Aerobloggen

Last week ended with a happy mood and big smile for us trainees! Four of us trainees – Signe, Maria, Emma and myself – together with Magnus Hallberg attended last Friday the TraineeDay event in Gothenburg to represent GKN Aerospace Sweden.

What type of event is TraineeDay? The purpose of TraineeDay is to give students and young professionals all across Sweden the opportunity to gather and meet company representatives with the leading Graduate Programmes in Sweden (hint hint). During the entire day we mingled with very engaged and interested people who wanted to know more about the GKN business, where we got the pleasure to share more about is at GKN and our Graduate Programme and what it entails. To share our experiences within the programme, describing what type of challenging, fun and interesting tasks and events we have been involved with.

During the afternoon, Emma and I also held a company presentation/seminar to share more information about GKN, the industry, our Graduate Programme. Additionally, we also held a Guesstimations workshop, that was really fun for all of us involved. For those of you who has never heard of Guesstimations – the challenge is to find a reasonable answer to a question, based on sensible thought processes and personal knowledge. An example;

How long does it take for JAS 39 Gripen to travel between Gothenburg – Stockholm?

• Most of us know that the distance is around 400 km.
• Reasonable guess to max. velocity at around Mach 2 – 2500 km/h.
• From proportions – it should be less than 1/6 of an hour – less than 10 minutes!
• (Use the same question with Ariane 5 rocket and 25 000 km/h – less than a minute!)

Answers definitely varies depending on personal assumptions and time given, but the entire workshop was really appreciated and we had a lot of fun together.

The entire day was very exciting, filled with mingle and happy faces, along with a very successful seminar with a lot of questions and laughter. TraineeDay was really good and definitely something I could be a part of once again, 5/5 toasters!

/Philip

Hi there dear blog aficionados!

Now in the early morning as I am sitting on my commute from Gothenburg to Trollhättan, I am in a reflective mood, and with a smile on my face thinking back on the previous week. Of what one might wonder? Well, it certainly included intermingling, laughter and lots of pizza – in other words, the Inspiration Night!

Last Tuesday, 23^rd Jan, we young graduates arranged for an Inspiration Night for the local ITU-programme (High School programme of Industry & Technology). Over 30 interested pupils and parents joined us at this event, where they got the opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the GKN enterprise in Trollhättan and simultaneously get to know what opportunities and what the ITU-programme offer.

The evening started with an inspiring (of course) presentation held by our graduate Lisa, on education in general and within technical fields specifically, as well as sharing insights into the operations and enterprise of GKN – what we do and why that is important. Two outstanding teachers from GKN were also present – Magnus Ek and Per Ingemansson. They described the ITU-programme, shared interesting statistics, answered interesting questions and also presented what opportunities there are before, during and after ITU. Jonas Velander, a former student, was also present at the event and shared his colorful experience of the programme, which has led him to his interests and work today involving the RM12 jet engine for JAS Gripen.

Something that actually caught my attention, which I appreciate, is the flexibility in choice that ITU offers with both qualifying towards higher education as well as providing good practical hands-on experience during the time that you’re studying.

The evening was concluded with some fun intermingling and lots of pizza! It was nice to be able to speak with both parents and students, discuss education and listen to their thoughts and opinions in the matter – and gobbling substantial amounts of pizza while doing so!

We graduates are definitely repeating this event due to the positive response of the evening. Onwards, we are planning to also invite all pupil classes in secondary schools that wishes to join, and ignite even more interest for technology and spread the inspiration!

Until then,

Mr. P signing out!

Hello to all our devoted readers!

Time passes by quickly and the fall is soon overtaken by the winter cold. Other than me freezing in the quiet mornings, also some things has happened at GKN Aerospace in Trollhättan; we have had not one, but two visits the past week!

