Aerobloggen

Hi!

Our fourth week at GKN Aerospace was a so called activity-week, which means that two days were spent on group and leadership development while the remaining days were meant for study visits. Due to the COVID situation very few companies were interested in inviting outsiders to their sites, which resulted in that our study visits were much more limited than those performed by previous graduates.

During the development days there was a couple of group exercises done to get to know each other better and to investigate which roles we take on in different situations. These exercise were later used in order to relate the theoretical knowledge to our own actions. A lot of focus were spent on the stages that newly formed groups go through (forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning), how these stages impact the group members and what types of leadership styles that are efficient in the different stages. We also learned the basics regarding how human’s reacts to feedback and how feedback should be given in a constructive way in order to circumvent the natural defense mechanisms. These exercises were very interesting and my general opinion is that people need to become better at giving feedback.

Our first study visit was at GKNs own Global Technology Center (GTC) here in Trollhättan where we got a warm welcome, a presentation of the purpose of GTC and a guided tour. We got the opportunity to see some advanced additive manufacturing methods that they are investigating and the composite manufacturing laboratory where they are trying to automatize the process of building composite turbine blades.

The second place that we visited were the Swedish air-base F7 in Såtenäs, where we watched how the technicians prepare the Swedish fighter aircraft JAS before take-off and a couple of take-offs.  This was combined with a presentation of how the flight technicians work in general, what type of maintenance they perform on the fighter jets between flights and a close up inspection of the fighters that were currently in the maintenance hangar. I was very impressed by this visit since I have never seen the JAS-fighters in action on such a close distance before.

As a whole it was a couple of exiting days with a lot of laughter and I got the feeling that I have learned new things about all group members. Now are all the trainees preparing for new adventures and starting this week will we be on our first rotations. I will start at the manufacturing engineering department but I still don’t know what type of projects I will be working on.

See you soon.

Hello!

Last week we ended our workshop practice with presentations and tours to share with each other about what we had learned during the week. We were all in a bit different places to be able to broaden our understanding and product knowledge about the parts being manufactured here in Trollhättan. I myself followed details, so-called discs, which will later on be put in some of Pratt & Whitney’s engines (as you can see in the picture below). It was really interesting to see how the large amount of different products, which required different processing and different amount of time, actually went through the stream since these parts does not count as high volume products at the company. On behalf of the group, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank everyone out in the workshops who showed us around and shared their knowledge and took care of us during these days and I hope to see you again soon!

Due to the current situation, we have unfortunately not had the opportunity to do a physical onboarding as the previous trainees did at the beginning of the program, but luckily there is internet! J Since we started at GKN, we have started an online onboarding where we had the opportunity to listen to exciting guest speakers, participated in Q&A’s, broaden our understanding of principles, engagement and group development as well as we have gotten to know the trainees from last year’s group thanks to online meetings.

This week will be our first activity week where we will now continue to learn about group development and group dynamics. We are also very happy that we managed to book some study visits, but exactly where we are going and how it was, you will find out next week!

Hope you had a good weekend and I wish you a nice week and we will be in touch again soon!

/My

Hi all blog readers,

Now the first year has passed for us here at GKN Aerospace and oh boy does time fly when you’re having fun! During this time we have completed our first three rotations, visited two GKN sites, performed three development weeks with all Global Graduates, represented GKN at trade fairs and arranged lots of study visits at the Trollhättan site. Last but not least, we have met and been inspired by our wonderful colleagues here in the company!

Therefore, we want to thank you all for a wonderful first year and for the years to come.

As September 1st we are not the only active graduates at the Trollhättan site, so we would like to warmly welcome the next round of trainees: Jens, Emma, Robin, My and Marcus! They have taken over the blog and, as you’ve probably noticed, already posted an introduction of themselves.

Now it’s time for us to start the next chapter in our journey. This year there will be no abroad assignment due to the current situation. Instead, we will stay at the site and continue with our fourth rotation, followed by an exciting joint project.

Thank you and good bye wishes the graduates 2019!

The time has come for the new group of young graduates to carry on with the blog. We are, just like previous year, five graduates from different cities and universities around Sweden that has joined GKN Aerospace in Trollhättan. In the picture above we visited a playground in the town center that is inspired by the industrial history of the town. There is, for instance, a nozzle for the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher that is rebuilt into a slide. The nozzle is one of the many products being developed and manufactured at GKN in Trollhättan. You can read more about it here.

The first week contained lots of new information regarding the graduate program and the company. We were assigned the departments for the first rotation which is also the department each person will return to at the end of the graduate program. Each graduate will describe their department more in detail in their own posts the coming weeks. Except for the administrative activities we also enjoyed an afternoon of disc golf together with the previous young graduates.

The second week was mostly spent in the workshops and we started out by getting an insight into the Industrial Engineering Program which is a unique high-school program where students combine theoretical subject with practical work in a manufacturing workshop. In order to understand the manufacturing processes at GKN, we got try manual lathing and milling which, for some of us, was a new experience. At the end of the week we were sent out to different parts of the site to gain understanding of how each product is processed throughout the production line.

We’re all very excited and happy to finally start this graduate program and the expectations are high for future rotations, tasks and the experiences we’ll gather the coming years.

If you’re curious to know more about us you can navigate here!