SKF Ball Bearing! Visiting SKF was completely amazing. Right in front of the one building is the largest ball bearing. Seriously this thing is huge. SKF is within the top, possibly the top, manufacturers of ball bearings. Do not tell them that though because they will correct you on how
they are a knowledge engineer company now. Either way they have created the best products I have ever used. The way they run their business is even more amazing. They recycle so much to help the environment. Not only do they help the environment, but they also help their community. There is this soccer tournament that takes place near Goteborg and SKF flies over so many teams to participate in the tournament. They are also building a hope school in a third world country. They believe in helping the youth because they are the future customers, future distributors, and possibly future colleagues. SKF believes in this idea so much that they have a small high school on their grounds. This high school only consists of 30 students at most. SKF teaches them the manufacture ways and they can possibly get a position on the floor with the company.We were given a quick history lesson on the business before we started the actual tour. Lars Werner was out tour guide. There are more than 100 years of history. It was so interesting! The founder of
SKF, Sven Wingquit, worked for a company that worked with steam engines. The steam engines kept breaking down and he wanted to know why. The parts that were originally in these machines came from Germany. It was some sort of textile company. He ended up creating a entire new ball bearing for the steam engine. Unfortunately, that bearing broke down too. So then he realized that the bearings themselves were not the problem. The problem was coming from the ground condition. The ground was not even so there was too much pressure on the ball bearing. Sven Wingquit then created a ball bearing that was able to move out of alignment. Something that I will go more into detail with later. Keep in mind that SKF was not founded until 1907. This idea was way beyond it's time. That is why SKF is so successful.SKF was founded in February of 1907. Wingquit's ideas started four years earlier in 1903. Due to the business being so new he was hiring people that were actually let go from other manufacturing companies. Most of us would think that this was crazy and would just run the business into the ground. Wrong! The people that were fired were union people. They were not bad workers. The companies just did not want to negotiate with them on pay and benefits. Sven actually started the union organization before founding the actual company. Now that is something that I think is crazy. Well at first I think that. Then I think about how smart that really is. A company does not succeed with not having a team to succeed with. Genius!!!
From February of 1907 to the end of 1907 SKF manufactured 2,200 bearings. For a start up company that is major. That is the outcome of a company that is going to succeed. I would say that
SKF stands for Ball Bearing Factory in translation. There were not always called SKF. In 1976, they changed the name to SKF for marketing reasons and it was easier to put on the very tiny ball bearing boxes. SKF used to be Svenska Klatterforbundet. That is fairly long to put one a small box. No, it is really long. Marketing and convenient are some great reasons. Even though the convenient part came after.
Today SKF creates one billion ball bearings each year. They also have 48,400 employees. SKF is also located in 130 different countries and is in over 40 different industries. There is nearly 15,000 distributors all over the world. Let's be real, where are they not located? I am absolutely loving what SKF is doing and how they are doing it. Ball bearings are everywhere. They are even in cameras. The camera that took the picture of the first man on the moon had a ball bearing in it. So not only is Hasselblad represented on the moon, but so is SKF.
Not only do they manufacture the ball bearings, but they also manufacture the roller bearings, belts, and seals. They mainly use Lincoln Lubrication for their bearings. It is hard to try and keep everything in line. Ball bearings are in everything. In a single car there is around 1,500 ball bearings. That is crazy! Before today I only thought that their were ball bearings in the wheel bearings. I was wrong. There are even ball bearings in the telescope on the south pole. On Apollo 11 in 1969 there were ball bearings. In 1926, SKF partnered up with Volvo and Volvo translates to "I'm rolling" in Latin. Seriously! I would have never have known any of this if I would not have gone on this trip. SKF so far is definitely my favorite company. I am bias though with my car and racing background. When discussing Apollo 11 it was interesting to find out that the Chinese are now heading to the moon. So America has been there, Russia has been there, and now China. China seems to be a follower and from what I understand from today is that China tries to counterfeit the SKF ball bearings. This is why on the SKF ball bearings they laser in a certain code to differentiate there's from the knock off brands.
Some of the bearings and seals that are manufactured by SKF can help people save up to 30% of their energy. That is a major improvement. With all their changes within the company they have accomplished 3,000 different patents. SKF even started making ceramic ball bearings. I never thought that was possible. These ball bearings are manufactured at their factory in Italy. It also was not until 1980 that SKF started to make the shafts with the bearings and created the same strength density as the original bearings but smaller and lighter.
