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This is IKEA Components official blog, please enjoy your reading and feel free to comment!

I´m going to Sydney!

2012-01-18 13:53

My time in IKEA components continues to go quickly and it’s hard to believe that I am halfway through my first backpacker assignment.

Both of my projects are in full swing and it has been great to develop these and learn more about IKEA at the same time. For Communications I have been busy organising a survey and analysing its results along with arranging travel for co-worker interviews in Slovakia and China. This will ensure I really understand what information co-workers need to access. For the After Sales project we have been busy analysing the current situation and picture and have been preparing and completing presentations.
 
I have also been spending some time preparing for my week home and my next backpacker assignment which will be in Sydney, Australia. It was a very surreal moment when I received the email with my assignment information! I will be working in the Service Office with the marketing team. I am really excited by this new opportunity and it will be brilliant to experience another dimension of the IKEA organisation. So far I have had a lot of contact with my host and Australia’s country backpacker responsible. I now know a little bit more about my project but I am currently focussed on preparing Visa’s and organising my working week back home (in the UK) before I fly out. Sydney sounds like an amazing city, I’m sure it will be very different to Älmhult and I will have to get used to living in a busier and much larger area again but it’s going to be brilliant to experience another lifestyle and make some new friends.
I cannot wait for the next part of my exciting journey but at the same time I will miss IKEA Components and my wonderful work colleagues and friends, although I am sure we will keep in contact. 
For now though I have the next two and half months to continue to make the most of my time in Sweden and develop and deliver goals for my projects.
Categories   | Comments 1 Comment | Published by Published by Nicole Starck

Moving from Prague to Älmhult

2012-01-05 08:28

My name is Alena and I come from the Czech republic. I have recently (in October) moved to Älmhult with my fiancée, who works in IKEA of Sweden. I work as a Supply Planner at IKEA Components. 

I enjoy living in Älmhult a lot, I like living in Sweden just as much. Having had a previous experience living and working abroad, Sweden has been the most welcoming to settle in.
 
IKEA was my first and only choice of an employer after deciding to take this big step. To become a part of IKEA has been my dream.
 
About my experience as a newcomer? Being new in IKEA is exciting. Of course I face a lot of new information to absorb every day, but I also see the opportunities to be creative, come up with new ideas and become a better colleague and a person. I can’t forget to mention how much I appreciate the support I have from my manager and the whole team. Thank you guys.
 
Having just moved to Älmhult ... it is different and it is new. To me, this place is unique. I like that I have the chance to live a healthy life surrounded by nature instead of skyscrapers. The only thing I miss here is my family and unfortunately, Starbucks (but this isn’t anything a good coffee maker wouldn’t solve).
 
Thanks and see you around!

 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-27 13:05

Right now it is very quiet at the Office in Älmhult. Many co-workers are on vacation and hopefully having a nice time with the family and loved ones. Last week we had a Christmas gathering at the office with a nice Christmas lunch. We celebrated the people that have worked within IKEA for 10 years and at the same time we heard about what happened in the world and IKEA 10 years ago. And a lot has happened!

We would like to wish you all a happy new year, written with our products and one of our material areas!

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New Backpacker in Älmhult

2011-11-02 12:05

Before this assignment I was working in the IKEA Coventry store for four years on the Self-Serve department as an advanced co-worker and have enjoyed taking responsibility and being involved in new challenges on the department and within the store. 

I arrived in Älmhult, Sweden at the start of October. The town looks exactly like it does on the training videos we watch, IKEA is everywhere and it is amazing to see a product’s whole life cycle from design, parts of the supply chain to its place in the store, all in one town. 

I am working in IKEA Components (ICOMP) based in the Communication Team. My assignment is to create HUB pages on the Intranet for ICOMP co-workers so that essential information is readily and easily accessible. I will collate links to documents and pages that co-workers use regularly, meaning all key information can be accessed via one page. To gather this information and pinpoint target groups I will have to do research involving surveys and interviews. This part of my assignment will take me to China and Slovakia, visiting ICOMPs other offices and factories, which is very exciting. Alongside this I am in the process of creating a chart to show the organisation of ICOMP globally and locally.
To date I have completed an action plan for the following months, researched possible structures for the organisational chart and researched what HUB pages have been created in other IKEA organisations. I have nearly completed ICOMP Älmhult’s local structure by using the layout in the VOICE survey and the help of my colleagues. I was able to organise a meeting with Suzanne Rolf in the Helsingborg Sockerbruket building to discuss important factors when considering HUBs. The Sockerbruket building was very inspirational with room sets built in the main foyer and a huge IKEA library. I am really enjoying my assignment; it is so interesting to learn about this side of the business. I have also recently used a meeting with the communication manager to discuss my next steps, it was brilliant to get some feedback on my assignment and it was great to discuss how I had settled in.
The team I am part of here have been so welcoming and I have settled in quickly, they are inviting me to a lot of training all of which have been very helpful and interesting. I feel like I have learnt so much during this first month and already I can say I have made some great friends.


