Aerobloggen

Dear World,

After a very exciting week abroad, visiting a vast amount of interesting companies throughout Europe we are finally back at our beloved site in Trollhättan, Sweden. This post will involve various interesting company visits, endeavors and stories about the places we have been at and the things we have seen. The main challenge for me as a finance trainee is to make you and myself understand all the technical terms that we encountered at each of these visits, so I ask you to overlook my lack of expertise within these areas.

So here it goes… When we arrived in the Netherlands, our first visit was to ESA (ESTEC) in Noordwijk.  One of the trainees from our group, Filip Jensen, did his internship at ESA within the Chemical Propulsion section so he managed to set up a very intense but exciting day for us. We indulged ourselves in the futuristic aura that the place gave us. The first feeling that we had when we entered the company grounds was WOW!

Our host for the day was Matthew Smith, a Chemical Propulsion Engineer who gave us the tour around the premises. The first area we visited was the Propulsion lab where an YGT (Young Graduate Trainee) introduced us the complex systems of Electric and Chemical Propulsion. The ESA Propulsion Laboratory is an operational facility in the spacecraft propulsion testing field. I think that many of us thought that this was very cool but we were overwhelmed with the complexity of it, this surely was Rocket Science.

As the tour continued, we approach what in the end happened to be my favorite, the Large Space Simulator (LSS). Within the test center where the LSS is, Satellites must be tested thoroughly before sent into space because satellites are expensive, and once in orbit they cannot be fixed. In this facility we were introduced to all the complex testing that ESTEC does on satellites. It was presented by Grezgorz Izorski, an Electromechanical Instrumentation Engineer. Inside the LSS satellites are exposed to vacuum as well as simulating sunlight, which is about 20 times stronger or more than it is on Earth. Would satellites be sent to Mercury, which is much closer to the sun than Earth, then we could be confident that the satellite would not malfunction.

Furthermore, we were introduced to the Materials Lab by Nathan Bamsey, a Materials & Process Engineer. Here, we were given an overview of the different materials that we use and how they are tested. Also, a vast amount of process are undertaken to ensure stability and robustness for the chosen materials.

In between the different facility visits we were able to meet another Chemical Propulsion Engineer named Chris Hunter. He set up an open forum of discussion, giving us the possibility to ask relevant questions encompassing the industry and the challenges that we have in the future. This visit also gave Filip the possibility to meet many of his former colleagues.

Fokker Landing Gear

The day after the tour at ESTEC, we travelled further south toward Helmond where we visited our sister company Fokker Landing Gear. Our guide for the day was Manuela Snijders, a MRO (Maintenance-Repair-Overhaul) Engineer – New Capabilities & Innovations. I have to say that I have never experienced such a warm welcome than the one we received here, big shout-out to them and everything they arranged for us.

Firstly, we got a presentation of the company as well as the trainee-program that they offer at Fokker. It differentiates a bit from ours but the end product is very much like ours, to develop and sustain young graduates within the company. Additionally, we got a tour throughout the manufacturing plant to see what sort of products they produce. You don’t realize how important and advance the landing gears are as well as how much weight they are exposed to. They use a block of metal that weighs about 22 ton and simulate a real-life scenario where the weight is moving 8 m/s onto the wheels. To understand the physics, the block of metal (1/3 airplane) weighs 22,000 kg and moves at 8 m/s toward the ground (which is very fast and unpleasant landing). Making the momentum: 22,000 * 8 = 176,000 kg*m/s. In other words, a large amount of momentum is distributed onto one pair of wheels?!! Hereon, we walked throughout the rest of manufacturing to see their machines and how they produce their products. It was much like our own plant in Trollhättan except for the end product.

Towards the end of our visit, we engaged ourselves with the Fokker employees and former trainees at the plant in a “speed dating” session. Here we got the chance during 5 minutes to engage ourselves in a more in-depth conversation with each individual. We all thought this was a great way of networking to get a deeper understanding of their day-to-day activities. Something that amazed many of us were their way of presenting up-to-date data on screens, involving performance of machines, financial results, health rates as well as working capital

Airbus Space & Defence

For the final stop on our tour through Europe, the trainee group was treated to an inspiring site tour at Airbus Defence & Space in Leiden, Netherlands. While there we were introduced to Senior Systems Engineer, Henk Cruijssen, who taught us about some of the projects and technologies that they work on at Airbus. After a brief presentation, he walked us through a few of their test labs and manufacturing facilities to touch and see the materials that go on their satellites. Before leaving for home, we had a short Q&A with Henk about the aerospace industry and the roles we play.

Thank you for this time, and I wish you all the best but more specifically a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!

Until next time.

Hey there!

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.

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!

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!

If you want to read more about these interesting and innovative companies, you can visit their websites:

Kubikfoto³: https://www.kubikfoto.de/en/#Home

Skel-Ex: http://www.skel-ex.com/ 

Aiir Innovations: https://aiir.nl/index.html 

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.

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 all their projects!! May the best team win!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY1Z9kK71jQ

 

Hello, our devoted blog readers!

It’s now my turn to write a few lines about my first time at the company, hold on, it has happened a lot in just a few weeks!

I am currently working at my home department where we work with Lean and Logistics, a department that soon will be called Operational Excellence, and I’ve been enjoying it very much! During the 4 weeks that I have been here I’ve got the opportunity to get to know the lovely people who work here and the vibe of the department. As a graduate engineer, you work at your home department for 10 weeks before you change to a new department, which is a relatively short period of time when you are new at your post. Therefore, I’ve tried to capture the context of the department and tried to be involved in the projects that has appeared. I’ve been working with visualization of value flows and operations, the 5S method, and at the moment I work with SOLV (which my colleague Karin Thörnblad has created) which is an optimization model for optimizing production scheduling. Thanks to this, I have met and worked with many people with different posts at the company, and that has been the most interesting part!

