Hej blog!

From my last post, I have shared with you that currently I am joning Swecon in Germany. For you who does not know, Swecon sells and rents out construction equipments/machines (one of the products is e.g. excavators -> you use this to dig holes) from Volvo and has shown a successful business within Lantmännen.

Since we are also offering service work for repair and maintenance of the machines, it is important for us that our customers are satisfied not only with our products but also with the result of our service work. Therefore, I have been working on customer satisfaction survey for the service department and also helping out leasing department in improving their survey. The project has been really fun and working out really well! I got to visit some local branches nearby and talked to people who are directly involved in the assessment loop, inside and outside Swecon. It has been a great experience and I think I have gathered useful information to be put into recommendations.

Being a woman within a male-dominated industry is also another thing. Recently, I participated in a small workshop about women at Swecon, where I met other female colleagues from other branches and shared stories about working with Swecon from women point of view. Together we discussed ideas and develop a strategy to embrace women’s role within the company. Can’t wait on how the outcome would look like! 🙂

Time ticks fast and in no time, all trainees will finish our very last assignments within the program. I will not spoil much about our permanent positions yet, you need to stay tune for our next posts 😉

Will you do anything fun this weekend? For me, I am heading to Gothenburg in Sweden with other trainess and spend our time together before we start our final positions. Very excited! 🙂

Take care!

/Vanessa

Hi again blog-readers!

It’s been a year since I last wrote a blog post and in Husqvarna Group’s Global Trainee Program, a lot can happen in 365 days.

Assignment 1: Finishing up in Stockholm

My first assignment working in Stockholm as the Global Social Media Coordinator culminated in me participating in the Husqvarna Forest & Garden division’s two biggest product launches of 2019 – a pair of 50cc chainsaws, and a game-changing robotic lawnmower. We showcased the new chainsaws in the wintery forests of Huskvarna, while the latter product was introduced at the Mobile World Congress in sunny Barcelona. My task was to document these events in photo and video and distributing the content to all my social media colleagues throughout the globe. As I’d worked with the social media communication plans for both of these campaigns, it was a perfect way to end the assignment.

Trainee week in Germany

Between assignments, the trainees meet up for a week for presentations, factory tours, trainings and more. Trainee week #2 took us to Ulm, Germany, where the headquarters of the Gardena-division is located, and where the brand was born. Fun fact about Ulm: despite being quite a small city, it is home to the tallest church in the world – the Ulmer Münster! Also, Einstein was born there. 

Assignment 2: Digital marketing in Paris

Assignment number two brought me to Paris, where I would spend six months working with the regional marketing team, focusing on digital marketing for the French market. This included creating Facebook campaigns for several different products and optimizing the French website – optimizing content and continuously improving the user experience. The highlight of the assignment, was that I was given the task to create, plan and run my very own campaign! To formulate an idea of my own, plan it out, execute and then measure the outcome was a huge learning experience, and lots of fun!

Assignment 3: APAC Regional Marketing in Kuala Lumpur

Fast forward to today – I’ve now been in Kuala Lumpur for roughly three weeks, doing my best to understand the vastly diverse and different market that is Asia-Pacific. My core project here will be to plan the Husqvarna Forest & Garden Division’s participation as main sponsor of the Asia Pacific Tree Climbing Championships, where this region’s best tree-climbing arborists will compete. I’ll also be supporting different ongoing marketing activities within the APAC markets, such as India, Japan and China. At the time of writing, I’ve just returned from a week of meetings in India, where our sales company was started about three years ago. At 330 years old, Husqvarna Group is still new in some parts of the world. Exciting times lay ahead, for Husqvarna Group and for me!

Thanks for reading

/Oscar

Hello!

This is Sebastian writing from Kiev. I wrote about my assignment in Kiev in another post a couple of months ago, so I am not going to repeat that. Instead, I thought that I would try to sum up my experience throughout this trainee program.