Outside of work I have been enjoying travelling and getting to know more about my new friends. Älmhult is a very small town but beautiful with a very large lake, brilliant running parks and gyms so I can either hit the weights or take a gentle stroll in the evening. During the first couple of weekends I met up with Kyle (another UK Backpacker) and we went to Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Copenhagen. The cities are very beautiful, we explored some of the famous tourist sites such as Tivoli Gardens, the parks, the shopping centres and in Copenhagen we braved the steep climb up the cathedral and the spiral stairs built on the outside of its highest point just to get an amazing view of Copenhagen. I have been meeting friends for ‘after work’ and gym sessions at the ‘aktivitetshuset’ built for IKEA co-workers, which is a brilliant place. Recently another backpacker arrived in Älmhult from America; its wonderful having someone here to explore Älmhult with, we took a trip up to the beautiful Möcklen Lake and found a little beach and picnic area. 
 
So far I am enjoying Sweden and my assignment, I am looking forward to meeting new friends from the all over the world and am very excited to dig deeper into my assignment and see what the next five months will bring.

 

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ICOMP TAGC off to a good start

2011-09-02 13:38

HAPPY NEW YEAR and to all ICOMP TAGC co-workers, many thanks for a fantastic kick off activity!

During 31 Aug to 1 Sep, ICOMP TAGC had the opportunity to get together to kick off the new year and our new organization. We had two days filled with sharing of goals, priorities, strategies and business updates. There was also time for togetherness and inspiring team work. The energy level and enthusiasm in our team really made a great impression on me and I feel proud to be a part of this fantastic team!
 
The foundation is now set and our task moving forward is to put our goals and priorities into actions.
 
Remember; I am responsible and I can make a difference! Tomorrow starts today…
 
Mikael Birgersson
Regional Purchase Manager
ICOMP TAGC
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Team building activity

2011-07-18 10:08

It was certainly an exciting day on Tuesday July 12th. We, the Fitting and Glass & Mirror team organized outing activities of French food cooking and bowling tournament. I expected a lot before the day.

 
As planned, we gathered in the kitchen at the cooking studio in the morning. I distributed a set of “chef costume”, a chef hat and an apron, to all my colleagues. After taking many pictures with it, we were divided into two groups to prepare appetizer salad / soup and main course / dessert. Each team had to recommend one person as the leader to be responsible for the result. After some brief guidance by the real chef, we entered the role immediately. Close cooperation made us so efficient that we managed to prepare all the dishes within two hours, which allowed us to present our lunch right on time. The food was unexpectedly delicious and eliminated all our previous doubts whether the food cooked by us, these amateur chefs can be edible. Although the food we prepared was not perfect, the experience is cherishable, and can serve as the best teacher which we believe we will be better cookers next time.
 
 
In the afternoon, we went to playing bowling. Just as before, we were divided into three groups. In my team we were four ladies and only one man. Our group seemed to be ‘the weakest one’ as some of our colleagues in the other groups are very good at playing bowling. However, the final result was totally out of our expectation. With the incredibly well performance by the sole man in our group, Tony, and full-swing performance of our four girls, we won the game!
 
 
It was the first time I participated in collective activities after I joined IKEA Components. I was deeply impressed not only by the great fun we experienced in participating these activities, but also the team-working spirit generated during these activities. These activities gave me more confidence in that helping and supporting each other brings both happiness and good results. I hope we will have more events like these in the future.
 
Jasmine Liu
Business Developer

 

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Hey, I am back!

2011-07-11 07:19

It was tough to be a mother, especially for the first two months, but meanwhile also quite tough to be away from my job since last 11 years as a typical career woman, to purely be a mother. I still remember the strong feeling of lost on the last working day before my maternity leave. Big big thanks and appreciations to my team, who managed to run the business smoothly and succeeded in going through so many tough situations during my absence.

