As part of the trainee program, I was 3 weeks in Stockholm last November. It was my second time in Stockholm. The first time was for the job interview one year ago. Back in Stockholm, I try to reach the reception desk through Elersvägen. That’s how I start to realize that a lot of things are changing in Octapharma AB and they are changing in a beautiful way. Since I was here the last time they finished renovating the old Brewery which is now the main office building. First time you enter the new brewery is amazing! You are immediately impressed by the elegance and the sobriety of the building and furniture. The copper decoration reminds you the past activity of the facility.

Coming from Lingolsheim, we are not very surprised by the location of the site. Stockholm and Lingolsheim shares the same configuration. The plant is just in the middle of the city! But as Stockholm is bigger, you can easily get lost in the underground corridors of the plant!

During those three weeks, I had the opportunity to get in touch with the Biopharmaceutical production, the Technical unit and the Quality Unit. It was very interesting to get involved in those departments. I’ve been in the production area to see new equipment and clean rooms. I’ve also been in the technical area, where you can see kilometers of pipes, and a lot of HVAC units, valves, instruments … This experience makes me take more in consideration the workload required to increase and upgrade utilities and laboratory capacity in our various projects to ensure safe and continuous production. These projects involve many employees from various departments as well as many suppliers. They are performed during routine production and they also need to meet the deadlines in order to respect the production plan. What a challenge!

After work, we had the opportunity to explore the city. Before coming to Stockholm, everybody lets me know how terrible the weather will be there. November seemed to be the worst month of the year. So I mentally prepare myself to the worst climatic experience and I took all of my warm clothes. In fact, except concerning the day duration, the climate was quite similar to Strasbourg. Furthermore, when you go running, Stockholm gives you a lot of beautiful and luminous sights of the city reflecting on the water.

Thanks a lot again for the very nice welcome and the good mood. It was a very pleasant journey!

Olivier