Hugo here and great to be back in the blog-warmth again! After two periods in my hometown Sthlm it was time to pack my bags and head over to our dear neighbor in the east, and more specific to Helsinki!

Here in Helsinki I’m working at Agro Oy, the finnish leg in our agriculture business and I’m looking into their seed business and its production plants, volumes and cost structure. The project has been really interesting and quite closely related to my studies within supply chain management which have been a great experience to try it out in “real life”. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not been new territory for me, born and raised in Sthlm my agriculture knowledge was on the same level as my finnish, combine the two and you have quite a suuri (well, I’ll just let you guess) adventure in front of you!

Trying to summarize my last few months here in Finland I would say that it’s been a real pleasure, meeting a lot of great colleagues patiently describing the finnish agriculture, living in a real nice city (underestimated!) that offers a lot of city sightseeing as well as some accessible nature and genuine finnish sauna (can’t write a blogpost about Finland and not mention sauna…). And of course, living in Finland when they win the World Championship in hockey, well that just doesn’t happen every year!

Take care and see you at the next place!

/Hugo

PS. And a picture from the first week in Finland:

Привіт з Києва! (Hello from Kiev!)

Since the last time I wrote, I have moved from Stockholm to the amazing city Kiev in Ukraine. I had never visited Kiev before and now, when I have been living here for about 10 weeks, I can say I really like Kiev! There are so many things to see and so much to do.

So what brought me to Kiev? Cerealia has an office here (or actually two if you include the one at the production plant) and more specifically, the brands START! and AXA have a production site here, mainly for the Ukrainian market. The products differ slightly from the START! and AXA products you can find in for instance Sweden, where the START! in Ukraine is more focused towards children and both of the brands are a little bit more sweet in the taste.

The office here is a lot smaller than the head quarter in Stockholm, so everyone knows everyone which creates a good atmosphere in the office. I am at the marketing team doing different assignments connected to their two main brands. At the moment, the marketing team is working on a new commercial platform for the START! brand in Ukraine, which is really interesting for me since I get to see the process from the beginning to the end.

Initially, I attended everything from a photo shoot to several focus groups. Since I do not have a background in marketing (I have only had a few introductory courses in marketing), it was all very new to me. As a result, it has been very interesting and I have learnt a lot of new things when it comes to marketing. This is really a good example of why I enjoy this Trainee Program, since you get the opportunity to try and learn new things in areas that is not specifically connected to your previous expertise. We get a really good insight in several of the main parts of Lantmännen, which will be very valuable going forward in our careers, no matter which area we eventually end up in.

Time really flies, and in a few weeks I am going back to Sweden again for some summer vacation. But before that, we will have a recharge in Copenhagen with all trainees that I really look forward to. I am sure one of the other trainees will write about that in the end of June, so stay updated and don’t forget to read all other blog posts before that – we (the nine trainees) keep you updated every week!

Приємного літа!

/Johan

Idag är det sista dagen som trainee här på Jordbruksverket, och från och med i morgon är vi tillsvidareanställda. Jag kommer att sitta kvar i teamet PoF (Projekt- och företagsstöd), där jag suttit under den längre praktikperioden, vilket känns bra.

I onsdags kväll anordnade Jordbruksverkets personalklubb Sommarpub på innergården för alla anställda. Det bjöds på hamburgare och live-musik, och det var en riktigt trevlig kväll!

Eftersom detta är mitt sista blogginlägg vill jag passa på att tacka för ett mycket bra genomfört trainee-program!

Hej blog readers, it’s Vanessa who will take over this week’s blog post! After spending previous period in Stockholm at Group Function (GF) R&D, I decided to extend my stay here in the capital and join another GF: Supply Chain.

The reason behind this is because I want to experience how it feels to work in a supply chain field since I only got a little glimpse of supply chain while pursuing my Bachelor degree. Initially, I would like to move to Malmö and be part of Lantmännen Agriculture business area, however there was no project within supply chain area available for me. But, lucky me, there is a joint project between GF Supply Chain in Stockholm and LM Agriculture in Malmö regarding supply chain, in which I immediately said yes to! 😉

At my current project, which has been running since late March, I was assigned to look at possible relocation of one of our biggest grain silos in the West region of Sweden. I learn (and am still learning) so much more than I expected! Starting from looking at one subject from different angles and interests, developing strategic thinking, incorporating external yet relevant insights into current data flow, and so on. Soooo many considerations need to be involved before we decide on one thing and so many information to be confirmed as well in order to guarantee its validity. In conclusion, I really like this project because it matches my interest and the outcome.

I haven’t really taken many pictures from this project (oops), so here is a picture of Stockholm in the spring and sunny weather.

See you around! /Vanessa

Ciao everyone!

I’m Ginevra from Italy, I am an engineer and I am part of the SKF Global Graduate Programme wave 3. Being half way through the programme, I feel like it’s time to share with you how my experience has been so far.

