Different backgrounds and experience can sometimes cause difficulties in communicating and, at worst, lead to costly misunderstandings. A training course at RISE helped parts of Scania’s purchasing department in Södertälje to talk to each other in a completely new way. “We are very pleased. When you are a new employee, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the lingo,” says Magnus Elling at Scania.
A workplace can present numerous challenges. In addition to the working environment and clear goals, an important prerequisite for effective work is that everyone understands each other and that there is a common language to talk about their tasks and what they involve. This can be difficult if many members of the work team are new employees and also have different backgrounds.
Magnus Elling, Quality Assurance Manager at Scania’s purchasing department for die-cast components, discovered a need to improve communication in his work team. The buyers at the department must have a good knowledge of die casting and also understand the terminology used by Scania’s engineers and partners.
“This manufacturing method requires tools and machines that are very expensive and sophisticated. It is therefore important that the commercial and technical sides have a common language and basic understanding so that the communication works,” says Elling.
Elling had previously attended a RISE training course on die casting and felt that the whole work team would have use for it.
“I have been active in casting and production processes and thought the level of training might be too low for me, but it wasn’t. It was a very good and professional training package that I can recommend everyone to attend,” he says.
Training in English
The fact that RISE was able to provide the training course in English and translate related materials was a prerequisite for Scania to carry it out.
“We are an international organisation. In our team we have people from India, Serbia and Brazil, for example, and not everyone speaks Swedish,” says Elling.
The training paid off quickly.
“We are very pleased and already notice that the more experienced employees and the rookies talk to each other in a completely new way and to a greater extent than before,” says Elling.
Full-day training with broad content
The training course is over a full day. Among other things, participants learn about the manufacturing process, the tools used, and common reasons why something goes wrong. The course is mainly geared towards buyers and those who work with the design of die-cast articles, but others may also benefit from it.
Four researchers from RISE lectured to the participants on their specialist subjects in die casting.
“One of the strengths of RISE is that we have such deep expertise in many areas. In addition, many of our researchers are accustomed to providing training on top of their research assignments, so we have a well-considered methodology for how we execute these courses,” says Patrik Svanängen, Training Manager at RISE.
This is something that Elling confirms.
“This has to do with deep technical knowledge. RISE knows all about this. It is not something that they have only read in a book – they have knowledgeable experts who teach real knowledge,” concludes Magnus Elling.