It’s happening!


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Hello! Hej! Привет! Сәлем!

My name is Sayat and I am a Global Graduate at SKF. I am currently on my first assignment within Industrial Sales in Russia. Originally I am from Kazakhstan so the first rotation which is supposed to be at your home country is actually international for me. Pretty cool, huh?

Posing wasn’t easy

I joined SKF in July last year. At that time I started in our local office in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Shortly after that, all of the Wave 4 Global Graduates got to meet with each other in our Headquarter in Gothenburg, Sweden in September. This has been my most cherished memory of being a Global Graduate so far. Ten young bright talented smart open-minded ready-to-help funny people stuck together for a month. Sounds like a reality TV show commercial 🙂

Wave 4 but Leo is missing. Posing got easier in crowd 🙂

As you might already know, after our Introduction Month everybody went back to their local units across the world. In October I moved to Moscow, Russia to start my first rotation. I became a part of the Strategic Accounts Department which runs our business with the Key Accounts all over the biggest country in the world – 11 time zones! As a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering I have never imagined myself in Sales and this experience has been a complete turnaround in my perception of how B2B sales work. I highly encourage everyone to have such experience at some point of their career which would take you out of your comfort zone and bring up all the skills you never imagined you had in you! This is what happened to me and I am absolutely happy about it!

SKF office in Russia is based in one of the buildings behind me

Soon I will be moving on for my second rotation which will be at our factory in Schweinfurt, Germany. This is something I’ve been looking forward to since the very beginning because working in production is my lifelong dream. I am extremely grateful to the Programme for providing such opportunities to fresh university graduates. Besides pursuing my career goals I will also get to travel the world which is amazing, isn’t it? Wait for me, Europe! 🙂

Overall, SKF Global Graduate Programme proves to be one of the best choices I’ve made in my not-so-long-not-so-short life. This is the quickest yet the most challenging yet the most rewarding way to start and boost your career. Reminiscing about where I was a year ago, I would advise to those reading this post to reach out to me or any other Global Graduate for further pieces of advice. I am sure you’ll get the answers you are looking for!

Take care!

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Learning through experience


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Ciao, hej and Nǐ hǎo TraineeBloggen!


My name is Nicola Brioschi and I’m part of the SKF’s Global Graduate Programme. I’m from Italy, with a background in mechanical engineering, ICE and turbomachinery specialization.
It’s been already 9 months that I joined SKF, having the fabulous opportunity to be part of this journey with other 10 colleagues from all over the world. Let’s go deeper into the details together…

The programme starts with a brief period in your home country (Italy for me) to get in touch with the local SKF and its environment. Suddenly, the real programme starts with an introduction month at the SKF headquarter in Gothenburg. I can’t imagine a better way to start your career in a global company: in this weeks you have the chance to meet the senior management, get the vision (A world of reliable rotation “) and mission (“The undisputed leader in the bearing business”) of the company and its way to achieve it.
The first impression that I had of the company made me feel that I made the right choice: SKF is a family, where there aren’t any barriers between employees, it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or an expert, it doesn’t matter what is your job role; whoever you are in the corporation, you can get in contact with anyone to share knowledge, experience, ask questions about a particular stuff or just for a coffee during a break.
The time in Gothenburg was awesome and we participated in several trainings about Business Acumen, Finance, REP, products reviews and also a visit in the factory where bearings are manufactured: from raw material to a high-quality product. Furthermore, it gave me the possibility to meet the other 10 graduates as well as the previous SKF graduates. Funny activities and moments of reflection are mixed together and suddenly a great chemistry and synergy is created.

Wave 3 graduates with Alrik, SKF CEO

After the introduction month, I came back in Turin to start my first rotation, working on my own project. I was in the Product Development team for Super Precision Bearings, a product which requires a high level of running accuracy at high to extremely high speed (mainly spindles for machine tools, but you can find them also in racing, medical equipment…). I worked on a really technical project and I don’t want to annoy you with too much technical details: what I can say is that it gave me the chance to learn so many things about bearings, measuring systems, machine capabilities and 6 sigma principles. I am really grateful to all the people involved for giving me that opportunity, even if I was a fresh graduate.

Beside the bigger project, I was involved in the daily work of the office such as drawing preparation for customers or software simulations. During these 5 months I had also the opportunity to take several trainings on PLM, design courses and to take part at BIMU, the biggest fair in Italy on machine tools, robot, automation and digital manufacturing. The time flew and soon it was time to get back in Gothenburg for 2 weeks to share our experiences with our colleagues and have other powerful trainings as the GPM2 and the Agile way of working.

SKF Villar Perosa factory

As a trainee you are expected to be very flexible, that’s why I made luggage again for the second rotation: 5 months in Taiwan, at the machine tools solution factory. Here I am involved in different projects and activities with a close relationship with customers. If they experience problems in their application, mainly grinding, milling and turning, the solution factory can help them to find the root cause. In addition, we also design and mount spindles and components at the factory, selling to customers the assets and providing them monitoring services: only SKF can provide such a 360° offer!

But the journey in Asia is not yet finished for me… In June/July I am going to Shanghai for several customer visits where we will follow tests regarding SKF new products and solutions to reduce Noise & Vibration. Beside that, we want also to develop a more structured dialogue with customers to go deeper in their real needs and understand how SKF can help them when it comes to rotating parts. All the acquired information will be then passed to Product Development and Process to align. I am excited about seeing a new country and their way of doing business.

