UPDATED: Micke Olsson translated the article in the comments for this blog. Check it out. Thanks Micke.
Here is a link to an article in the local new paper about our visit in Borlänge.
http://www.dt.se/nyheter/borlange/article641170.ece
Oh, by now our friends back in the US have clicked on the link and have said "this is in Swedish, I can't read this".
So I have included the a link to Sarah's class room blog post about our day for for non-Swedish readers.
http://mscastleberrystriptosweden.blogspot.com/2010/05/music-and-language-language-and-music.html
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Booming in Borlänge by H.W.
Our visit to Borläge begins with introductions to our new host "parents". Ther'es a little confusion as to who I'm staying with... one of the families think I am with them and when we arrive a change is needed... I handle with humor and promise there is enough of me to go around! I am taken to my new home where I meet Sonja and Göran Edgren. They are a lovely couple and I instantly feel at home with them and their two babies (Lafayette and Emilie). Gorän owns eX-Change Parts AB (http://www.ex-changeparts.com/). His company buys and sells helicopters and parts around the world. Unfortunately I don't get to take a ride in one of the copters but I do get a chance to tour his hanger at the airport and take some cool pics!
The first night, we meet back up as a group at the Dalsjö golf club where we have dinner and after get the chance to hit a few balls.
'
Wally wastes no time heading down to the driving range. Our team hasn't seen him this excited since the trip began!
Our first day finds us at Borlänge Musikskola (music school), off to rotary lunch and presentation and then we continue our musical journey through Bolänge with a visit to Boom town ( http://www.boomtown.nu/) where project manger and founder, Kaj Podgorski takes time to share the musical vision he has brought to life and takes us on a tour of the state of the art recording facilities. Our afternoon continues with Fika at the Peace and Love cafe (http://www.peaceandlove.nu/). "Peace and Love" is not only the name of their adorable little cafe but the name of Scandanavias largest music festival.
'
Wally wastes no time heading down to the driving range. Our team hasn't seen him this excited since the trip began!
Our first day finds us at Borlänge Musikskola (music school), off to rotary lunch and presentation and then we continue our musical journey through Bolänge with a visit to Boom town ( http://www.boomtown.nu/) where project manger and founder, Kaj Podgorski takes time to share the musical vision he has brought to life and takes us on a tour of the state of the art recording facilities. Our afternoon continues with Fika at the Peace and Love cafe (http://www.peaceandlove.nu/). "Peace and Love" is not only the name of their adorable little cafe but the name of Scandanavias largest music festival.
We are very impressed with the artistic culture of Boläange and I'm excited for my vocational experiences to begin. On Tuesday I visit Borlänge Hälsan (Borlänge Health). I meet with Anna-Liisa Bergkvist and Birgitta Brattöf and they show me around the facility and introduce me to the doctors, nurses and physical therapists they have working at the facility. You see, just as in the states, each company is required by law to offer minimum medical controls in working life. Most companies in Sweden chose to hire the private helath services from such companies as Börlange Hälsan. There are many private health service providers competing for business and what they all offer are health services for employees based on what a company is willing to provide. If an employee is sick, instead of going to a provider list to see what Dr. is covered, they will be directed to their designated health provider. There they can make a basci visit to the Dr, seek physical or mental therapy or at this particulaar lcoation, utilize the small gym they have available. Birgitte explains one of the benifits of such high taxes is that health care is very cheap (about $14 per visit) if there is a charge at all. After an employee pays $1,000 out of pocket, the rest of the year is then free. Interesting fact that in Sweden, dental care is covered for youth and the elderly but not adults and eye care is not covered at all so people have to pay out of pocket for everything at any age. Healthcare has been a popular topic of conversation both at my vocational visits and as we have personal conversations. The Swedes seem happy ot have the level of benifits provided to them but concerns with the time for care in the cases where a specialty Dr. is needed. It can takes several weeks at times to get in to see a specialist, not something in any culture that ther eis time for if there is a pressing medical issue. They can buy additional insurance here but of course it is quite expensive and a bit controversial as with the Sedish culture, everyone is expected to receive the same benifits and services.
After my very thorough tour and discussion with Börlange Hälsan, I am off to the youth center where the community of Börlange have provided some amazing opportunited for youth, again center around the arts. I meet with Esa Ahonen who runs Rockhuset (The Rockhouse) a part of Cozmoz (www.cozmoz.nu). This is a youth house owned by Börlange county, created along with Cozmoz back in 1991, specifically for those Youth from Börlange that want to practice music, rehears with their bands and perform for a live audience. Cozmoz also offers activities for youth where they can work at the Cozmoz cafe, in the park services and other engaging activities to help youth find direction in life. Talk about engaging youth in positive ways!
I have been waiting 3 weeks for my next visit... the YMCA! Here the YMCA is called KFUK-KFUM, a collaboration between the YWCA and YMCA. I meet Bosse Nyman, the executive director. We sit and chat and he explains their main role in the community is that of a skateboard/climbing facility and sports classes for youth.
