First activity week done.
The fourth week of the young graduate program is a so-called activity week where we get the opportunity to visit different companies and also strengthen the group dynamic with some team building. This week was last week, which means a fully planned activity week with several study visits at different companies and ended with two days at Bohusgården with some leadership training.
Monday started early with a road trip (where Filip found his favorite spot in the middle seat) up to Kongsberg in Norway for a visit at GKN Aerospace Norway. They have close to 500 employees and we got the honor to meet Håvard Norum, the head of their technology department and two master students who do half their education at GKN. We received a very good welcome and learned a lot about their organization and production of different components for different airplane engines. Really interesting to see and hear how they have it there.
Tuesday also started with a long drive, from Kongsberg down to Gothenburg where a study visit to SKF was on the schedule. SKF is a technology company that mainly designs and manufactures different bearings; ball bearings, roller bearings and slip bearings for several different industries and applications. Among other things, we saw their production and parts of it have been much automated with robots and self-going trucks. Super cool! We also had a chat with Anneli Sundblom who told us about her trip in the company and tips and tricks that we can think of in our careers.
Wednesday’s first visit was at Volvo Cars in Gothenburg and a tour with the blue train, where we were taken to the production and got to see how automated it is with all their robots which are more than the number of employees in that workshop.
Then we got to visit their Brand Experience Centre where we got to see and hear a lot of their innovations that make life better and easier and you really wanted to get a new nice Volvo after that. Just start saving money! We also learned that we have a baby elephant among us, Wictor, if he was going to crash with a car at a certain speed.
Last at Volvo, we got to visit their aftermarket and see their giant inventory, but now it is getting too small with all their products. It was interesting to see how their logistics works and all the trucks in motion. Felt like a highway with trucks, a miracle that they do not collide!
The day did not end there, as we also visited Aeroseum in Gothenburg where we got to see several different fighter aircraft throughout the ages and their history. Our children’s mind came alive again when it became a lot of play and fun.
The last two days were spent at Bohusgården where we had educations in group and leadership. There we also had the traditional trainee baptism in the sea that this year was done in a stormy and cold sea. Now that we have survived this intense week, the first rotation begins at our home departments, where in my case is on the military side, where I will be part of a design project of the RM12 engine. Super excited!!
Good times!