Nu har det gått ett tag sedan sist jag skrev något här och mycket har hunnits med.

Test & Drive, Göteborg
I slutet av mars begav vi oss på Test & Drive till Göteborg från torsdag till söndag. Vi lånade en massa lastbilar från Scania Tekniskt Center och körde först mot Laxå Special Vehicles för ett studiebesök. Där tillverkas specialfordon så som exempelvis brandbilar. Efter studiebesöket körde vi vidare mot Göteborg där vi skulle övernatta under helgen.

På fredagen begav vi oss till en Scania-återförsäljare i Göteborg. Där lyssnade vi på föreläsningar och blev bjudna på lunch. Väldigt intressant att få höra om den tidigare (för många) rätt så okända säljsidan av Scania.

Resten av helgen spenderades i Göteborg tillsammans med traineegänget. Vi utforskade staden och bara umgicks! Söndag tog vi lastbilarna tillbaka mot Södertälje och Stockholm.

Networkingvecka, Volkswagen Truck & Bus
Sista veckan i April (direkt efter att ha avslutat period 2) var networking-vecka tillsammans med de andra traineerna i Volkswagen Truck and Bus (Scania, MAN och VW Commercial Vehicles).

Måndag morgon klev jag upp strax innan tre på natten för att bli upphämtad en timma senare. Då begav vi oss mot Arlanda för att ta 06-flyget till Frankfurt. Från Frankfurt åkte vi buss till Braunschweig där vi åt lunch och lyssnade på föreläsningar på VW Truck and Bus HQ.

Andra dagen spenderades på VW Commercial Vehicles i Hannover.

Onsdag var enligt mig bästa dagen i Tyskland! Vi besökte Autostadt i Wolfsburg och åkte på guidad tur i VW-fabriken vart de tillverkar VW Golf. Fabriken var så himla stor! Det var inte som i Södertälje att den guidade turen var till fots, utan vi åkte bil genom fabriken. Sjukt häftigt! Kvällen spenderades i buss tillsammans med de andra traineerna då vi skulle åka från Wolfsburg till München.

Torsdag spenderades i en av MANs lokaler i München. Vi gjorde lite övningar, lyssnade på föreläsningar och hade ett Skype-möte med högt uppsatta chefer där vi fick ställa alla frågor vi kunde tänkas ha. På kvällen gick vi ut och åt på en väldigt stor, tysk restaurang (väldigt mycket trä i inredningen, dryck serverades i litersglas och salta kringlor fanns på borden).

Under fredagen presenterade vi ett case vi hade förberett i grupp med de andra VW T&B-traineerna. Efter det sa vi hej då och begav oss mot flygplatsen.

Period 3 (Utlandsperioden)

Den sista April tog jag mitt pick och pack för att bege mig mot Prag där jag skulle jobba de nästkommande 10 veckorna.

När vi skulle välja utlandsperiod så lämnade min chef det upp till mig. Vi fick välja mellan marknad och produktion och med det en himla massa olika länder. Jag resonerade att jag ville till en marknadsenhet, bo i en större stad, ha god anslutning till flygplats och att jag ville stanna i Europa. Det smalnade av mina alternativ tillsammans med att många marknadsenheter krävde att man pratade deras språk (min skolfranska har hittills inte varit till någon större hjälp på Scania).

Två bilder från kontoret strax utanför Prag.

Min lägenhet var jättefin och jag bodde i området Vinohrady. Det kändes som att det var många andra expats som också bodde där! Det fanns jättemånga trevliga restauranger och parker runt omkring och lägenheten låg två kvarter från en tunnelbanestation. Jag bodde dessutom bara två hållplatser från centrum.

Hur fint var inte mitt bostadsområde?

Jag jobbade på Scania CER (Central European Region, består av Tjeckien, Slovakien och Ungern) och satt på en avdelning som heter Marketing and Communication. De håller på med marknadsföring, event för kunder/press och PR. Första veckan var en introduktionsvecka. Introduktionerna handlade mycket om digital markandsföring och hur Scanias marknadsföringsstrategi skiljer sig från (för allmänheten) mer komersiella företags. Då min kunskap om vad en Business Unit gör var lite begränsad fick jag en även utförlig förklaring av Scania CER och hur allting fungerar. Resten av tiden i Tjeckien spenderades till stor del med att designa och utforma olika typer av presentationsmaterial och dokument, ordna kundevent och så fick jag följa med på en transportmässa i östra Tjeckien.