There is not much time to stay with at the Y as our last visit for the day is at Friskes and Svettes where Sarah and Jess's host dad is an instructor. We all suit up (you'll notice Wally didn't join us... hmmm) and we particpated in what they call middle aerobics. I don't know if we burned more calories particpating in the class or laughing at Mike doing all of the moves but it was great fun!
We found the warmth and friendliness of all we met in Böranlge quite touching and as with all those we have encoutnered on this trip, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts foor more amazing experiences and memories we will have for a lifetime.
We found the warmth and friendliness of all we met in Böranlge quite touching and as with all those we have encoutnered on this trip, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts foor more amazing experiences and memories we will have for a lifetime.
Weeks two's vocational experience and a little more
Week two was another great week, filled with new friends and excellent vocational experiences in the Gävle area. Jan Jansson and Håken Lindberg were our chauffeur and program leaders. They did an excellent job keeping us busy.
Last week start out with meeting our host families. The first part of the I week stayed with Martin and Jenny Jansson. They have three children, Ida who is 8 years old, Lydia who turn 6 years old while I was there, and Carl who is 1 year old. Martin works for Sandvik in the mining and construction as a global project manager and Jenny works as a Occupational therapist for children with disabilities. Martin and Jenny have both spent time in the USA. Martian will be at Caterpillar in Illinois the week we return home. Jenny worked as a Aupair for a couple in Minneapolis for a year in the 1990's and also return for a few months to complete some education requirements for her degree. It was great to discuss Sweden and USA with them.
The Jansson Family
On Monday I went with Martin to Sandvick and meet with my first host Conny Haraldsson. Conny is in charge of facilities maintenance. This is no small task when you have 600,000 square meters or 6,500,000 square feet under roof. The first tasks of the day was to get equipped with fire rated clothing. This is a requirement anytime you enter any to the facilities where hot metal is being worked on. So Conny took me to the central warehouse to get my official uniform. Sandvik doesn't allow camera's in most area's so I was not able to take many pictures.
The tour began my visiting the Coromant facility. This is where they make all of the cutting tools and holders. This was a beautiful facility and was very new because the old building was gutted by fire a few years ago. I was able to see the cutting tool demonstration/testing area and was able to take a few pictures in here. They also had a very nice display that showed the progression of the progression of the cutting tools from their beginnings.
Conny worked in the tube mill for many years so that was our next stop. Sandvik is one of three facilities in the world that make the tubes for the nuclear power industry. We then stopped by his office and had "fika" and discussed their idea's on facilities management and how the union in Sweden works. Next we toured the extrusion facility. They don't extrude aluminum they extrude steel as a preprocess for other processes like the tube mill.
Tubes made in the Tube Mill
We then meet up with Erik Törnkvist and had lunch. At lunch we discussed what Erik does at Sandvik. He is in charge of fire prevention for the company. An interesting note was, it is not required to have sprinkler heads in the plants here in Sweden, however if they would have been installed in the Coromant building the damage would have been far less. After lunch Erik and I tour the melt plant. Here they melt 75 tons of specialty steel at a time. This steel is then delivered to the continuous casting department or the ingot pour department. It was very interesting to see this large of foundry in process. Erik and I then walked uptown to the head quarters. Here they have a large forging press that you walk through on the way to the office. They also have a statute of the founder of Sandvik Göran Fredrik Göranssson.
Old forging Press built in 1800's
I attend my first Swedish Birthday party on Tuesday when Lydia turned 6. This was a great experience. One the morning of their birthday the family sings to the children to wake them up and the family gives them their presents. Then in the evening the rest of the family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin came over to celebrate. It was great to spend some time with the kids and hear them laugh and play.
Tuesday we spent the day as a group with a Morning Rotary meeting, touring Gevalia coffee factory, a noon Rotary meeting and tour Leaf candy factory. More on this day in another blog.
Wednesday was another day at Sandvik. I spent the day in the rolling mill with Peter Andersson and his team. I was able to attend their production meeting and maintenance meeting. It was very interesting to hear them discuss the daily issue they are working on. I also spent time with this maintainance team leaders Mats Jonsson and Bjorn Bostrom discussing their preventive maintenance, troubleshooting and training programs. They also spent a great deal of the day giving me a tour of the facility. This tour takes awhile when the plant is on multiple levels and is about 1/3 mile long.
Wednesday evening we attended a concert at the Gävle Concert Hall. This was a great building and a nice evening. After the performance we attended a party in the artist foyer. Thanks to Roland Lindgren for putting this together and having us as guests. It was very enjoyable evening.
Thursday it was back to Sandvik for another 1/2 day. By this time I knew the security guards and think I could have found my way just about anywhere. I spent the morning in the forging plant. There I spent the morning with Hans Jernberg and attended the production meeting, learned about the process and team aspect of the department. At 11:00 I meet up with Conny, turned in my official Sandvik uniform and hopped on the 11:30 bus to Gävle. Going from Sandvik to Gävle is about the same distance as Fond du Lac to Oshkosh. This bus runs every 30 minutes each way. Much different than in the US. I arrived in Gävle in time to walk a few blocks to the Noon rotary meeting where we were presenting that day.