My experience during this 15-month period has been amazing. I started off at AS Faktor in Stockholm, where I worked in a business development role. Then, I develop a go-to-market strategy for fast food buns at Unibake’s headquarter in Copenhagen. Third, I got shadow the energy department’s CEO for three months while also working on a market analysis project for Lantmännen Reppe. Finally, I am not in Kiev working on a business continuity plan for Lantmännen Cerealia.

Coming in to the program, I was not sure about exactly what types of tasks I wanted to work with. My degree was in marketing, but that I quiet a large area. Getting the chance to work on four large assignments, with some sub-assignments, in four different organizations has really helped me understand what is important to me. For me, that has turned out to be combining long term strategic projects with day-to-day tasks while constantly working with people.

The program also has made me reflect a lot on leadership. I have had the chance to work with a lot of leaders throughout the program, and it has become clear to me that leaders manage their employees very differently. Some leaders believe in collaborative environments while other believe in personal responsibility. Some want constant progress updates while other just was a finished result. What has been great about this program is that I have been around enough leaders to understand what kind of leadership works for me and what kind of leader I want to be. I think gaining a deeper understanding of that will help me tremendously in my future career.

I think constantly being thrown into a new unfamiliar situations in the beginning of my career has been very helpful to my future development. I am not sure if it happens to everybody, but when I enter unfamiliar territories I start to analyze my surroundings and questions why things are the way they are. When you get to do that over and over again, you realize that there are no right or wrong ways to do things. When I came into the company I had the mindset that I had to understand how things are done at Lantmännen; how do leaders act? how are processes carried out?

What has turned out to be my most important realization is that there is no right way because everybody has different ways of doing things. I just have to find my way. I definitely have not found my way yet, but I think the program was the perfect first step to get there.

//Sebastian

The end of one great journey is the beginning of another. We have a bit more than a month left of our period as trainees at Lantmännen before starting our permanent positions. But there is still a lot left to do before that. When I’m writing this I’m sitting at the airport in Düsseldorf on my way back to Stockholm. This as a part of my assignment for Swecon, dealer of Volvo CE machines in Sweden, Germany and the Baltics. I’m assigned to look into how a business model in an electrified future could look like, with the upcoming release of two fully electrified construction machines from Volvo CE.

Parallel to this assignment is the finalization of our Strategic Group Assignments, which have been mentioned in previous blog posts and are to be presented the upcoming Monday.

In the middle of all this I’ll visit a career fair at Linköping University together with my trainee colleagues Moa and Hugo, all of us Linköping University alumni’s. A great deal of fun to get the opportunity to promote Lantmännen for all the curios and excited students.

And as if that was not enough, we are also coming together the full trainee group for a final training session where we are about to dig deeper into the topic “communication” , as well as summarize our learnings and experiences over the past year.

Life at Lantmännen, hectic but a great deal of fun!

//Anton

Introduction 

Hello everyone! My name is Daria and I am Global Graduate in SKF company. This time I want to tell you about my journey in SKF and how it is exciting and important to be a part of such a good program!

So, let’s begin! I am from Russia, but during this program, I can say that I am the world citizen:) I graduated from the university Higher School of Economics with Master degree in Strategic Logistics and Supply chain management. I applied for this program with no clue about what kind of experience would it be. But, for this moment I am 100% sure that to go out of my comfort zone was worth it and below I will tell why:)

What happened?
1 Year in the Global Graduate program

For this moment I spent three gatherings in Sweden, where I met key SKF managers and met my colleagues from the Global Graduate program. It was amazing! Because they are all from different parts of the world and each of them is so interesting to talk and work with! We had a lot of fun together during gatherings and also while traveling to other cities.

During this period I already had two rotations. My first rotation was in Russia in Industrial sales for Railway business. It was my first time when I worked with customers directly and had a project in the engineering and sales fields. This rotation helped me to see inside part of Railway business and together with the team we launched a new kind of bearing on the Russian market.