Det svåraste med utlandsperioden, förutom språkbarriären (det är verkligen få i Tjeckien som pratar bra engelska), var nog att köra bil i Prag. Jag bodde mitt i Prag och hade 1,2 mil till jobbet, vilket tog mig 45 minuter att köra på grund av all trafik. Filerna i stan är väldigt smala, man trängs med spårvagnar och alla kör extremt aggresivt. Mitt garage var också väldigt speciellt. Jag var tvungen att ta mig igenom 3 trånga dörrar innan jag var framme vid min parkering. Parkeringsplatsen var dessutom utformad som en hiss. Jag var tvungen att gå ur bilen för att hissa fram våningsplanet i hissen där min bil skulle parkeras, för att sedan ställa den på våningsplanet exakt rätt så att nästa person som kommer och ska hissa fram sin bil inte skrapar min bil på grund av att den står fel. De första gångerna jag skulle köra till/från jobbet skakade mina händer hela vägen men efter någon vecka gick det bättre. Jag är nog en av de få på Scania (tror jag) som inte är så jätteförtjust i att köra bil.

Besökte ett slott (finns många sådana i Tjeckien) utanför Prag!

Två bilder från transportmässanNu sitter jag på min fjärde och sista period som är på Inköp (leverantörskvalitet). Har bara en månad kvar här sen har vi vår sista seminarievecka och avslutningsvecka. Mer om min nuvarande period i nästa inlägg.

När jag sökte till traineeprogrammet satt jag och frenetiskt googlade information kring själva antagningprocessen, så nu tänkte jag passa på att svara på alla frågor jag hade då!

Jag sökte produktionsinriktningen på Scania i Södertälje. Detta på grund av att det bäst passade min bakgrund (Civilingenjör inom Industriell Ekonomi med inriktning mot Logistik & Optimering) och att jag kände att jag då lättast kunde motivera det valet.

I mitt år (2016/2017) är vi 26 trainees, varav en Female Leader Engineer-trainee som är på Scania i ca 6 månader. Platsfördelningen under mitt år ser ut såhär:
Produktion: 4 trainees i Södertälje, 1 i Luleå och 1 i Oskarshamn
Logistik: 1 trainee (man ansöker till Produktion och Logistik, så egentligen har de tagit in totalt 7 trainees).
Sales and Marketing: 2 trainees, var av 1 är FLE-traineen.
Business Control: 2 trainees.
Finance: 2 trainees.
Human Resources: 1 trainee.
Inköp: 3 trainees.
Research and Developement: 6 trainees.
IT: 3 trainees.

Nu tänkte jag komma med praktisk information om hur processen gick till.

Visar processen för antagning till Trainee-programmet

Steg 1 – Ansökan.
Det första jag gjorde var att skicka in ansökan. Betygen hämtade jag ut från antagning.se och överförde i ett Excel-dokument (i brist på bättre idéer). Min ansökan krånglade då det inte var möjligt att skicka in just Produktion – Södertälje. Så jag fick ringa till Scainia och förklara mitt problem, då hjälpte en kvinna mig och sa att jag kunde skicka in Produktion – Luleå istället så överförde hon i efterhand min ansökan till rätt ställe.

Steg 2 – Tester.
Efter jag skickat in allting så fick jag efter ett tag veta att jag gått vidare till att göra tester. Det är ett personlighetstest och ett logik-test som ska genomföras. Ett tips från detta är att göra testerna utvilad och att vara konsekvent och ärlig i personlighetstestet. Det logiska testet såg ut som alla andra logiska test man genomfört i ansökningsprocesser (eller kan liknas med Mensas tester för er som inte vet). Resultaten fick man direkt efter man gjort testet.

Steg 3 – Första Intervjun.
Efter att jag genomfört testerna ringde en kvinna från Scania mig (Scania-anställdas nummer börjar med 08-553, så ni vet när någon ringer) och sa att jag gått vidare till första intervjun. De sa vilken specifik vecka intervjuerna ägde rum och jag fick välja mellan några olika dagar och tider. Intervjun ägde rum i Södertälje fick jag veta och då jag var tvungen att flyga från Umeå till Stockholm och Södertälje för intervjun valde jag en eftermiddagstid så att jag inte behövde övernatta.

Väl inne i byggnaden för intervjun var det kanske 10 andra som samtidigt skulle ha intervju för trainee-programmet, av blandade inriktningar. Det började med att vi samlades i en sal med ungefär 10-15 personer till som hade haft intervjuer tiden innan oss. Då fick vi en presentation (på engelska) av en tidigare trainee. Efter det gick de som redan haft intervju hem och vi som skulle ha intervju blev inkallade en och en av en HR-representant.

Första intervjun varade i kanske 45 mintuer och var på svenska. Detta hade jag funderat lite över då all information som skickats ut under processen varit på engelska. Vi pratade lite om mina tester och om det jag beskrivit i min ansökan generellt.

Steg 4 – Andra (och sista) Intervjun
Det gick kanske en vecka från första intervjun tills Scania ringde mig och sa att jag gått vidare till andra intervjun. Detta skulle vara en “assessment day”. Denna dag var vi bara personer som sökt till produktion i Södertälje, vi var 6 personer där och av dessa 6 personer var det jag och två till som anställdes till trainee-programmet.

I informationen vi fick utskickad stod det att dagen skulle bestå av intervjuer och en gruppövning. Dagen började med gruppövningen, sedan åt vi lunch på Scania med HR-personal samt chefer och sist var det dags för intervjuer.