Trip with colleagues (or should I say friend?)

And after?

Another great point of the Programme is that you can actually choose your rotation and explore the most suited role for you. My next step will be in Steyr, Austria, working in manufacturing environment. Another part will be related to ReMan; this is quite a new business for SKF where basically we offer to customer remanufactured bearings, as well as service and condition monitoring to get more knowledge about the condition of their assets. If customer knows the condition of its asset in real time, he can also foresee maintenance period and change bearings without losing time; the used bearing can later be send to SKF Reman Centers to be inspected and remanufactured, giving them a new life. Can’t wait to set up another challenging project with my future manager!

Hope you have enjoyed the reading and gain some insights about the Programme and SKF in general!

Cheers,

Nicola

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SKF Global Graduate – the growing never ceases


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What’s up, TraineeBloggen?

My name is Morris Tong, part of SKF Global Graduate Programme of Wave 3. I have a background in mechanical engineering. And I am from Shanghai. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to kick off the wonderful journey in September last year with other fellow graduates. And I am very glad to tell you about my journey so far and share some insights toward this program.

All of wave 3 enjoying the lunch together

The Program started in September last year, soon after I joined SKF. I could easily recall how excited and thrilled I was back then. The introduction month in Gothenburg was sensational. Not only did I get the chance to meet other graduates from all over the world, but the nice overview of the whole corporation. That month was so well organized that I also got the chance to meet those cool guys from wave 2, from whom I got multiple valuable advice on rotations. The diversity of our wave impressed me most. We come from different parts of the world with different backgrounds no matter in culture or in major. It is always interesting to learn different things or see things differently by collaborating with them.

The first 5-month rotation started right after the introduction month was over. I am currently working in my home unit as part of Product Line Management team. Soon after I came back, I was assigned to be the project manager to take charge of the development of a new ball bearing by my manager. To be honest, the pressure was a little bit overwhelming and the project was also challenging to me in the very beginning. However, one of the best things of this program was the connection with other graduates and my own mentor. We could share our concerns, discuss our problems with each other. Also, my mentor gave lots of ideas on how to run the projects. Now, the project is ongoing well. The factory is producing the samples. Once they are done, we will deliver them to our customer for the validation test. My first rotation is coming to an end. Looking back at the past five months, I tried to make small progress every day, even though sometimes they just turned out to be baby steps. And now I have got a better understanding of both product knowledge and project process.


Head office of SKF China, where I work everyday for my first rotation.

Next month, all of us will gather together in Gothenburg again. I’m looking forward to seeing them. My next rotation will be in France. Although the first rotation in my home city was enjoyable, I am now super excited to come out of my comfort zone and explore more. It’s going to be another challenge. And it’s the challenge that let you push forward. Thus, it’s a process of growing that never ceases.

Morris

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The journey of a globetrotter


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Hello everyone!
My name is Alessandra, and I come from Italy. More than one year ago I was joining SKF Global Trainee Programme, and I remember very well when I was preparing my luggage ready to go to Sweden to have my introduction month with my new colleagues. So many emotions back then, a mix of thrill and excitement that comes along with every big change. I had a lot of hopes, but nothing could have prepared me to this fantastic journey that I’m having the chance to be part of.

This is me, Alessandra at the Gothenburg HQ.

After the introduction month I left Sweden with new friends, not only colleagues. I started my first rotation of 5month in Italy, and that rotation has brought challenges that I didn’t expect. I had been working in Manufacturing, and beside the two projects that I was assigned, I was also highly involved in many activities that exposed me directly to a daily interaction with one of our biggest customer. It have to admit it had been extremely tough, but incredibly satisfying at the same time.

Me and my Global graduate colleague Li from China.

 

My second rotation was in Germany, and my project in Supply Chain department. This has been a place where I learnt so much, and where I definitely and unexpectedly left my heart. I have been able to see a structured and precise way of working, and I have really understood the importance of a good team-work, and all the advantages that this brings along.

Then, time for a new adventure: India! I arrived one month ago, and at the moment I am working here in Bangalore on projects that involve cross-functional roles, from Sales, to Application Engineers, Business Development, Product development and Process Development. It is so interesting, and I am learning so many things!

On an excursion exploring the amazing nature with my Indian colleague.

 

Monkeys at the SKF site in Bangalore, India.

Monkeys at the SKF site in Bangalore, India.

This program is giving me the unique chance of rotating through different departments, giving me an insight of different functions: this provides me with a 360° exposure that is absolutely rare and unique, and is allowing me to really have a priceless experience.

It’s not always easy, you have to adapt and start from scratch every time, new people, new projects, new roles.. but it’s also so exciting that I wouldn’t change it for nothing else! It allows me to learn a lot not only about a big company as SKF and its dynamics, but also about different cultures (still have a long way to go before I can say I have understood everything here!), and last but not least, about myself. You need to be humble and tough at the same time, be determined and be also able to drive yourself your development. Nothing is served on a silver plate, and this is also part of the fun, going and getting it yourself 🙂 Work hard and have fun along the way!

I am extremely thankful and satisfied of this journey up to now, combining professional growth with travelling and, as a side effect, it also gets you friends from all over the world!

Over and out,

Alessandra

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