In the museum part of SKF they had this very interesting demonstration. These little ball bearings dropped from the ceiling and bounced on these metal plat forms and then bounced right into a bucket. The point of this was to show how the weight of the ball is so important. The harder the ball is the higher it bounces and when the ball is soft it does not bounce as high. It was also in 1947 that SKF started being a part of F1 and assisting them with their racecars. From what I was able to understand is that they initially started with the bearings in the gear box. Once the teams of F1 saw the difference they trusted SKF with other parts of the car as well.
Leisure:
A couple hours after SKF we all met up back at Goteborg University for "Ask A Swede." Here we all sat down with Swedish students and were able to ask them questions. For them this was "Ask An American." We all broke up into groups and enjoyed some conversations about absolutely everything. It was surprising to see that Eva is actually 31, not 30. Maria was one of the Swedes in my group. She looks like she is 21, but she is actually turning 28 shortly. It is amazing to see how some Swedes wait to go to college. Maria is going for a masters though so it is a little more understandable. These two were the oldest of the Swedes. Everyone else was around 21 or 22.I was told that a bachelor's degree at Goteborg University takes only three years and that the masters takes two years. The masters I do not believe is too far off from what I think it is in America. I was a little surprised about the bachelor's degree, but it is only one year less than us and they probably do not have to take as many general required classes as we do.
The first question we asked was what they were most proud of being a Swede. The responses were about how Sweden is feminist, Swedes are very open minded, they are accepting, and their ability to give out equal opportunities no matter the social class. I do not say feminist in a way that means that there is a problem. I say it in a way that explains how they are equal. They look for women to be in positions that we would believe to be male. Swedes do not see the difference between the sexes.
The next question was about what they were most ashamed of being a Swede. One said that the fact
The legal age to drink in Sweden is 18. 18 is also the age to get your drivers license. I do not quite understand that idea. Most teenagers only get their license if their parents pay for it. The charge for a drivers license in Sweden is around 15,000 SEK which converts to around 2,000 USD. On top of that
cost, gas is anywhere from five to eight dollars per gallon. One thing that I thought was completely amazing is that all cars in Sweden are manual. It is very rare to ever see an automatic car.Swedes do have a type of racing. This racing is called Folk Racing. From how I was explained to it ends up being derby cars that race around the woods on a track that would be similar to a dirt bike track. Sounds like a blast to me! Maria's parents both raced the Folk Race back in their 20's. Talking to the Swedes makes me really think about working abroad. Maybe Sweden. There was one girl that came that actually is from Ohio. She has been living in Sweden for four years and is married to a Swede. She said it was not too difficult to pick up the language and that she loves it. Thoughts are running through my mind.
A random question I asked involved the stereotypes of Swedes being gorgeous. I was curious about if they notice how gorgeous they are or if just the outsiders do. Only the outsiders realize the beauty. The girl from Ohio said she can definitely realize it. Maria says that the Swedes just do not think about it. It is just their culture.
Of course I had to talk a little bit about the police. I have not seen a single police officer since I have been here. Apparently, they sometimes drive around over by the University, but not really anywhere else. I was informed that TV shows actually follow the police around like the show Cops. Not as interesting and funny though. Just getting an idea of what the police do in Goteborg. There is an officer named Scott is known as the Facebook Cop. He posts things on Facebook that help to clear up questions about the law and inform people of the laws they might not have known before. This is done in a fun way. Just saying.
Lastly, I wanted to talk to a gear head Swede about mechanic shops. There are no mechanic shops. If there are, there are not many of them. Most Swedes work on their own cars. I was told that it is considered cheating if someone else works on your car. Which I found interesting. When if someone does not have the tools? When if someone does not have the knowledge? Things could get ugly if people do not know what they are doing. I was also told that it is considered rare in Sweden if a woman has a drivers license and car. So I am a rarity in Sweden. Makes things even more rare for the fact that I can work on my own car. I do love the fact that all cars are manual. Amazing!
Daily Reflections:
- SKF is amazing.
- After the SKF tour I am really considering applying for a position with SKF.
- If I do apply for SKF I might actually move to Sweden if accepted.
- Swedes are so much fun.
- I can find my way around Goteborg University with ease.
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