Gruppövningen:
Med gruppövning menades at vi fick ett produktions-case vi skulle lösa i grupp inför chefer och HR-personal och sedan presentera. Då vi bara var svensk-talande på intervjun var även denna dag på svenska. Caset bestod av att vi fick ett produktionsproblem och 4 olika lösningar på problemet, vi skulle då komma fram till vilken lösning som var den bästa. Caset var ett riktigt problem som funnits på Scania och som de hade löst med hjälp av ett av de olika alternativen vi fått. (Min grupp löste inte caset enligt den korrekta lösningen men 2/3 av oss i gruppen fick en trainee-tjänst ändå, så var inte för nervösa inför case!)

Intervjuer:
Eftermiddagen bestod av 3 olika intervjuer. Först hade jag en intervju med en personal-ansvarig, sedan två intervjuer med två olika chefer. Den ena chefen jag hade intervju med jobbar på min anställande avdelning (motormonteringen) men är inte min anställde chef, han är ytterligare ett steg upp i ledet (ungefär min anställde chefs chef, fast på en annan avdelning än vad jag är).  Alla intervjuer jag var på var på svenska.

I övrigt så var det lite väntetid. Då småpratade jag mest med de andra som sökt eller med personalen från Scania som var där. Dagen avslutades med ett besök på Scanias Hälsocenter där vi fick fylla i en hälsoblankett samt genomföra ett hörsel- och ett drogtest.

Dagen efter intervjun ringde en tjej från Scania HR som jag träffat under gårdagen och sa att de ville erbjuda mig en tjänst. Jag kommer ihåg att jag aldrig varit så glad i mitt liv! Tackade ja direkt, grät av lycka och ringde mina föräldrar.

Det blev ett långt inlägg men jag kände att jag hade mycket att informera om!

Om ni har frågor besvarar jag gärna dessa, ingen fråga är för dum för att ställa.

Denice heter jag och kommer att blogga på traineebloggen (förhoppningsvis inte allt för sällan). Jag tänkte väl börja denna blogg med att beskriva mig själv och min tid som trainee.

Jag är född och uppvuxen i Piteå, 24 år gammal och flyttade som artonåring till Umeå för att studera Industriell Ekonomi. I januari förra året skickade jag in min ansökan till Scanias traineeprogram och blev antagen strax innan påsk.

Jag sökte inriktningen på traineeprogrammet som heter “Produktion och Logistik”. Jag blev då anställd på Scanias Motormontering i en teknikergrupp, denna grupp är min “hemavdelning” och tanken efter traineepogrammet är för alla traineer att återvända till respektive hemavdelning.

Illustration över min trainee-slinga.

Introduktion
Hela trainee-gruppen var samlad och vi varvade praktik med teori under en period på 6 veckor. Teorin bestod av föreläsningar om Scania som hölls av Scania-anställda. Vi fick även träffa i princip hela ledningsgruppen under dessa veckor! Förkunskapen var väldigt varierad mellan traineerna. Jag som aldrig hade haft kontakt med Scania innan visste kanske lite mindre än de som exempelvis gjort sitt exjobb på Scania eller som sommarjobbat här. Det var dock ingenting jag märkte av som en nackdel.

Praktiken bestod av montering på två olika produktionsenheter samt en praktikvecka på en bearbetning. Här träffade vi även våra trainee-faddrar på en middag samt spenderade en kväll med aktiviteter + middag med våra chefer. Veckorna avslutades med en utflykt tillsammans med de gamla traineerna där vi lekte lekar och hade kräftskiva.

Period 1
Första placeringen spenderade samtliga på sin hemavdelning. Vissa fick kliva in i en arbetsgrupp med vanliga arbetsuppgifter, vissa hade ett eget projekt på hemavdelningen och vissa hade en mix. Jag hade en processtekniker-praktik och hade således vanliga arbetsuppgifter. Det tyckte jag var bra då jag kom in i gruppen på ett sätt jag inte tror man gör ifall man bara har ett eget sidoprojekt. Under första perioden hade jag även körlektioner för C-körkort (som samtliga traineer hade) samt planerade första seminarieveckan, vilket gjorde att min praktik höll mig nog sysselsatt.

Min processtekniker-praktik bestod av att arbeta som processtekniker mot ett visst område på motormonteringen samt ha praktik på övriga avdelningar på DE. Första veckan hade jag ytterligare verkstadspraktik på det området jag skulle arbeta mot. Det kändes lite tungt efter att precis ha avslutat 3 veckors verkstadspraktik med trainee-gänget men i efterhand förstod jag vaför det var väsentligt.

