Aerobloggen

During the spring we got asked by the System Engineers at Kongsberg if we wanted to come and visit their site. Of course we wanted and after some time we could set up a suitable date. Our hosts where Annette and Kristoffer and they had a busy schedule planned for our two days of visit. The set-up for their employment as a Systems Engineer is that they divide their time between studies and working at GKN. When they are finished they will get their Master and also have achieved good overall view of the company.

During our stay we got to learn more about their role at the company, general information about the site and presentations about different initiatives and projects that they are running. The evening of the first day ended with bowling together with some additional people from the company. I am proud, though a bit surprised to say that after a hard battle over two series I announce myself the unofficial champion due to the highest score in one series (let’s forget about the team competition). We had two fantastic days at Kongsberg and hopefully we get the opportunity to show our own site and city at a later time.

So back to Kongsberg, the products manufactured here are mainly ones that require advanced manufacturing methods, for example TEC:s, fixed guide vanes and shafts.

At first thought shafts might seem like a simple part to manufacture, I would lie if I said that I was any exception. What I didn’t think of was the fact that the shafts are hollow. Due to their length, a long arm is needed when machining the inner side which gives cause to vibrations in the tool. This is a major concern since rotating parts have very high demands on tolerances. To get around these problems a number of technical solutions are used to be able to secure the quality of the product.

Also I found the official GKN Norway company presentaion if you want to learn a little bit more about the site.