somewhat) adapt to the American life but we have also had time to get into our tasks at the office.

Just like in Trollhättan, many things here circle around Pratt & Whitney’s new engine family PW1000G. I have therefore been placed at the purchasing department to help prepare and map our supplier base for the PW1000G engines, before the production volumes skyrockets next year. The plan is that this work also will incorporate some supplier visits, which will give me a chance to see some of the reality away from the planning table. At the same time, I have also started with a task in the other end of the business here with market studies for another GKN site here in New England. Very exciting!

I have not been all work for us here, Cecilia and I have also had time to see some of Connecticut. Our American colleagues have been quick to suggest things to do, like favorite restaurants, hiking trails or casinos to visit. Our last outing took us to Mystic, a small summer town near the border to Rhode Island, where they had restored a 19^th-century seafarer village. A nice change to all the shopping malls and highways you usually see on your weekdays!

 

 

Finally it is time for me to start my last rotation in the states. This rotation will be spent at our site located in Santa Ana which is located in Los Angeles. The site in Santa Ana is actually not a part of the engine systems sub division but rather the Aerostructures. It is going to be fun to what types of differences there are between products and way of working.

The last days in Sweden I would expect to be quite calm, this was however not the case. A lot of things where to be taken care of before I should leave and in the middle of this, the trial days for next year graduate programme were held. I got the opportunity to assist during some of the assignments which was very learning. I can barely understand that it is already one year since I was there myself. Unfortunately I can’t give any details since a part of the trail days is the fact that you don’t know what’s going to happen. However, I would like to send a shout out to everyone who where there. You all did very well and I hope that you feel satisfied with your performance. It will be exciting to see whom of you that I will meet again this spring.

During the last days in Sweden I also managed to have time for a concluding presentation of some of the work done during my latest rotation as well as a last lunch with the Thesis workers. This spring we’ve had about 50 people doing their thesis at our site and I hope that you have enjoyed your time with us.

Besides all the work at our site, a lot of time was spent figuring out what to bring and what not. Since my inner voice constantly tells me to bring everything I can think of I probably spent at least twice the time unpacking unnecessary items then I did packing.

But enough of my week in Sweden, last Thursday I arrived to Los Angeles and my first weekend were spent in San Diego. Here I got to visit one of my old College classmates who’s studying at the San Diego university. It was a really nice town and I can understand why he choose to go here for his studies.

Generally in the states I have noticed that as expected, people are a lot more outgoing compared to the people back home. One great example is when me and my friend was playing tennis yesterday, a neighbor came and offered us some homemade pizza. Can’t say that has never occurred during my years back in Sweden.

This week is my first at work and hopefully I have more to tell an my next blog post in a couple of weeks.

The first days in Newington has passed without any disasters for me and Anders. I have survived driving in five-lane highways, service visit from our Internet supplier since my router wouldn’t start and gigantic pasta portions at one of near located lunch restaurants. We came to the US Thursday evening after 15 hours of travelling. After a couple of days suffering from jet lag we were ready for the first day at our sixth, final and longest internship. We will stay for three months this time and I think I speak for both me and Anders when I say that it will be nice to actual stay a little longer at one place this time. It is harder than one might think to change work place, work task and colleagues every sixth week.

 

GKN Aerospace Newington, or GANE as it is abbreviated, is located close to the city of Hartford in the state of Connecticut. About 120 employees spend their days here so it is a much smaller site than Trollhättan. They manufacture among other enormous fan cases (the large parts in the very front of a jet engine). They also receive some products from Trollhättan, which they machine and then send back to Sweden. Here, I am working with the quality department and will work closely together with a guy called Ryan. Together we will perform a quality project which will continue when I have gone back home. I have these days taken some responsibility for the project leading, something I specialized myself within during my master and therefore finds really interesting! It is always fun to be using theoretical knowledge in practice!

 

Besides working we are off course hoping for some sightseeing in beautiful New England and experience some American social life. We have already been visiting Mark Twain’s house in Hartford and had an “Happy Hour” with some of the colleauges from GANE and the nearby site in Manchester.

Until I write here again, I wish you a good time!

Well, then it’s only me and Martin left.

Now taht the other trainees have left the country, it’s only me and Martin left in Trollhättan, if you exclude every other non-trainee. A little bit less stressfull, fewer meetings and perhaps a bit more boring?

But I believe we shall manage! Now that the visa application process is done, the accommodation booked, car booked and information regarding starting date and time, dress code etc. is sorted out, I believe it’s time to take a step back and relax for a moment. I’m ready for Cincinnati, the question is though, is Cincinnati ready for me?

The last few weeks have been busy with trips, meetings, planning and a couple of presentations.

Talking about presentations… We presented our trainee assignment for a group of people from various departments and positions within the company. The assignment we received half a year ago tasked us with finding out and investigating what trends in the society that affects the choice of employer for newly graduated young students, as well as what expectations they have on the company and how well GKN Aerospace in Trollhättan meets these.

