Monday, January 26, 2015

Bulletproof!

Business:

Our last day of visiting businesses!  It was interesting that the first business that we visited actually sent a bus to the hostel to pick us up.  Slept the entire way to the company.  It was around half an hour away.  I was going to get as much sleep as I could.

Auto Adapt is an amazing company.  Not by how they run the business and the people there, but by what they actually do.  They create products that allow people with limited mobility the chance to drive themselves around.  There are even products for those who do not have arms or legs.  It is amazing that they change the lives of so many that are in a sense stuck.

They have two factories in Sweden and are actually partnered with four different companies.  One of them being Bruno back in the United States that we visited in the beginning.  On average they make sales of $400 million SEK a year.  I loved how Hakan Sandberg and Anna Karyn presented everything. They did so well to answer our questions.  I know I had a lot of questions since I like this kind of stuff.  It is a good job that makes money, but does it in a way that they are truly helping people.

Due to the customer base that they have, the human resource department is very important.  Each employee needs to have the basis of how to talk to the customers without making them seem inferior or embarrass them.  With no doubt the technical skills are very important when designing and putting together the products, but the social skills are just as important if not more important.  They need to make sure that everything is safe for those using the product and they need to make sure that the customer feels comfortable with the people.

To assist their customers they have even built two apartments on their grounds for those who cannot find a hotel that can assist them with their needs.  Within the company there are 40 different languages that are spoken.  They do this so that they can relate to each customer since they deal with 55 different countries.  Their specific customers are normally the dealers.  The dealers sell to the customer.  Obviously when it comes to installing the product they have to go to the main office and have it done.

While we were there they had just finished a car for a customer who is in a wheel chair.  They designed the chair perfectly for her to get in and out with ease.  They also did a design of wheel chair so that she can disassemble it and simply put it in her backseat while in the driving sit.  On her key chain there is also a button for opening and closing the hatch.  I was surprised that it was a Mazda car.  A very nice one at that.  They also installed hand controls for the gas and brake.  I kept wondering if they did things like this for manual cars as well as the automatic, but I forgot to ask.  I also am not sure how they would actually make that work with the hand controls.

There are over six hundred dealers for Auto Adapt.  The main office in Goteborg has only 140 people there.  I love how they are very open with their employees.  Everything that is not significantly confidential, they know.  The sales, orders, deliveries, everything!  It is such an open company that I would think it would be a great place to work.  From what it seemed like, it is!

They design around four to five new products each year.  Some might think that there would be a lot of issues with having that amount of new technologies.  They actually have a warranty problem percentage of 0.3.  That is amazing.  Auto Adapt knows how to get the product right and test it multiple times to make sure that there are no kinks that need to be worked out.  They also make sure to buy all the best materials for the job.  90% of their products are made from steel.

As a company they work with 120 different car models.  On the low side it takes around two weeks to install a product.  Depending on how much really needs to be done to the vehicle it could take four to six months to get a car ready for the customer.  The customer normally ends up keeping the car for seven to nine years after getting it back from the shop.  Once they get their car though there is a one to two month driving school to take.  This just allows the designers to know that the customer knows how to drive the vehicle with all the gizmos that are installed.  They do have to take an actual driving test just like the driving test we all take as teenagers.

Auto Adapt is proud to say that they are exceeding in five areas of expertise.  These are getting seated, lifting and stowing, wheelchair lifts, restraints, and independent driving.  They also have a competitive advantage in five areas, which are, application engineering, customer support center, global network of loyal dealers, substantial product range, and delivery capacity.  On average it takes around three days to get a product delivered.  The competitors take about 14 days.  A major difference.  Their main competitors are in the US, Italy, and Germany.  They see Germany and Italy
as more of a threat than the US.

Lastly, I want to talk about their employees.  Their employees are actually moved around from department to department.  They do not want only one person to know things about a certain customer or system.  Everyone is able to work with each department and assist where needed.  This is something that I find very interesting.  In any other company, where you are is where you stay. Unless you try to apply for another position within the company.  They mentioned that they also do this for the reason for having less injuries and sick days.  Because they are consistently moving around they can adjust and get a break when things start to feel sore.

Our last company visit today and for the trip was Smart Eye.  They deal with the concept of eye tracking.  What this means is that they are able to monitor exactly where someone's eyes look at while driving, sitting at a computer, shopping, etc.  Smart Eye was founded in 1999.  So a very new company.  They are number one in the automotive industry of eye monitoring.  Soon there will actually be Smart Eye technology in every car.

Some of the major industries that they are a part of are automotive, marketing, usability, behavioral science, psychology, non-human primate research, etc.  Of these there are four that they mainly deal with.  Of course, the automotive industry along with aviation, neuroscience, and usability.

Not only do the measure the movement of the eyes, but they measure the gaze.  These means that they can measure how long someone looks at one point and also how many times they look at the same point.  Eye movement is the main point they work on, but they also work on head movement.  Based on the movement of a person's head they can determine the general direction of the eyes.  It is crazy what just a few cameras can tell about a person.

The specific measurements that Smart Eye can take are gaze direction for the left and right eye, pupil dilation, eyelid opening, the opening and closing speed, gaze intersections in world model, and many more.  With all of these measurements we were informed that at the point of 250 Hz they can see the actually movement of the eye that no one can see.  The eye is always moving.  Very fast and very slight.  If our eyes were to stop moving all the time we would be blind and ,I am not sure I heard this right, also possibly brain dead. 

Being the racer that I am I had to ask about the racing industry.  Magnus talked about the automotive industry, but that does not always mean that it includes the racing part.  Smart Eye actually assists a team in F1 to help them find the next upcoming driver.  With all of the measurements that they can take with the eyes they are able to tell so many different things about a person.

For example, the pupil size can tell so many different things.  To sum it up it can tell emotional responses.  The pupil size gets bigger when under stress, attracted to someone, or lying.  Apparently, in the States the government is starting to use this technology in lie detector tests. 

The marketing aspect mainly deals with the websites.  Smart Eye is able to determine where to place ads and what colors or fonts are more attracting to the eyes.  Ads are becoming such a major thing so that they can increase their sales.  In all reality, it is working.  The cameras used for this can be placed up to ten feet away from the subject and has an accuracy level of 0.3 degrees to 1.0 degrees.

Something that I did not really think would cause an issue but does is the eye color.  Lighter colored eyes make it difficult to receive data.  Unfortunately, when the cameras go to read the eyes the eyes are too bright so then the camera cannot tell the difference between the iris and the pupil.  For the dark eyes the eyes brighten up and make it easier to see the iris and pupil.  Something that I thought was already going to cause an issue were glasses.  They are making the technology better so that these small things do not have an effect.

Leisure:

Leisure time consisted of going shopping and getting some dinner.  I am almost done with my presents for everyone back home.  I just need to buy one more thing and I will be set.  Hopefully my luggage does not end up too heavy and hopefully nothing breaks.  So many things to worry about, but I am sure I can figure it out and be all ready for the travel home.  I cannot wait to see everyone.  This has been an amazing trip and I am so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip, but I miss my family.  Family is so important and I would not even be in Sweden if it was not for them.  All of the support I have received helps me so much that I know they do not see it, but they feel it.  I love you all back home.  I cannot wait to see you all.  I am so glad I get to make it to my nephews birthday party.

Daily Reflections:
  • The future scares me.
  • The changes in cars I see to start trouble.
  • I am thankful for so much that I cannot find the words to say.
  • Decorating my apartment with all of the new things I got will be interesting. 
  • Thursday is going to be the best day ever!

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