Now we have all soon landed safely on Swedish ground again since Wictor and Nina are landing later this evening! These two weeks on the other side of the big sea have gone faster than the wind, but we all feel satisfied about the job that we have done over there. Really fun that we got this opportunity to work with a project together with our site in Manchester, Connecticut. We have been meeting a lot of lovely colleagues who have been very helpful and advised on places we shouldn’t miss on our trip.
Exciting team outside the factory in Manchester.
We have of course also done a lot of touristy stuff and tried some of the American delicacies such as penaut butter cups (recommend!!!), weak coffee (do not recommend!!!), lobster rolls, deep-fried oysters and of course some burgers/pizzas.
Lobster rolls and deep-fried oysters.
We also visited a few bigger cities nearby such as Boston, New Haven and Providence where we pretended to be students at Harvard, MIT, Yale and Brown University. When the guys chose to spend a day in New York, we decided to go on a college game in basketball instead. Really exciting game where we ended up being some really dedicated fans to the home team UConn Huskies who finally won the match with only two points. The atmosphere felt exactly like the one seen on film!
Exciting basketball game.Really happy fans that got a photo with the mascot.
Now it is just to start washing clothes and repacking, because on Friday we are leaving Sweden once again. This time to England on a lot of company visits. To be continued…
Last week was our second activity week when we once again visited a number of exciting companies, this time we took our stuff and went to Germany and the Netherlands. Since there were a lot of different visits, I will only write about three of them in this post.
Since our trainee project is about a workshop tour in a VR environment, we decided to visit a company that works with that, to get a better knowledge in the technology and what we can use. We visited the company Kubikfoto3 in Stuhr outside Bremen. There we met Ole Leifels, who presented their company and some of the projects they have been working with, both educational ones and advertising for different companies. We also got the chance to try some of the project with VR glasses which I thought was really cool, dive into the ocean and find animals in the wild, among other things.
A happy Emelie that got to see a sea lion in VR environment.
We also took the opportunity to visit two different startup companies working in the aviation industry, which was really enlightening as they deal with current issues.
The first startup company we visited was Skel-Ex in Rotterdam, where they develop and manufacture an exoskeleton used on the upper body of those who work in manufacturing, to minimize the risk for ergonomic injuries and increasing productivity. It decreases the burden in the shoulders when working with the arms in a high position with the help of springs.
First, we met with Michael Kuiken who showed us and described their product and their manufacturing. We also got to try it and you really felt what a great relief it gave the shoulders when your arms were high up. Then, Jaap Hoogland gave a presentation about the company, its background and future plans. A really great innovation and a great value to minimize injuries in manufacturing!
Wictor is feeling strong with the exoskeleton.
The second startup company we visited was Aiir Innovations in Amsterdam, founded in 2016, where we met the founders Bart Vredebregt and Miriam Huijser. Their company works with Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a support to maintenance in the aviation industry, for inspections and repairs.
They develop a software program that analyzes video footage and detects automatically the defects in the material such as cracks or bumps. This is used as an extra pair of eyes to the operator during the inspection so that nothing is to be missed and time will be saved. We got to see an example when they filmed turbine blades in a jet engine and the defects were marked directly. It is a great value to a company since it will be a safer inspection that takes less time. Time = money!
The whole gang outside the “village” where Air Innovations has there office.
If you want to read more about these interesting and innovative companies, you can visit their websites:
Time is flying and we have already been at the company for more than two months now!
As trainees, we received the honor of being referees in two different competitions this week. On Wednesday, me, Nina and Wictor were judges on Visionsdagen, a trade fair that is a final part of the project Gnistan. Gnistan is a cooperation project between Swedish Science Centers, Young Scientists and Vattenfall, with the aim of raising youth’s interest in science and technology, as well as giving them the opportunity to engage in society development.
The competition is based on a challenge in a topic that was “Design Your Energy Smart Future – Smart Water Management” and the groups that participated in this project were students in grade 8 from Strömslundskolan in Trollhättan and Centralskolan in Grästorp. It was really fun to be part of this project and to see the commitment that the young people showed with their well-thought-out ideas. Everything from different home water meters that showed how much water the household has used and what it costs, to treatment plants that can be placed in dirty lakes in poor countries. Some very innovative projects.
The excited referees at Visionsdagen!
Now on Saturday it’s time once again, then we all got the honor to be referees in this year’s edition of First Lego League at Innovatum. This competition is a knowledge and technology competition for young people between the ages of 10-16 and their tasks have been to develope innovative solutions to problems, building and programming a robot and marketing the solution and the team. This year the theme is “Into Orbit”, which means it is all about space and its science. Below you can see a small movie about this year’s edition and the missions that the robot will be able to solve.
It will be very fun and exciting to see alltheir projects!! May the best team win!!
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.
Study visit at GKN Aerospace Norway in Kongsberg.
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.
Study visit at SKF in Gothenburg.Study visit at SKF in Gothenburg.
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.
Study visit at Volvo Cars Brand Experience Centre in Gothenburg.
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.
Visit at Aeroseum in Gothenburg.
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!!