 
It is so nice to be back to work, even if it today is only 3.5 hours per day. I see a lot of changes that have happened while I was on maternity leave; new co-workers, new wall decorations, and of course promising and exciting finance figures as well. Besides, finally, we have a male co-worker as Accountant Assistant from July 1st. There's been only girls in all three countries finance teams since a very long long time(years).So with a new male co-worker and a new life (my baby), let us look forward to other changes that the future might bring.
 
Zhang Wa
Finance Manager
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New Automatic Machine is coming

2011-07-04 07:44

Hej all,

Here comes some news for machine project in ICOMP China.
 
As mentioned in last ICOMP CN kick off, we will support the ICOMP business development in Asia by having one new 16 counter automatic machine ready in our Chinese factory this summer. With the new machine we will aim for higher machine capacity and optimal total production capacity setup. Now the machine project is under final assembling phase. Two ICOMP engineering group guys from Slovakia is involved together with Chinese engineers plus the support from shift, maintenance team, transport team and finance team. We have a really good team work and cooperation to make this happen.
 
I appreciate all the fantastic work done here so far, especially a big thank you to Marek, Nobert, Sam, Luke, Paul and Benny! We are looking forward to the start-up hopefully within a couple of days....
 
Rich Zhou
Production &Warehouse Manager
ICOMP CN
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My 3rd week at IKEA Components in Shanghai

2011-06-29 16:51

It’s the 3rd week since I joined IKEA Components in Shanghai - well, time flies! Indeed , that’s three exciting and affluent weeks .

My first two weeks, I had an introduction regarding to the overall organisation and the long-term business perspective. My strongest impression of IKEA is the working culture. Every company has their own way of working and company culture. Values are much more than a set of words. The IKEA values are suitable for all of employees in this company, to issue the contribution for the development of the company.
Togetherness is surely important, we expect everyone to become a team-player. To overcome any difficulties or problems, you have to cooperate and gather all power possible. Business will never be a single-man show. As a Business Developer (BD), I am member of a team which is mixed by 3 persons (BD, Supply Planner, and Technician), who are in charge of a specified business category that also work with quality, warehouse and other functional departments. To take the responsibility as a coordinator and to gather the competencies of all individuals in the team, add great value to the team .That’s the key factor to access success!
As a sourcing/ purchasing office, we must be very cost-conscious. IKEA follows the ‘best buy’ strategy, quality, IWAY, best delivery and price are 4 cornerstones under this strategy. How to get a lower price but keep the good quality and unique design? It’s a constant topic and never out of date.
Every company which I have worked for, I have learned something, and I always try to use one sentence to conclude it and that is: Learning by doing!
Business is never what you want to get, it is what you negotiate.
I’m curious what I can learn at IKEA? Should it be “to create a better everyday life for the many people”? Yes, I believe so.
Tom Lu
Business Developer
ICOMP Shanghai Office
 

June 28th ,2011
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Tailor-made training

2011-06-17 08:14

We had a tailor-made training in Shanghai on June 13. The training was also conducted at our offices in Shenzhen. I expected a lot for it, as I was told this is the most interesting training ever.

Hans Andersson from CROSS-WAYS, hosted this training/workshop that was mainly about differences between Asian and Western culture. Hans was so funny and so good to let all participators know & learn something new and fresh. I was a little bit shocked by the gap of our different cultures. Even for the same simple word, there can be totally different understanding. For example, if a western person says “YES”, that means she/he has promised something, and will follow up until he/she has the final result. However, when Asian guys say “YES”, it means “OK, I promise I will try, but cannot guarantee”.

And Hans let us know the different thoughts of Eastern & Western culture, and what will be the better/a more efficient way to communicate with Western people. This is very important for all of us, especially for people working in a global company like IKEA.

Everybody enjoyed this whole training, learned something we didn’t see before, I believe this will be very helpful for my future career and in my daily work.

Kevin Fu
Customer Relation


 

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Scorching

2011-06-10 15:46

Well, I am not talking about the current high temperature of around +34 degrees Celsius and with a relative humidity of 85-90% in the Guangdong province. No, I am more thinking of the ongoing process within ICOMP Trading China!

