Hello everyone!

As the headline is referring to, during my current project, I got the opportunity to work with the division where it all started – the Agriculture division, in Malmö. I would say that if you get the chance to work for the agriculture division, you should take it. It is really an interesting area with a lot of different businesses, where no one is the other alike. We have the grain unit, which buys and sells grain, both internally and externally. Secondly, we have the feed unit, something I didn’t know before is that the feed recipes are changed every other week because of supply of raw material. Thirdly, we have the unit selling seeds for both grass and grains. In this unit the commodity goods are also a part, for example fertilizer and niacin. And fourthly, since some years ago, Machinery is also a part of the agriculture division.

My current project is an operating capital project. This is a really interesting project since Lantmännen is putting more focus on the operating capital. Up until now I have worked on a model with how all agriculture units should budget the operating capital. This model will being tested this week with the purpose to set the budget for 2020. Now my focus will be on providing a tool to simulate the working operating capital.

During our first week at Agriculture, Moa and I went threshing with Joel (previous trainee) – a lot of fun!

Otherwise, a lot of exciting things are happening at the moment, as previous trainees have mentioned, we are in phase of applying for positions after the trainee program. Also, we are approaching the end of our Strategic Group Assignments, and in a few weeks we will present our findings for several other representatives at Lantmännen.

Next time I’m writing a blog post it will be the last week of the trainee program, until then – have a great time!

/Lovisa

Hello again!

We are just approaching the end of our third projects and soon it’s time for vacation. It is crazy how fast this time has run by! This last project, I have been working at Swecon with mySwecon, the new web-app where customers for example can order services of their machines. I have really enjoyed my time at Swecon where I have felt as a part of a greater team, which really has motivated me. I’ve got to see a lot during my three months, I have visited 15 branches, met customers, worked together with the IT team in Stockholm as well as worked closely with personnel from the office in Dusseldorf and Eskilstuna.

One really cool part during this project was when we visited the mine Aitik in Gällivare, which is Sweden’s largest open-pit copper mine. The machines working in this mine were huge, one of them you can see in the picture below. 

I thought of taking some time and reflect on what I have learned during these ten months at Lantmännen, and give some tip to future trainees, I’ve listed three out of many learnings below 🙂 

• Feel ownership of my project. When you’re starting a new project and you know you will only be there for three months, the feeling can be that its hard to own the project. However, I have learned that I develop myself and perform the best when I feel ownership of my project from the very first start.
• Involve others in my project. It is when you get different perspectives and discuss that the best ideas arise. Talk to a lot of people around you, many of them have a lot of great experience that can help you get ahead of your project. Involve others in your thoughts, reflect and discuss. But also, create your own little project groups within your project.  
• Get inspired by good leaders around me. Reflect on what leadership style you like and what you don’t like and let the good leadership skills inspire and influence you to become a great leader and team member.

After the summer you will find me in Malmö, working with an operating capital project within agriculture!  

All the best!

/Lovisa

Hi again everyone!

We have just started our third project and after two projects within the food sector (Cerealia and Unibake), I am now working on a project within Swecon, which is the construction equipment reseller of Volvo’s machines. Swecon is in the development process on a webb-app, called mySwecon, where customers will be able to get an overview of their machine fleet, book services and much more. The launching of this app is TODAY- really exciting to be part of a project where so much is happening! One part of my project is to research further functions to include in this webb-app. Next week we are going to the world’s biggest fair, Bauma in Munich, to promote mySwecon and see what the competitors are up to.

So what I done since last time we talked in our neighbor-country Copenhagen? I have been working for Unibake International, the global headquarter of Unibake, where I worked on a health and nutrition concept. During the last couple of years, we have seen a trend raising in the area of health, and there are people excluding bread from their diet because bread are seen to be unhealthy. However, if a bread is unhealthy or healthy depends on the bread, there are a lot of bread that is high in fiber and wholegrain for example. As a leading bakery, of course, we want to emphasize this, so my project was to research what does our healthy portfolio look like and how should we communicate it. I also got to see a lot of the organization, for example on the picture below I joined my instructor at a workshop with the Danish organization, in Holstebro. The workshop was about how we could work to decrease the complexity in the production, but we also had some tasting activities.

I also want to share a picture from our recharge in Norrköping. During this recharge we got the opportunity to visit Lantmännen Agroetanol, which is the largest biorefinery in the Nordic region. We got to learn how they produce etanol and carbonic acid from waste of the food industry.  We were also introduced to upcoming plans for Agroetanol, and they are truly a great example of a company emphasizing circular economy.

Wishing you all a great day!

/Lovisa

Hi again!

Last week we had our first training session, which was great! This training was about self leadership and professional accumen. We focused a lot on getting to know each other better as a group and feeling secure with each other. We also talked a lot about how to utilize our strengths.

Many things that we discussed turned into the subject of showing vulnerability, and how it is the key to connecting with others. When feeling connected and secure you perform better, and you express your thoughts to a greater extent.

Dinner together (Mikkel is behind the camera)

The training session was in a really nice area close to the water. There was also a sauna where we spent our evenings together, disussing important and less important stuff.

The view from the ballcony

Moa getting some fresh air between the sessions

A tip from the training is to write down what you need to work on, for example asking for feedback, setting reachable targets, dare to ask for more specific coaching, and finally set a target and a timeframe.

Until next time, take care!

/Lovisa and Johan

Hi everyone!

The first half of the first project has now gone by, and it’s my turn to say hi!

Last week Johan wrote about his project at Unibake, and now the honor of writing the blog has turned to me. I’ll tell you about my first period in the other part of the food division, Cerealia 🙂

Moa, Johanna and I

My mission is to study our warehouse in Järna, where Cerealia is holding inventories for well-known brands such as AXA, Kungsörnen and GoGreen. The purpose of doing so is to evaluate if there is potential for an even more optimized way of managing the inventory.

I studied business and management control at Lund University, so supply chain management is pretty new to me, but it is a lot of fun. I am part of the planning team, which is located mainly in Malmö. I am located at the HQ in Stockholm, so it has been some traveling to Malmö and also to the warehouse in Järna. The first couple of weeks I interviewed several people to get a picture of the current situation, and to get an understanding of the scope of my project. Feeling a sense of the current situation, I dug into the data of the warehouse in Excel. In the beginning of the project, Excel and I were not such good friends, but as the time has gone by, we have started to become really good friends.

During these last weeks I have learned that supply chain management and inventory optimization are complex topics, and they need to be studied from several perspectives, for example the perspectives of several stakeholders. What I really like about the trainee program is that we have the chance to see several different perspectives that exist within a company. We experience different perspectives from working with various cultures, having several roles and working in cross-functional teams. That enables us to get a more holtistic view of the company.

Sebastian, Johanna, Mikkel and I are having a workshop discussing our projects to give each other new perspectives and feedback

Last week we found out our next project – I am heading for Copenhagen and Unibake!

All the best!

//Lovisa