I am sure that you already know how the programme is structured, but in case you don’t, I will summarize it briefly for you:

• 1 introduction month in Gothenburg
• 3 5-months rotations in different business units
• 2-weeks gatherings in Sweden with all your graduate colleagues between the rotations

The start – Rotation 1

I’ve joined SKF in September 2018, and after a quick week in the office in Milan to know my colleagues and get my pc and mobile, it was already time to fly to Gothenburg for the introduction month! Needless to say that it was great experience. What really impressed me at the time was the availability and willingness of the senior management to meet us and share with us their views. As a young professional, it doesn’t happen that often be given a 360° overview of the company and of its strategy.

It was then time to go back to Italy for my first rotation! In Milan I joined our Industrial Sales team for 5 months. During this time I mainly worked on a market study project which included database analysis, future trends in the segment, our value proposition and the go-to-market strategy. In the meantime, a lot of customer visits with our account managers!

What’s happening now – Rotation 2

After the gathering in Sweden with the other graduates (so nice to meet everyone again!) it was time to start a new experience: I moved here in Gothenburg to start my second placement in Business Development in one of our factories!

I was expecting to have a slow start, being the new one that is staying in the department for only some months but it was not the case. Here I found a team that has involved me in all the activities from day one – asking for my opinions and challenging my views – the best start I could ask for!

I am currently working on three different projects regarding our self-aligning roller bearings, and everyday I find myself working with people from all over the world. Plus, I get to spend some time in the factory, getting my hands dirty and understanding how our bearings come to life.

What will happen next – Rotation 3

In August I will move to Katrineholm to spend the last part of my second rotation in our housings factory, and I am looking forward to understanding more about our manufacturing.

In the last few days I have also started planning my third rotation, which will probably be a split one: 2 months in China, joining the Product Development team, and 3 months in Germany.

I am extremely excited about the next adventures, wish me luck!

Arrivederci!

Ginevra

Hey!

This week’s blog is written by Sebastian. I wrote my previous blog post in the fall when I was placed at AS-Faktor working in business development, but a lot has happened since then.

After Stockholm, I went to Unibake in Copenhagen where I worked on a project for their fast foods division. I looked at the northern European market for hamburger and hot dog buns to find out what opportunities Unibake have to expand in the segment. Did you all know that Lantmännen Unibake is the market leader for fast food buns in Sweden with Korvbrödsbagarn (read: MAX Friscobröd) and has a big presence in Norway, Finland, and Denmark? I keep thinking that it would be amazing if you could find our delicious buns all over the world though. Well, maybe one day…

Now I am at Lantmännen’s energy division, which just expanded by acquiring a British company’s factory outside of Norrköping. We are famous for our imagination here at Lantmännen (not really), so we decided to call the new company “Lantmännen Oats”, as the factory refines oats. The energy division also consist of “Lantmännen Agroetanol” (ethanol), “Lantmännen Aspen” (alkylate fuel), and “Lantmännen Reppe” (gluten, starch, and drinking alcohol).

Instead of joining one of these companies, I was fortunate enough to work with the energy division’s management team in Stockholm. I am “uppe i smöret” (“up in the butter”), so to speak. On a daily basis, I am helping out where needed, but I am mostly working on a market analysis for starches and the integration of “Lantmännen Oats” into Lantmännen. I also get to sit in on a bunch of meetings to really understand what happens in a management team, which is really cool.

However, this post was supposed to be about the training we just had about change management, and not about me. The topic of change is both incredibly relevant and interesting. We got to learn about useful theories on change management, and lead change through simulations and real life scenarios. A lot of the issues we came across were very relatable, as they are issues we all continuously face in our projects. Change is truly a part of everyday life, at least here at Lantmännen, so learning how to deal with it will probably have some pretty fantastic consequences.

Learning about change was great, but it wasn’t even nearly as good as meeting up with the whole trainee-gang at a vineyard in sunny Skåne. Summer finally arrived! We always have a great time meeting up, and even if we learned that there perhaps is a reason to why Sweden isn’t famous for wine, the beautiful scenery along with the company made these three days absolutely amazing.

Until next time!

 /Sebastian

Nu är traineeprogrammet snart slut här på Jordbruksverkets IT-avdelning för den här gången, och tillsvidareanställning tar vid, den här veckan har jag som tidigare jobbat i ett av utvecklingsteamen där jag även skall stanna när praktiktiden tar slut den 1 juni. Det känns kul att traineetiden är slut och att vi alla har fått anställning, mycket kunskap har sjunkit in under dessa trainee-månader. Nu ser vi fram emot att fortsätta utvecklas som tillsvidareanställd samt att få träffa de nya traineerna om några månader!

Hi/Hej/Hoi readers!