The official ICOMP Trading Area Greater China organization and team set-ups were hence shared among our co-workers in Shanghai and Shenzhen during last month. And the Business Development Managers have got the task from me to start the handovers and implement the changes. Starting now! Time is flying, latest by the end of August we need to be ready...

And to change our mindsets to categories and all of Greater China responsibility is not easy! Thus we have quite some work ahead of us; action plans to secure, getting teams together, new products to develop, suppliers that will change business teams, new co-workers to employ and make introductions for, etc. etc.

However, I also see that with right focus and attention from all of us we will together have lots of opportunities and success to cheer for within a short time!

Keep up that positive spirit and lead by example as we go through the change. Even if we have to break a sweat once in a while…
Good Luck everyone!

Best regards,
Mikael Birgersson
Regional Purchase Manager
ICOMP Trading Area Greater China

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Short relocation in Shangha

2011-05-26 09:21

How time flies. Over nine weeks have past since I was relocated from Shenzhen to Shanghai. This weekend I will spend back home. I would like to share with you my work and life in Shanghai, another metropolis in China. 

In my work in Shanghai I am involved in a project called One IKEA-HR. It is one of IKEA’s global projects aiming mainly to set up 3 Regional HR Business Service Centres: Europe, North America and Asia pacific. This in order to support the HR administration work, such as payroll, basic personal administration etc, for all IKEA Business Units within the respective regions. On this condition the local HR will be able to focus on the more valued issues, such as assessment and selection, competence development, HR controlling, employee branding, change management, workforce planning and analysis etc.
 
We now here have a 10-members in the project team. Among which 3 comes from retail, 2 from distribution centres (DC) and 1 from BSC(business service centre). I represent ICOMP and IKEA Trading. There is also British man called Martin from IKEA global IT and an American called Eric from the vendor. They are responsible for system technical issues.
 
Currently One IKEA-HR project in China is in process. It is composed of three parts: implementation of one Global HR Management System with integrated payroll (HRMS), implementation of a Timekeeping system, and Employee Self Service (ESS) system. As planned, the system will go live on Oct. Let’s welcome the new way of working!
 
Joining this project not only offers me the chance to experience how to manage a project, but it also teaches me other perspectives. For instance, we all come from different Business Units, with different work backgrounds and I so far I only had a small idea about how other Business Units operates their business. So this is a good opportunity for us to share with each other. I introduce them ICOMP, including what ICOMP is, ICOMP’s in the IKEA Supply Chain etc. Other team members talk about their Business Units.. Ultimately, all of us have gotten a better understanding of the whole IKEA picture.
 
Here I also have a chance to meet HR professionals in BSC, DSAP, and Trading. When free from work, e.g. during lunch time, we discuss some labour rules, share with each other about our opinions on further HR trends and the best HR practice on the market.
 
In conclusion, short relocation in Shanghai is a really wonderful trip for me not only to challenge new responsibilities in new working environment, but also to meet new amazing colleagues and learn from their insightful thoughts.
 
 
Ely Yin
2011-05-16

 

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Exciting Future

2011-05-12 07:27

It has been one full week since I officially took on my new position. I’m now responsible to set-up and structure IKEA Components’ Trading organisation of Greater China.

We are growing rapidly and need to prepare ourselves for the future. From September 1, 2011 we will therefore have one Trading Area in China (TAGC), before we had two; one for Central China and one for South China.

I believe that one Greater China organisation will really give us the benefit of being able to fully focus on supplier developments in securing the total supply chain of our components.
But being one big organisation with responsibility for a majority of the total purchase volume and diverse ranges/suppliers also comes with a great deal of responsibility. Very exciting!

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA often states "Most things still remain to be done. Gloriuos Future!". And we (TAGC) are now in the starting block of the race to explore what the future will bring. Success is certainly not given and should not be taken for granted.

We will need motivated and committed co-workers and teams. We will have to work smarter and follow our working routines. We have to develop with our suppliers. And we must be willing to face challenges, but also catch the opportunities. This can however only be done Together.

Personally, I am very proud to be part of the glorious future. And I also have a very good feeling about the new organisation and all the co-workers within ICOMP TAGC. You will be the key to our success!

For You. And for ICOMP. A very Exciting Future!

Mikael Birgersson
Regional Purchase Manager
ICOMP Trading Area Greater China

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IKEA culture and my home life

2011-04-28 08:12

I had deep impression about IKEA’s culture in the training organised by HR for the new comers in November last year. At the beginning from my general picture, I think the culture is theorised and can’t be understood easily. But my thoughts were proven wrong after the organiser showed us some funny pictures to connect to our culture and exoteric explanations about them. They are all from our daily life.