I can start off by winding the clock back to the previous Monday; all of us graduate engineers are gathered in a cozy car early in the morning, with smiles on our faces despite no morning coffee. We were on our way to Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery in Trollhättan, where we met Kim Halvorsen who is the site manager and in charge of operations. In addition, four other graduate engineers from another Siemens site (Finspång) were also there! The visit started off with an intriguing presentation by Kim, who helped us understand their on-site operations, products as well as organization and their history. Moreover, Kim continued to show us the actual workshop along with their key processes and operations in producing their products, which is mainly stationary gas turbines.  There is a lot to mention here, but to say the least, many aspects of the site was impressive – spanning from huge machines to detailed work by hand.

After our visit during the morning, the graduates from Siemens continued to join us back to GKN site for some lunch, and due to them being able to carry themselves in lunch-conversation well enough, the Siemens graduates could remain within the premises. We held presentations about GKN and our organization and site, as well as a guided tour by us around the workshops – after which, we finished the visit the only way we know how to; with fika.

But the visits did not stop there. Later in the week we also got a visit by two classes from Strömstad High School. Wednesday afternoon, we graduates were met by 15 happy pupils and two enthusiastic teachers. The entire day was then onwards characterized by tricky questions and interesting thoughts by the visitors, as well as lively presentations and several workshop tours by us graduates, in which also finally resulted in a (very) raspy voiced Philip. But the visit was great, and we graduates also learnt a lot from the pupils and their teachers.

Well then, time to stop writing and start working 🙂 

Until next time!

/Philippo

Hello there blog readers,

My name is Philip and now I finally have the opportunity to put my enthusiastic thoughts on paper, or out across the internet rather, by writing my first blogpost about my initial weeks at GKN Aerospace Engine Systems here in Trollhättan, Sweden. If you would like to know more about who I am, and my background, please feel free to have a closer look here. Regardless, I can introduce myself as a global trainee in GKNs International Graduate Program (IGP) and thus far the possibilities as a trainee in a global company seems great.

As an International Graduate I have currently landed at the department of Hot Structures for civilian jet engines, which means that I will spend the following six months here participating in differing projects and learning about the organization. For those of you not sure of what the department entails; the department name is Hot Structures because we design, analyze and participate in the entire chain for the products related to the hottest parts of a jet engine – that can go upwards temperatures of 800 degrees Celsius. The entire business area and organization of civilian jet engines is fascinating, and also plays a huge role for the entirety of GKN Aerospace.

So, what have I been doing these past weeks? A lot! Mostly, I have been working on a project that I unfortunately cannot write about, but it is as interesting as it is secretive. However, I am also apart of other projects that involves the responsibility of analysis and verification of differing components in several civilian jet engines during redesign and testing. Thus far, it has been a very enriching experience. Besides my department work, I am also involved in a trainee project working with younger students – please read Signe’s post below for more information.

The past two weeks, there have also been something called “Training Days” here at the site, where anyone can sign up for different educational courses related to the organization, aerospace industry or processes and products. Personally, I have signed up for a lot of courses, and to this point it has been really interesting throughout the sessions; where an expert within their field can explain what they do and in which direction the company is moving towards. Anything from how people work in teams to how our products actually work. Both educational and fun!

I can actually also briefly mention the International Graduate Program and how it is different from others, in case some of you readers completely confused regarding the different graduate schemes. IGP is GKNs international program that includes the entire GKN plc, across all of the divisions globally where Aerospace is one of the divisions within GKN plc. The program consists of three six-month placements followed by two more extensive placements that are 22 months each. Here, the main selling-point for me, is that you get the opportunity to travel, work with very different projects and simultaneously meet engaging and interesting people from around the globe. Signe and I is then this year’s international graduates with our first placement here in Trollhättan. In case you have more questions, just add a comment below, or contact me and/or Signe and we will be glad to respond.

Finally, I am excited about continuing my current projects here in Trollhättan, as well as stepping into new ones and further explore the possibilities within IGP. I have started looking into my coming placements abroad, however, as I already feel at home here in my department – I am in no hurry to plan my departure.

Philip signing out!