I am Henrik Wallander, and I am the Global Trainee in Business Development for the Husqvarna Division. Connecting to something that my fellow trainee Raphael mentioned in an earlier post of working in a different country than you were born: I am originally from Sweden, but I am based in the Netherlands, just outside of Amsterdam, as Husqvarna Group offered me the opportunity to make my home base Dutch, instead of Swedish.
During my masters studies in Innovation and Industrial Management at the School of Business, Economics, and Law at the University of Gothenburg, I realized that what suited me best would be a dynamic career, requiring me to own dedicated projects with the associated responsibilities and somewhat fight for the possibility to support and drive change and improvement in an organization. That last part might seem discouraging or negative, but it is actually the opposite. I want to be challenged, and when I have the support from my manager and team to positively affect the organization I work for in a meaningful way, I thrive.

For my first six-month assignment, I got the responsibility to drive a project investigating online sales opportunities, with a lot of helpful support from my team, my assignment manager, and my home manager. With the golden support internally, I was given the chance to progress professionally and personally with more responsibilities and trust than I could have ever hoped for going into this position. For the various stakeholders, the assignment was successful and created valuable insights which I can only be proud to have been a part of.

I am currently on my second assignment within the Global Trainee Program, working on another Business Development project in Global Sales and People & Organization. What is extremely exciting about this project is that it is nowhere limited to a single country or region, it’s focused on global employee development, which is a topic I have not worked with extensively before.

Evidential for the delegated responsibilities for this assignment, I can highlight that I am currently finishing this blog post from my hotel room in Olathe, Kansas. I am here for a week-long business trip to gather and share experiences with our colleagues in the Construction Division in the US. To explore and collaborate on what they have done related to the project, input that I can bring back to Europe and share with our division, fostering and strengthening global collaboration.

Working at Husqvarna Group has led me to take on more responsibility than expected and capitalize on professional development opportunities, all thanks to remarkably supportive and engaging coworkers and managers. However, one should always remember that in order to achieve what one wants, continued effort and dedication is needed to reach one’s goals. Bring it on!

Nu är det även dags för mig att skriva det sista blogginlägget här på Traineebloggen, eftersom jag snart inte är en trainee längre. Det är en märklig känsla att tiden har gått så fort och att jag snart faktiskt lite mer på riktigt kan titulera mig som systemutvecklare snarare än trainee. Vi är rätt bra ändå!

Denna veckan har jag varit ledig två dagar och hälsat på Mittuniversitetet i Östersund, där jag läste på distans och tog examen från för ett år sedan. De har där en årlig informatik-konferens och jag var inbjuden för att komma dit och prata i år om hur det har gått efter studierna. Det kändes ganska stort att stå där och prata inför studenterna och berätta om hur livet kan se ut efteråt. Jag fick även en god chans för reflektion och se tillbaka över traineeperioden.

Ärendet jag sitter med nu är i vårt behörighetssystem där det skall in lite ny funktionalitet. Det känns som en väldigt bra uppgift för att lära sig mer , då det innebär både backend, frontend och databas/sql. Det är bra att få vara inne i alla delar och lära sig se kopplingarna. I det här teamet så kan det variera väldigt mycket mellan hur uppgifterna ser ut, vilket jag verkligen tycker är en stor del av charmen!

Jag ser verkligen fram emot de nya utmaningarna som kommer och jag är oerhört tacksam för att ha fått den här möjligheten på traineeprogrammet. Jag är många erfarenheter rikare och gissar på att det framöver kommer att bli ännu mer. Vi är alla lite nyfikna nu på hur det går i rekryteringen nu och vilka nya traineer vi får se i höst och bli faddrar åt. 🙂 Stort tack för mig!

Hi again everyone!!

Since last time I’ve been to really interesting and exiting events! Last week I participated at Handelsrådets workshop about innovation in retail, where people both from the industry, the government and academia joined to discuss the future within retail. The dynamic group really generated good and interesting discussions with many different perspectives – it’s really interesting to be a part of discussions where the competences are so different. The discussed topic’s was about a seamless commerce, sustainability and also the need of raising the importance of retail in our society. The trade sector accounts for 11% of Sweden’s GDP and 1 of 5 young and foreign born get their first job within the retail sector, which means that this sector is an important employer in social perspective. This can give us an issue when the new digital technologies are introduced to our market, what will the first jobs be then?

The day after I joined Matdagen 2019 which is a day hosted by Livsmedelsföretagen who is a branch organization for the food industry in Sweden. The focus area for this year’s event was public health. What can the industry do to contribute to good healthy lifestyles, spread evidence-based knowledge about food and health, create more food joy and simply help people feel better?

One exciting thing during the day was the award of the prize “Food Exporter of the Year” where Viking Malt was the winners who is partly owned by Lantmännen. Viking Malt has an export share of 80 % and annually exports 600 000 ton Swedish malt to breweries and distilleries worldwide.

In between the exiting events I’m still mapping up the value chain for oats – it is incredible how much you can do with oats and how many health benefits there are with oats.

Have a great week everyone and until next post, eat some oats – it’s good for you!

Best Regards,
Moa

PS. Did you know that the Food industry is the third biggest industry in Sweden?