Att bestämma perioder
Vi fick i början veta att perioderna valdes i samråd med den anställande chefen under Period 1. Under introduktionen hade vi fått lyssna på föreläsningar av gamla traineer där de berättade om sina perioder. Därför hade jag fått en idé om vart jag ville ha mina placeringar. När hade möte med min chef hade han i samråd med sin chef (som är fd. trainee) och min fadder (som också är fd. trainee) tänkt ut två placeringar till mig men lämnat utlandspraktiken upp till mig. En av de två uttänka placeringarna var också en av mina önskningar  och utlandspraktiken valde jag att ha i Prag på en marknadsenhet.

C-Körkort
På första intervjun blev jag informerad om att jag var tvungen att ha B-körkort då vi inom programmet skulle ta C-körkort. Detta startar under första perioden och den bestod således också av kvällsplugg (teori) samt körlektioner (på arbetstid).

Sälen-resan
Enligt tradition annordnas en resa till Sälen för alla gamla och nya traineer. Vi hyr en Scania-buss som kör oss till Sälen där Scania har boende som anställda kan hyra. När vi var där var det i princip alla från vårt år och året innan som deltog. I Sälen åkte vi skidor, besökte ett spa och umgicks. På vägen upp gjorde vi ett studiebesök på Leax i Falun.

Seminarieveckor
Under trainee-tiden har vi seminarieveckor. Det är veckor som vi traineer turas om att planera (föreläsningar, aktiviteter etc) och så blir det som en introduktionsvecka fast med skillnaden att vi planerat veckan själv samt att veckan har ett tema. Jag var med i gruppen som planerade första seminarieveckan, till det fick vi 4 timmar i veckan av arbetstiden att planera.

Trainee-gänget 2016/2017 iförda nyinförskaffade V8-kepsar under den första seminarieveckan i december.

Period 2
Jag är i denna period nu och började förra veckan så jag har inte så mycket att berätta om det ännu. Jag befinner mig i alla fall på Scanias projektkontor där jag har fått en uppgift i ett redan existerande projekt.

En vecka på Volkswagen
Veckan efter vi slutat Period 2 (sista veckan i april) åker hela trainee-gänget till Tyskland och Volkswagen. Tidigare år har Traineerna åkt till Cambridge för att plugga språk en vecka.

Period 3
Utlandsperioden! Här fick vi välja mellan att göra praktik på en marknadsenhet eller på en produktionsenhet. Under varje rubrik fanns ett antal länder att välja mellan. Vi fick då göra tre önskningar om länder och så fick vi, runt lucia, veta vart vi skulle åka.

Det är inte nödvändigt att åka under Period 3 men de flesta traineer åker då och det passade bäst för mig att åka den perioden med. Perioden sträcker sig från 1 maj till mitten av juli, då semestern sedan börjar. En av traineerna är exempelvis på sin utlandsperiod i Malaysia redan denna period.

Mycket mer än så vet jag inte just nu! Om ni har några frågor svarar jag gärna på dessa, det är bara att kommentera!

I spent my last trainee placement at the department Sales Trucks Europe from August until November last year at the Scania HQ in Södertälje. Within Sales and Marketing, the Trucks Sales Team Europe has the responsibility for sales volumes and profitability in the European markets. The department works in close collaboration with the European Scania distributors, optimizing sales volumes and profitability in accordance with Scania’s long term strategies.

There are currently six Area Managers working at this department and three Commercial Analysts. The Area Managers are responsible for a defined market area (for instance, one Area Manager was responsible for Germany, Austria, Poland, and the Baltics) and their main task is to strengthen Scania’s position in the markets they are accountable for. In addition, they support the Scania distributors in their daily work. Each Commercial Analyst supports two Area Managers in commercial, administrative, and operative issues and is the first point of contact for the markets on commercial issues concerning truck sales. He or she often also has operating responsibility for sales in smaller markets.

The Area Managers and Commercial Analysts are in frequent contact with the Sales and Pre-sales teams from their assigned markets, analysing the implications of commercial opportunities and implementing decided actions. In addition to the interaction with the markets they also play an important part in complying Business Intelligence as well as enabling industrial and financial planning through forecasting sales in terms of revenue and profit levels.

During my trainee placement at Sales Trucks Europe, I had mainly two projects. In the first project, I assisted the department’s Business Developer with the financial targets for 2017 with regard to volume, revenue, and profit. In this project, I even got a deeper insight into the other Sales Trucks departments: Africa and Asia-Pacific, Eurasia and Middle East, and New and Strategic Project Markets.

My second project was to analyse and propose a new method of how to assess a market’s financial performance by creating a Country Score Card for Poland. In this project, I had frequent contact with other areas within Sales & Marketing, such as Parts & Service and Connected Services & Solutions, and worked closely together with the business unit in Poland. I also accompanied the Area Manager and Commercial Analyst for Poland on two business trips to Scania Poland in Warsaw and attended the yearly Round Table Agreement, a meeting in which coordinated activities for the coming year are discussed and agreed on between the business unit and the HQ.