My second rotation was in France in Logistics and Demand Chain department. It was my first experience in life to work in another country and culture. I can say that it was really great!

I was not only had a chance to work with French colleagues but also to understand their culture and to make friends! I had the opportunity to work on the warehouse productivity and also to be a part of the Lean material flow team.

What’s happening now/next
6 months more and exiting career after

During this month I met my colleagues from the Global Graduate Program in Göteborg, where we shared our abroad experiences. Two weeks with my colleagues were very inspiring! Now I have a lot of energy to start my new projects in the new fields. My last rotation will be split into two experiences, one project will be on the factory and another in the purchasing department. I will not only work with my colleagues on global projects but also will learn about Swedish culture!

Just to summarize my story I want to say that the main highlight during this program is that you are consciously developing. It is not only about your results in the projects, but it also is more about knowing yourself and your passion, listening to others and be empathetic, becoming a more open-minded, qualified and reliable person. When you really know yourself, love what you do and appreciate people with whom you work, everything will be fine and you will succeed! Just keep my words in mind;)

If you are still thinking about what should be your next step in life after university, read my post once again and feel free to contact me!

All the best,
Daria

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

Hi blog! It’s me, Johanna, and I am checking in to tell you a bit about my ongoing project at Gooh!

So, I have moved back from Belgium to Stockholm and I am now working in Järna, where Gooh! is placed. In this project I am helping Gooh! to look at continuous improvements in production and how they are supposed to go about it. This means that I spend some time in production in order to see how they work and what could be improved. One example of what I have done so far is setting clear routines and standards for the daily stand-up meetings in order to make sure that we catch the most important things and act upon them –> Let’s Gooh! 😉

My project also involves study visits and meetings with people experienced with lean and continuous improvements. One highlight was to visit Scania and see their motor production. Scania have worked with lean for a long time and I can tell you, it really shows in their way of working!

As Mikkel mentioned in his blog-post, the trainee program is soon coming to an end. The program has been really great and I have enjoyed trying different roles. Before I started at Lantmännen, I thought that I would know what I wanted to work with at the end of the program and, even though I am not certain what exact role I would strive for, I know a bit more about myself and what I enjoy and not.

It is with mixed feelings that I will leave the trainee-life behind, however, it will be nice to start at a permanent position at Lantmännen and to be able to know what life will look like for a bit longer time ahead.

That was all for now!

Until next time!

/Johanna

Working at the robotics R&D

Hej! So it’s time for an update! Since my last blog-post I’ve had the great opportunity of being abroad for almost six months. More specifically in Huskvarna, Sweden – the place where Husqvarna Group was once founded!

On the professional side I’ve made a shift from the development of irrigation controller software to the development of robotics hardware. So the first thing, when I arrived at our office in Huskvarna was to receive a detailed course about everything that one has to know about robotic lawnmowers. Starting at the product range to the details of the embedded system, which can be described as the brain of the robots.

I started my period in Huskvarna in 18^th March and it turned out that I arrived at just the right time to be part of developing a new robotic lawnmower model. Since I’m an electrical engineer my task was the development of the mainboard for this product. For me this was a great chance to gain a very detailed knowledge about the components and technology that is used in our robots. It was a very good experience for me to really participate in a bigger project. It gave me the opportunity to learn the processes and of course more about the Swedish lifestyle. The office culture in Sweden is definitely characterized by a so called Fika, which is having a coffee and chat with colleagues or friends.

Additionally during the project I was able to join a workshop in our factory in Aycliffe (UK). It was really instructive, because I could really see and learn how our robotic lawnmowers are built and what the challenges in the production lines are.

Except for three small weekend trips home to Germany I stayed the whole period in Sweden. Thus I had really a lot of time to spend in, around and outside of the city. So I really felt like I got to know the place. One of the things I liked most about it, was the closeness to nature – even in the city there a lot of small parks with lakes and behind the factory of Husqvarna Group there is a beautiful waterfall.