In addition, Wictor Dörrich and I got the opportunity to attend a workshop last week where we discussed branding, and I will soon attend another workshop where we will discuss strategies in the field of environment. These are such inspiring meetings which I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to participate in!

And finally, I have one more update – We have got our trainee assignment for this year! We will work with VR technology during this year and create a virtual study visit at GKN Aerospace Engine Systems in Trollhättan, with purpose to inspire people with interest in technology to seek and apply to positions at our company. An exciting project that will give us an increased knowledge about VR and hopefully result in a tools that the company can use for future PR purposes!

On top of all this, snow has fell over Trollhättan and the city is now beautifully covered in cripsy white snow. I wish you a great week! Cheers!

/Nina Nordberg

Dear blog readers!

Last week was a special one at GKN in Trollhättan, we had what is called Training Days which is a week full of lectures and presentations from different disciplines within the company. The purpose of Training Days is to educate the personnel and to provide all employees with new information and possibilities so that one can develop in the daily work. Courses that were offered were everything between heart and lung rescue, employeeship and Additive Manufacturing (AM).

One course that all of us trainees attended to was the introduction course in Jet engine theory where the basics of how a jet engine works is stepped through. A great course for new employees but also very giving for employees who want to refurbish their knowledge. One thing, among many other things, that we went through is the intake of air and ways of compressing it. More specifically we went through the philosophies of radial compression (Centrifugal compressors) and axial compression.

Radial compression works by taking in air and compressing it by forcing it in a radial direction which usually ends up in the engine and aircraft being quite chubby looking. One typical aircraft ‘suffering’ from this look is the Swedish air force aircraft called Saab 29 Tunnan. The design of such a jet engine is quite simple but very robust with few rotating parts. Although being robust is a good thing, this very design allow for less parameters to be optimized or allow for changes in the design.

Another type of jet engine is an engine with an axial compressor instead. The air is being pushed axially along a rotating shaft from left to right seen in the picture above. This is often done by several compressor stages e.g. a Low Pressure Compressor (LPC) and a High Pressure Compressor (HPC), each compressor stage usually being a set of rotors. Here the design becomes a bit longer but less chubby and usually having a lot of different parameters that can be optimized or re-designed. An example of an aircraft having this kind of an engine is the Swedish air force aircraft called JAS 39 Gripen….and basically all other modern aircraft.

Common for the two different kind of engines is that there always has to be a combustion stage to add energy to the system. After the air has been compressed it is mixed with kerosene and ignited. The hot gas propagates further down in the engine, it sets the turbines in motion which are driving the different compressor stages and the fan which in turn allow for more air intake. Further, the gas is guided out from the engine, here though a nozzle which purpose is to further accelerate the gas so that a greater thrust can be achieved. After that it is all up to Newton’s Third Law to generate thrust in the direction of travel.

Thanks Newton!

The purpose of this blog post did not intend to give a short introduction in jet engine theory, but I guess that is what happens when one gets a bit to enthusiastic about technology, science and stuff. Perhaps you learned something or perhaps you found the lack of explanation annoying! Sorry about that!

One popular way of describing a jet engine can be done with the following figure.

Hello blog lovers!

We are happy to announce that we had our first external visit this week! A friendly group of Graduates from Siemens, Finspång, came to the GKN site in Trollhättan this wednesday and we were very happy to show them around. We presented our companies and graduate programs to eachother and found that there are many similarities between them two, but also interesting differences. Afterwards, they got the chance to see parts of our factory as we followed a product along its operations and processes through the work shops.

Thank you, Sanna Alladin, Nicky Dahl Alfredsson, Nathalie Hideborg, Simon Täufer and Andreas Wedberg! It was a pleasure having you over and to get to know you.

We look forward to keep in contact, and hopefully we will see you soon in Finspång!

Hey blog readers! It’s Zenas Del Rosario—your friendly, neighborhood, American trainee. I’ve been in Sweden for about a month now and am proud to say that I’ve settled in just fine.

Flying in to Gothenburg from the US last month, I took no time before diving right into Swedish culture by taking in the sites. Shopping centers, museums, theme parks, OH MY! I was blown away by how beautiful the city looked. After an impromptu tour of Gothenburg by bus, I took a train through the countryside to my current home in Trollhättan. Thank goodness everyone here knows how to speak English! If not, I would have had a much harder time navigating my way around. I’m sad to say that I fell behind with my Swedish language lessons, but am happy that everyone here has been so accommodating. Other than the fact that the scenery is so much greener, Sweden feels just like California.

I took advantage of the weekend to unpack and explore Trollhatan to get my bearings, then started work at GKN Sweden that Monday, September 10th. Compared to GKN El Cajon, GKN Sweden is so much bigger. Walking around here is like roaming through a small city! An ID photoshoot, facility tour, and trainee meet-and-greet later, I was introduced to Workshop X and my coworkers in the Manufacturing Engineering Department. For those curious about what I’ll be working on, I’ll be using my expertise to support the GE New Product Introduction team as we troubleshoot problems, identify root causes, and work hard to fabricate shafts and rotors that MAKE THINGS FLY! The next 5 months here look to be exciting and full of learning opportunities. I’m ready to take on the challenges and perform at my very best!

Before signing out and flying on, I’d like to give props to the GKN staff and Graduate Trainee Network. The tips, tricks, and advice shared have been extremely helpful for assimilating into Swedish work culture and day-to-day life. For example, as the saying goes, “it never rains in Southern California.” If former El Cajon trainee, Nick Ninivaggi, hadn’t told me about the absolute need to buy a raincoat, I’d have been completely soaked through by now. Good golly, does it rain a lot around here! Bye until next time, readers.