During my three-month placement at Sales Trucks Europe, I got a great overview over the Commercial Analysts’ and Area Managers’ daily work tasks as well as a deeper insight into the Polish market. Moreover, through the daily conversations that I had with my colleagues and the Business Developer, I got a better understanding of the different markets’ current situation, future development, and upcoming activities. Since I enjoy working in an international business environment, like to work with numbers, and love to travel, the department seems like a perfect fit for me and I am definitely interested in working at one of Scania’s Sales departments again in the future.

In September this year, I got the unique opportunity to work as Scania’s International Stand Manager at the 66^th IAA for Commercial Vehicles, which was held in Hanover, Germany.

In short, a stand manager is responsible for the stand operation throughout the exhibition. He or she has to initiate or arrange any support needed to make sure things run smoothly and has the authority to take decisions, for instance regarding staffing.

As the international stand manager, I was responsible for approximately 40 international staff members each day, that came from Sweden, Brazil and Russia and manned the stand. Every morning and evening, when the exhibition closed, I sat down with the German stand manager and discussed which issues we would bring up at the next morning meeting. We, first, held a morning meeting for the German and the international staff members together. The German stand manager held the meeting in German, while I summarized his speech in English. This also meant that I sometimes had to translate “on the spot” or that I quickly had to summarize speeches of the German management team. During these meetings, I always presented three experts from my international team to the German staff members in order to enhance the cooperation between the German and the international team.

I, then, held a separate morning meeting for my international staff, in which I checked attendance and informed the staff members about expected visitors and VIP guests on that day. Additionally, I told them, if we were expecting bigger customer groups and colleagues from Scania’s distributors to visit our stand. As the main contact person for the international staff, I was responsible for giving my staff the support they needed in order to perform their work tasks. This implied, for example, to ensure that every staff member had a work outfit, nametag, pin, locker, etc. but also making sure that the staff members felt comfortable and took enough breaks to eat and drink.

After the international morning meeting, I stopped by Scania’s information desk, to inform the hostesses about which international staff members were manning the stand that day. Besides being responsible for the international staff, I was in charge of our international conference rooms. Hence, I met with the catering manager every morning to discuss the conference room bookings. Furthermore, I checked regularly that the Scania stand was in a representative condition, which means that I ensured that the stand was tidy, that we never ran out of marketing material, and that all the technical equipment functioned properly.

The Scania stand was comprised, among others, of a VIP Lounge and a Driver’s Bar. As the stand manager, I had the authority to decide who was allowed to enter the VIP lounge and I had to watch out that the VIP lounge was never overcrowded. Scania distributors from all over the world travelled to the IAA. Many of them came with bigger customer groups. For some of these groups, I had to make special arrangements on the stand. I closed off a section of the Driver’s Bar, for instance, and checked that security staff was in place and that the catering was informed about the visit of bigger customer groups.

I spent most of the remaining time behind the reception desk, where I welcomed Scania employees from all over the world that visited the exhibition and assisted them, for example, with storing their luggage in our luggage room or finding a place to work. Furthermore, I accompanied guests to the conference rooms, when they had meetings with Scania employees and ensured that guests that had a meeting with the management team were taken care of. Moreover, I was the main contact person for all international and German customers and suppliers that were looking for Scania representatives from certain markets or that wanted to get in touch with our technical experts when they had specific questions concerning our products. I also gathered all contact requests from different suppliers and forwarded their brochures and business cards to the Purchasing department in Södertälje. Another work task was to take care of VIP guests at our stand and to arrange private guided tours of our stand with my staff members.

The work load at the IAA was very high, and I worked approximately 11 to 12 hours a day. The first three days were especially tough until everything fell into place. During these days, my phone rang constantly while three people around me wanted my attention simultaneously. It is difficult to prepare for the role as the stand manager, since the main task is simply to “function”, to be extremely flexible, highly service-minded, and to find the best solution possible under time pressure, so that our guests have the best experience at the Scania stand and receive the support they need. Luckily, I was supported by two coordinators, who assisted me at the reception desk and helped me in all staff-related issues.

Since we had just launched a completely new truck generation, our stand was very popular and totally overcrowded during the weekend.

We were all very proud to present our new truck range at the IAA and an absolute highlight was that Scania won the International Truck of the Year award, which was handed out during the press day of the IAA.

Another personal highlight for me as a true Scania fan was that I spotted the legendary Svempa at our stand, who designs and builds unique Scania concept trucks, among others the Red Pearl and the Chimera, which I saw at the International ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix at the Nürburgring during my third trainee placement at Scania Deutschland GmbH. Of course, I did not miss the chance to ask him if I could take a picture with him.

After having worked five days in the row, the new international stand manager from Sweden arrived, who took over for the remaining five exhibition days. Due to the long working hours and the fact that I was standing or running around most of the time, I was quite exhausted and glad when the new stand manager arrived. However, working as the international stand manager was definitely a great opportunity and learning experience. It was fun to get to know so many Scania employees and to have close contact with our customers and suppliers. I enjoyed the collaboration with Scania Germany at our stand and I can definitely imagine myself working as Scania’s international stand manager again at the next IAA.