Hi again fans,

I’m now back in Stockholm, and with only a few months left, reality is starting to sneak up on you. We are now in a process of finding our positions after the programme, so life is a bit in limbo at the moment. However, there are still daily tasks to do, and I am now working in the strategy department of the Lantmännen group. My supervisor, Patrik, is the director of strategy in Lantmännen, so by following him around and asking a thousand questions, I’ve learned a lot in the first month. I don’t have one specific project to take care of, rather more ad-hoc tasks, a research project for the food division and assisting Patrik whenever he needs me.

I enjoy being back in beautiful Stockholm, and being able to experience a bit of the summer here is fantastic. Hugo and I were even invited to a Swedish crayfish party by fellow graduate, Johanna, and her old KTH crew. I love the snapsvisor!

Alongside, we (trainees) are working on strategic group assignments, where Hugo, Johan and I are working on a project regarding plastics. As I already worked with the plastic issue when I was at Aspen, I thought it would be interesting to utilise my knowledge and insights on a group level. We have been working on the assignment for half a year now, and have our grand presentation in 3 weeks – exciting times!

That was a quick update from my side

Stay tuned,
Mikkel

Servus Traineebloggen!

My name is Albin, currently working from Germany as part of the Global Graduate Program – Wave 3 in SKF. Born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden approximately 6km away from the birthplace of SKF. I have now been in SKF for one year and time flies. The next wave of global graduates starts soon, and I remember thinking when I started, how far away 1,5 years felt like. That’s the length of the total program covering an introduction month and three different rotations, five months each. My fellow global graduate colleagues have been explaining more in-depth about this earlier, so I will focus on some personal reflections instead.

So, one year in what are my key takeaways from this program?

• Exposure. This is not at all as starting as a graduate at a “normal” position. The possibility to get to learn and discuss with people from the very top of the organization from day one is a great inspiration source, especially for a leadership geek like me!
• Seriousness. This is not like school and despite that the purpose foremost is to learn, you are always working in real, global and very important projects throughout the program. For me, it is easier to learn by really testing or implementing something, rather than sitting in the library reading about it.
• Happiness. We are a group of ten very different individuals. But every time when we meet up we have a lot of fun together. Also, the support from nine others, going through almost the same roller coaster ride as you, is great. Especially since we all have different perspectives and was to look at things.

And what are my key takeaways about SKF as a company?

• Transformation. There is a lot of things happening in the industrial sector. If you want to see and learn how digitalization truly can change a business, SKF is the right place to be.
• Skilled. There is so many knowledgeable people and experts at SKF and you will always be amazed and humbled when meeting different persons. The cool thing though is that everyone is still listening to you as a newcomer, fresh from UNI.
• Global. Do you want to travel the world? Meet and speak to people from different nationalities and cultures every day? I am feeling blessed by having the possibility to do those things, while I am working. We are present in around 130 different countries. Just take a minute or two to think about that.

So, what have I been up to? My first rotation took place in Gothenburg at our head office, working with product data and implementing an information management system. My second rotation is close to an end now. I have been spending five months in Germany at our biggest site in Schweinfurt. Here I have been working with the Internet of Things team on a connectivity project as a part of our journey to Industry 4.0.

For my third and final rotation, I will be moving to Jakarta, Indonesia. There I will spend five months driving different digitalization projects related to our customers. I am sure that it will be a big challenge, both culture and technology-wise since the Indonesian market is very different in those aspects comparing to both Sweden and Germany. However, I am excited since I believe that we can produce a great amount of value by sharing thoughts, ideas and best practices in a multi-cultural environment. With SKF being present in more than 130 countries, we are truly multi-cultural. But still, we share the same values: high ethics, empowerment, openness and teamwork.

Would you like to be a part of the SKF family? Do not miss out the great opportunity to become a Global Graduate. I know at least that I have not looked back with regrets.

All the best,

Albin Sävhage