In the afternoon I spent some time with the Rotary president Ingela Broström discussing historic preservation in Sweden. So very interest discussions on preservation verses usage/operation. She also set up for us to tour the castle in Gävle on Friday. The castle is home the the current county Governor, which happens to be Tiger Woods mother-in-law.
More on Friday and Saturday events to come in a future blog.
Mike
Last week start out with meeting our host families. The first part of the I week stayed with Martin and Jenny Jansson. They have three children, Ida who is 8 years old, Lydia who turn 6 years old while I was there, and Carl who is 1 year old. Martin works for Sandvik in the mining and construction as a global project manager and Jenny works as a Occupational therapist for children with disabilities. Martin and Jenny have both spent time in the USA. Martian will be at Caterpillar in Illinois the week we return home. Jenny worked as a Aupair for a couple in Minneapolis for a year in the 1990's and also return for a few months to complete some education requirements for her degree. It was great to discuss Sweden and USA with them.
The Jansson Family
On Monday I went with Martin to Sandvick and meet with my first host Conny Haraldsson. Conny is in charge of facilities maintenance. This is no small task when you have 600,000 square meters or 6,500,000 square feet under roof. The first tasks of the day was to get equipped with fire rated clothing. This is a requirement anytime you enter any to the facilities where hot metal is being worked on. So Conny took me to the central warehouse to get my official uniform. Sandvik doesn't allow camera's in most area's so I was not able to take many pictures.
The tour began my visiting the Coromant facility. This is where they make all of the cutting tools and holders. This was a beautiful facility and was very new because the old building was gutted by fire a few years ago. I was able to see the cutting tool demonstration/testing area and was able to take a few pictures in here. They also had a very nice display that showed the progression of the progression of the cutting tools from their beginnings.
Conny worked in the tube mill for many years so that was our next stop. Sandvik is one of three facilities in the world that make the tubes for the nuclear power industry. We then stopped by his office and had "fika" and discussed their idea's on facilities management and how the union in Sweden works. Next we toured the extrusion facility. They don't extrude aluminum they extrude steel as a preprocess for other processes like the tube mill.
Tubes made in the Tube Mill
We then meet up with Erik Törnkvist and had lunch. At lunch we discussed what Erik does at Sandvik. He is in charge of fire prevention for the company. An interesting note was, it is not required to have sprinkler heads in the plants here in Sweden, however if they would have been installed in the Coromant building the damage would have been far less. After lunch Erik and I tour the melt plant. Here they melt 75 tons of specialty steel at a time. This steel is then delivered to the continuous casting department or the ingot pour department. It was very interesting to see this large of foundry in process. Erik and I then walked uptown to the head quarters. Here they have a large forging press that you walk through on the way to the office. They also have a statute of the founder of Sandvik Göran Fredrik Göranssson.
Old forging Press built in 1800's
I attend my first Swedish Birthday party on Tuesday when Lydia turned 6. This was a great experience. One the morning of their birthday the family sings to the children to wake them up and the family gives them their presents. Then in the evening the rest of the family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin came over to celebrate. It was great to spend some time with the kids and hear them laugh and play.
Tuesday we spent the day as a group with a Morning Rotary meeting, touring Gevalia coffee factory, a noon Rotary meeting and tour Leaf candy factory. More on this day in another blog.
Wednesday was another day at Sandvik. I spent the day in the rolling mill with Peter Andersson and his team. I was able to attend their production meeting and maintenance meeting. It was very interesting to hear them discuss the daily issue they are working on. I also spent time with this maintainance team leaders Mats Jonsson and Bjorn Bostrom discussing their preventive maintenance, troubleshooting and training programs. They also spent a great deal of the day giving me a tour of the facility. This tour takes awhile when the plant is on multiple levels and is about 1/3 mile long.
Wednesday evening we attended a concert at the Gävle Concert Hall. This was a great building and a nice evening. After the performance we attended a party in the artist foyer. Thanks to Roland Lindgren for putting this together and having us as guests. It was very enjoyable evening.
Thursday it was back to Sandvik for another 1/2 day. By this time I knew the security guards and think I could have found my way just about anywhere. I spent the morning in the forging plant. There I spent the morning with Hans Jernberg and attended the production meeting, learned about the process and team aspect of the department. At 11:00 I meet up with Conny, turned in my official Sandvik uniform and hopped on the 11:30 bus to Gävle. Going from Sandvik to Gävle is about the same distance as Fond du Lac to Oshkosh. This bus runs every 30 minutes each way. Much different than in the US. I arrived in Gävle in time to walk a few blocks to the Noon rotary meeting where we were presenting that day.
In the afternoon I spent some time with the Rotary president Ingela Broström discussing historic preservation in Sweden. So very interest discussions on preservation verses usage/operation. She also set up for us to tour the castle in Gävle on Friday. The castle is home the the current county Governor, which happens to be Tiger Woods mother-in-law.
More on Friday and Saturday events to come in a future blog.
Mike
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