In my last three blog posts, I focused very much on describing my work tasks and experiences during my first three trainee placements. The trainee program ended a few weeks ago and although I was very excited and eager to start my first “real” job at Scania, I was definitely a little nervous and also sad that the exciting, fun, and challenging time as a trainee was coming to an end. I am definitely going to miss all the adventures that we trainees experienced together.

In January this year, a few trainee colleagues and I had the chance to attend the “Transportforum” in Linköping. “Transportforum” is Scandinavia’s largest annual conference for people working in the transport sector. It is a platform used by researchers and actors within the transport sector to establish contacts and to share knowledge. It was very interesting to learn more about future transport solutions and to get to know the other actors operating within the transport sector.

In April, we trainees hired a few Scania trucks and drove to Malmö to visit one of our trainee colleagues who spent her second trainee placement at the Scania dealer there. Since I spent the second trainee placement at the Scania dealer in Gothenburg, it was interesting to observe differences and similarities between the two dealers. In the evening, we went out for dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant, located directly at the water in the newly built residential area “Västra hamnen”.

In one of my blog entries, I mentioned that we always have a seminar week between the trainee placements. We trainees are responsible for organizing these seminar weeks and for planning the lectures, seminars, and study visits. During the second seminar week, we went to Oskarshamn, where the production facilities for Scania’s truck cabs is located. There are five different workshops: the press shop, the bodyworks workshop, the base-painting workshop, the paint shop, and the assembly workshop. Scania has recently completed its largest single industrial investment in two decades in Oskarshamn and built the world’s most modern cab factory, which is manned by 283 new, high-tech robots. Having worked at Scania’s assembly lines in Södertälje, seeing this futuristic cab production almost felt surreal, like a scene from a Science Fiction movie.

One week before the start of our placement abroad, we got the opportunity to attend an one-week EF language course in Cambridge. Since I love to travel but have never been in England before, I spent the weekend before the start of the language course in London for some sightseeing.

During the week in Cambridge, we stayed at host families and had private and group lectures during the day. The language school also organized fun activities, such as a sightseeing tour in Cambridge, a punting tour on the river Cam, or a trip to London to see a musical.

In October, the “Traineedagen” took place at the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. Many large companies, that offer a trainee program in Sweden, took part in this exhibition and students had the opportunity to find out more about the different trainee programs. One of my trainee colleagues and I manned the Scania stand together with trainees from the past years, our trainee coordinators and recruiters. It was very nice to meet the students and easy for me to relate to their situation, since I have been in their shoes two years ago. I had some very interesting conversations with the students and I am very much looking forward to maybe welcoming some of them as our new trainees at Scania next year.

I moved to Koblenz, Germany, in the end of April 2016 for my third trainee placement, which I spent at the department “Strategy, Communication & Marketing” at Scania Deutschland GmbH.

Germany is my home country, but I have never worked in Germany before. Thus, I was very excited to see what working for Scania would be like in Germany. Scania has an extremely Swedish organizational culture (for more information see my second blog entry: How to choose the right company) and although the organizational culture at Scania Germany is “Scania-like”, the differences between the two business cultures is still noticeable. My trainee placement in Germany was very structured and organized. Everything – from chair to computer – was ready to use upon my arrival. Furthermore, Scania Germany has very clear hierarchies and the language in meetings is more direct than in Sweden. The work tasks were quite varied reaching from administrative tasks to demanding projects, hence, I always had something to work on.

I spent a lot of time on proof-reading all kinds of marketing material, such as brochures and press releases and even got to write the press release for the International ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix – a huge trucker festival taking place at famous Nürburgring – on my own. I also assisted the team “Business Intelligence & Sales Processes” with evaluating and summarizing the results of a questionnaire filled in by the Scania dealers in Germany.

However, the most interesting and valuable experience for me was being involved in the IAA project. The IAA is the world’s largest exhibition for commercial vehicles in Hanover, Germany, and takes place every second year. I assisted the project manager in planning the set-up of the marketing material as well as proof reading it. In addition, I coordinated a video shoot for a customer testimonial for the IAA. Being involved in the IAA project was a great preparation for my role as a stand manager at the IAA this year. Besides, the department “Strategy, Communication & Marketing” closely cooperates with my home department, “Marketing Communications” in Sweden. Hence, it was very interesting for me to work with my home department from a distributor perspective.

My third trainee placement also involved some travelling: I attended an IAA meeting in Sweden and visited the IFAT in Munich, which is the world’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management.

I travelled to Frankfurt, to take part in the VDA International Press Workshop, where I met the top managers of the automotive industry, among others Andreas Renschler (Volkswagen AG, Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH) and Henrik Henriksson, the CEO of Scania. Moreover, I attended an award ceremony in Stuttgart, which was held by ETM, a publisher house, where Scania won a prize in the tipper category.