I can’t say anything else but that the presentation was a success! We got really positive feedback from people from the shopfloor, from our departments as well as managers and company board members!

It will be most interesting to see what kind of changes the company will go through these following months and whether or not our analysis and presentation will have had any impact!

Next time you’ll hear from me will be from the land of the free…

It is now really close to departure to the great land in the west, as half of the young graduate group is leaving for the US in next week. Cecilia and I are going to Newington in Connecticut, where we will spend our three month long internship abroad. Everything needed for the trip should now finally be in order, after quite some time and effort to get apartment, rental car, internship position and visa arranged. The last preparation was therefore a visit to the US embassy in Stockholm for the mandatory visa interview.

The site in Newington has been a part of GKN Aerospace since 2005, but then under the Volvo Aero name. Due to this, many Swedes are working there on a permanent basis and it has been rumored that the site has been somewhat Swedicized, but I still hope to experience some American culture also in the office (read: doughnuts and Casual Fridays). The fact that the city is 1,5-2 h from both New York and Boston will probably not make the stay any less fun. The cultural experience is actually a major reason to our stay abroad during the graduate program.

Looking forward to reporting here again when I have been on-site for some time!

 

Last Thursday, something rather unusual happened here at GKN: 45 girls of ages 13 to 19 years came to the company! The mission of the day was to explain the question that always appear – what does an engineer really do?

The visit was arranged in collaboration with the voluntary organization IGE Day, where IGE stands for “Introduce a Girl to Engineering”. The purpose is, as the name applies, to get more women to the engineering profession. GKN is probably not unique with more male engineers and operators than female, and even if the number of female engineering students is growing in Sweden, the most people I have spoken with agree that we need more women in the engineering business.

However, the number of women in the business you can discuss forever, but the focus of the day was of course on the exciting girls that had arrived! Most of them were there together with their class and their teacher, but some of the girls were there on their own. At arrival at 9 AM they got some fruit and juice which they brought to the aula where I greeted them welcome. Thereafter some of our female engineers spoke about their background, their way to the engineering profession and what they do today. After the presentation we went together to our big gymnastics hall to find out how you can think when you are about to develop a product and produce it.

The girls were divided into teams and got instructions to fold one paper plane each. A deep concentration and silence appeared in the hall when all the girls got to work. Each team tested their paper plane and the planes that flew the longest were chosen to be further developed. The teams created a drawing of how their plane was folded and was then assigned to mass produce the plane according to the drawing. They also got to divide the folding among them and was asked to takt the production flow, all according to Taylor’s principles and the LEAN work of GKN. The teams also got to switch drawings with each other to try to understand someone else’s drawing, something that is not always that easy. After one hour the hall was full of paper planes and it was time to move one to the next activity…

Again our visitors were divided into groups, but this time the groups were departed. The girls in the ages of 12 to 15 were sent to our Industry School which lies in our manufacturing facilities where Magnus Ek took them for a guided tour. They were also given a metallic ring and got their names written on them.

The older girls went either to one of our lecture rooms with computer or to the material lab. The latter group were introduced to the microscopes and learned about how metals look like up close. The group in computer lecture room got instead to try our CAD software. It turned out to be harder than it looks like but most of the girls were engaged in the task with enthusiasm and talent.

After the group activities the girls were offered lunch and then the visit was over. Some journalists from the local newspapers were invited and interviewed some of the girls, who thereafter happy went back to their schools. Did we succeed with our mission to explain what an engineer does? We think so, based on what some of the girls commented in the end of the day. Hopefully we have inspired some of them to choose engineering or technical educations in the future!

During the spring we got asked by the System Engineers at Kongsberg if we wanted to come and visit their site. Of course we wanted and after some time we could set up a suitable date. Our hosts where Annette and Kristoffer and they had a busy schedule planned for our two days of visit. The set-up for their employment as a Systems Engineer is that they divide their time between studies and working at GKN. When they are finished they will get their Master and also have achieved good overall view of the company.

During our stay we got to learn more about their role at the company, general information about the site and presentations about different initiatives and projects that they are running. The evening of the first day ended with bowling together with some additional people from the company. I am proud, though a bit surprised to say that after a hard battle over two series I announce myself the unofficial champion due to the highest score in one series (let’s forget about the team competition). We had two fantastic days at Kongsberg and hopefully we get the opportunity to show our own site and city at a later time.

So back to Kongsberg, the products manufactured here are mainly ones that require advanced manufacturing methods, for example TEC:s, fixed guide vanes and shafts.

At first thought shafts might seem like a simple part to manufacture, I would lie if I said that I was any exception. What I didn’t think of was the fact that the shafts are hollow. Due to their length, a long arm is needed when machining the inner side which gives cause to vibrations in the tool. This is a major concern since rotating parts have very high demands on tolerances. To get around these problems a number of technical solutions are used to be able to secure the quality of the product.

Also I found the official GKN Norway company presentaion if you want to learn a little bit more about the site.