A very interesting event to attend was the International ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix, which takes place at the Nürburgring in Germany every year.

All in all, my trainee placement in Germany has been very valuable and I have learned a lot at Scania Germany in general and at the department “Strategy, Communication & Marketing” in particular. From day one, I felt like being part of the team and I can definitely imagine myself going back to Scania Germany for some time in the future.

Hi,

Around 3 months ago I started my professional worklife. The very same day 25 others did the same thing. We became the Scania Graduate Trainees 2016/2017.

I’ll save the introduction weeks for yet another blog post because these have been very well described in blog posts by my colleagues. If you’re thinking about applying for the next year’s program – application opens in week 51 (hint hint) – and are curious about what you are to experience during the recruting process and the first weeks at the program, do yourself a favor and read the entries by Simon Ingebrand & Alexandra Wilbs!

What I feel has not been as well covered though is the aspect of starting your career as part of a trainee group. In my last entry I mentioned that this gives you a network from day one, and it seems this is a special kind of connection. My mentor (trainee 2014) has told me they still have lunch every week and see each other outside of work. Also representatives from our exboard (many of them former trainees!) shared stories about how they had been in the trainee program together and how these connections had been valuable throughout their careers within the company. And I think this should not be under estimated. Scania is a rather large company which holds an incredible amount of knowledge and information, and when writing our Master’s thesis, I experienced that knowing whom to ask heavily reduces the time spent looking for it!

Well, apart from the strategic side of it, having a bunch of new friends experiencing the same sort of things (being new at a department, feeling frustrated or happy about anything, loving or hating their projects etcetera) is a great support. We can laugh it of, support each other with contacts and advice and find out how others handle the situations. It is also a way to get inspiration and to sort out your thoughts about where and when to spend your rotations, since we are spread out over a large number of functions at Scania.

The introduction contributed in creating a sense of us being a group, especially while we had workshop practices at the production units in Södertälje. But the group also consists of social and including people coming up with ideas of how to spend evenings and weekends. So far, we have for example had a couple of after works, wine- & cheese tasting, afternoon tea, dinners and a lecture. And this weekend, a bunch of us went on a field trip visiting Herman (this year’s trainee at Ferruform) in Luleå! Ferruform Scania AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scania producing e.g. driven rear axles and side beams for just-in-time deliveries to the assembly plants in Södertälje, Zwolle and Angers. We got a guided tour at their production site and reflected upon how much was similar to what we have seen in Södertälje, but also how much more organized and new those sites feel. Of course we also took the opportunity to spend the weekend exploring the city. A new adventure awaits already this week though; on Thursday we’ll leave for Sälen! 🙂

Here comes some photos for you to get to know my trainee group.
The quality is not the best, but the company is!

Having sushi after work.

Studying for truck driving license.

Wine tasting.

Dinner and dance.

Hanging out in a Scania truck.

Early mornings… time for assembly work.

Visiting Ferruform.

All the best,

// Therese

From January 2016 until end of April 2016, I spent my second trainee placement at Scania-Bilar Sverige AB / Region Väst, which is a Scania dealer in West Sweden with the main office located in Gothenburg. The main office as well as the offices in Borås and Himle, which belong to Region West, are comprised of a sales office and a workshop. There is also an additional workshop without a sales office in Gothenburg.

Working at a dealer is often referred to as “working in the real world”. It is very different from working at the headquarters in Södertälje. When you work at the HQ, you can easily forget that the work is not done when the chassis rolls out of the production hall. A long process follows until the vehicle is finally delivered to the end customer. The hand-over to the end customer takes place at Scania dealers worldwide, thus, it is at the Scania dealers where Scania actually makes its money. Hence, it is of utmost importance, that every sales strategy and every marketing campaign, which is developed at the HQ in Södertälje, is being communicated all the way from the HQ to the respective distributor (Scania Sweden in this case) and from there to the dealers. So that even the workshop personal knows and understands our sales and marketing activities. It is at the workshops and sales offices that the end customers meet Scania. Thus, the way the customers are treated by the salesmen or met and assisted by the workshop personal has a huge impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In summary, what happens at a Scania dealer is decisive for Scania’s overall performance.

During my placement at the dealer, I worked on mainly three projects. The first project was an analysis of the delivery process. When an order is placed at a Scania dealer, it often takes three to six months until the new vehicle is handed over to the end customer. First, the chassis is produced in Södertälje. Then, it is often delivered to a bodybuilder, where for, instance, a crane is built on the chassis. Afterwards, the chassis comes to the Scania workshop and it is delivered to the end customer. My task was to identify the individual steps and the responsible employees throughout this process and to find issues and methods of improvement. This project enabled me to meet everybody who is involved in the delivery chain. I met with salesmen, the delivery coordinator, bodybuilders, and the employees at the customer reception desk and in the workshops. Two highlights during this project were my study visits at the bodybuilders JOAB and SKAB.

The second project was an analysis of the used vehicle process. When a customer buys a new Scania, he or she can simultaneously trade in his or her used truck. Scania-Bilar Region West has a used truck center in Himle. One of the problems is that the value of a used truck is assessed when the customer orders his or her new truck. However, the new truck is delivered several months later. And when the used truck is finally traded in for the new truck, the used one is often in a worse condition than it was when its value was assessed. Thus, my task was to find a solution for this problem, since this has an impact on the financial performance of the used truck business at Region West.

Finally, I got to work on the third project together with the trainee in Sales &Marketing, who spent her second trainee placement at Scania-Bilar Sverige AB / Region Syd (Region South Sweden). The dealer in this region had recently undergone a reorganization, whereas Region West continued to maintain the former organizational structure. Our task was to compare the two organizational structures and to analyze which one of the organizational models we would recommend to apply in the future.

To summarize, working at a Scania dealer was a very instructive and broadening experience. It helped me understand the daily struggles at a Scania dealer and the processes and routines that follow after the chassis leave the production hall in Södertälje. Therefore, I recommend all future trainees to take the opportunity and work at or at least visit a Scania dealer during the trainee program. It is definitely worth getting an insight into “the real world”.

Finally time to post my first entry! So here it goes:

Today I got the question: what does it feels like to start working after uni?
And my answer was: it’s surprisingly easy.
But of course this is not entirely true; it can also be highly complex and has its ups and downs. So, I will share my stories and experiences with you as honestly as possible.

When finding myself at the end of my engineering studies, I spent much time reflecting upon how I wanted the journey to continue. All of a sudden it was time to get out of that marvelous bubble of student life in Lund. Being a “generalist specialist” (as I this weekend learnt that my education can be labeled, thanks for the expression!), and also curious as a person, I ended up in parallel recruiting processes. This period was interesting because one day you think you have learnt something about yourself and your aspirations, only to have a setback and doubt it the next day. I had long knew though, that a trainee program would be a interesting way of bridging the gap, while it offers a professional environment where you get introduced to several areas, presented to a broad range of challenges and start to build your network from day one. Furthermore, the focus is on learning as much as possible about the organisation and developing your own skills! So in the end, when the opportunity presented itself, I finally followed my gut feeling (facilitated by the professional but yet highly engaged and welcoming atmosphere experienced during the recruitment process) and accepted a trainee position at Scania CV AB – a choice I am very happy with.

It has now been almost 3 months (my god, that went quick!) and there’s heaps of stuff that I would like to share in this forum. But let’s start with the most recent experience; my first business trip. To the Netherlands. Alone. I have been given the responsibility for a project with rather blurry frames which I am to fill with content, with the help of a resource in Holland. This is of course challenging, and sometimes I just wish that someone would tell me what to do. But I also know that wouldn’t be as fun in the end. The project targets how we can work to better create an understanding of the flow of products all the way to our end customers. Hence, 1 1/2 week ago I was kinda nervous and did not know how to fill the agenda for the three day long visit, but then I reminded myself; if you want challenges, go grasp the opportunities! So off I went, and it was incredibly instructive.

Since I am currently employed within the industrial side, this trip was also a way for me to learn how the same flow can be interpreted from the commercial point of view. The distributor I visited is located in Breda, a two hour flight and an additional one hour train trip from Stockholm. I felt rather excited waking up at the hotel, knowing that I would get picked up and spend my day at this head office. I gladly experienced that the entire day had been dedicated to me, where a manager and I sat down to discuss the project, their market setup and challenges, and how to proceed from here. And once again it struck me how open and friendly the employees are at this company; willing to share information and experiences. This is built into the Scania culture, where one of the core values is ‘Respect for the Individual’, and we seek to capture the knowledge, experience and ambition of each individual to continuously improve and develop. I personally feel I thrive in an environment where knowledge sharing is encouraged and the standard answer (at least to my experience so far) is: “Of course, just book a meeting in my calendar!”

During my second day I got to attend pulse meetings and to further discuss the project with several employees. I also seized the opportunity to get an introduction to our pre-sales tool and to have lunch with some of the managers (sushi buffet, yay!). Moving on to Amsterdam, which was the second stop of the trip. The hotel was situated in an industrial part of town and the dealer just a 10 minute drive from there. Spent a full day at the local sales back office, where I got to experience how they work with planning activities and how complex the flow setup can be; from the chassis delivered from factory, to the point where the vehicle is ready to be picked up by the customer (I think I am growing rather fond of our products, they can be pretty cool…). The atmosphere was, again, open and the colleagues seemed to enjoy each others company – at least we laughed more or less during the entire lunch. Knowing I had learnt a lot about this market and our customers, I entered the workshop just in time to see some of them picking up their vehicles before it was time to close the business for this day.

Someone liked the Swedish handicraft.

Time for me to wrap up this day and blog post as well.

//Therese

PS. Breda is a pretty little town, which seems to host a great amount of cosy restaurants, cafes and pubs. Happy to discover this part of the country as well!