Five months have passed since I joined IKEA Components, I have used culture as a guide to work life and the same time to home life, such as cost consciousness, simplicity, humbleness and willpower.  
 
I have examples of how cost consciousness has impacted my home life. As highly increased of CPI (Consumer Price Index), more and more young persons will pay more attention to focus on cost consciousness, especially post-80s generation. We don’t go to the restaurant and choose to eat at home to enjoy cooking. We don’t arrange far-away travel, instead of a short journey. We shorten the times to the supermarket and collect the demands at one time to get more discounts, even prefer to choose to website transaction platform….We have more and more experiences to save the cost.
 

I believe my actions comes from the IKEA culture in some degree. Since I am in the position within transport, which is one of the most cost conscious departments in our company, I have to think about the solutions to save the cost during my working. We choose better logistic suppliers and keep improving the operation process to avoid the unexpected that leads to extra cost. We try to combine the shipments and choose the cheapest way to arrange transportation in the premise of meeting customers’ requirements…

As a conclusion, simply IKEA’s culture has given me some thoughts to my home life to make it harmonious and my home life experiences will in reverse impact my behaviours in my work. IKEA’s culture is the best guideline for all co-workers in the big IKEA family.

 

Bright Zhang
2011-4-28

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In the air between Vienna and Copenhagen

2011-04-21 15:05

I am now sitting on the plane from Vienna to Copenhagen. I have spent the last three days at our Production and Distribution unit in Malacky, Slovakia. The week started in an intense way. I arrived to Zurich airport on Monday morning after a 13 hour flight from Hong Kong. I called my wife to tell that I have landed safely and then she told me that she has lost her bank card. After a number of phone calls to great colleagues and the bank, the account was secured and a temporary solution was in place for my wife and family to manage the coming week before I get back to China. After finally arriving in Malacky on Monday at lunch time I have had three very good days. I’ve got inspiration from our Production and Distribution unit in Malacky of improvements, which I will bring back and implement in our Production and Distribution unit in China. On Tuesday we had our P&D tactical meeting where we have set out and decided on priorities for the coming 6-12 months. Today Wednesday we had our engineering group board meeting setting out and deciding on their priorities for the coming 6-12 months. To summarize we are in a very interesting and exiting phase, where we are growing fast and many new and interesting improvements are in the pipeline.

 In the air between Vienna and Copenhagen

Andreas Johannesson
Managing Director
IKEA Components (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.

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A good travelling week in my home town, Älmhult

2011-04-21 15:03

I am now in the CopenhagenAirport together with my two sons Oliver and Kasper waiting for the flight back home to Shanghai after a very busy week back in our old hometown Älmhult in Sweden.

 
When I found out that my children had a week off at school at the same time I was going to Sweden I booked tickets for them too.
For me the week has been about long term strategic work and organisational discussions while Oliver and Kasper have been doing all the stuff they miss in Shanghai.
 
Together with their grandparents they made up a fire in the garden to clean up after the winter, this resulted in two potential new firemen or in worst case the opposite.
While they were enjoying the time with their friends and the nature, I was busy running from one meeting to another, that is somehow the life as a foreigner in the headquarter.
 
Still I am enjoying very much the intensive and high tempo working climate that a week like this gives and demands.
 
Richard Nilsson
Purchase Manager ICOMP
CopenhagenAirport
2011-04-08
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From now on China takes over the ICOMP blog

2011-04-21 15:01

Thank you Anna and Helena for sharing your experinces!

From now on our colleagues in China will write on the ICOMP blog.

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Conclusions

2011-02-14 14:30

These 20 weeks has flown by in a hurry and we are very satisfied with the result of the master thesis and so are our task submitter IKEA Components.

The assignment suited us and we are happy that we got the chance to deliver our solution. It has been challenging in a positive way which have made us even more determined to accomplish a good result.
 
The closeness to experienced and competent colleagues have contributed to the project and to our own personal development. It has been a great opportunity for us to be able to be situated in Älmhult and ICOMP during the master thesis. We have made some new friends for life, got familiar with the town, IKEA and got to practice the reality of an engineer.
 
It has been a true pleasure to get to know the people of ICOMP and become a part of the team during a short period of time. We have been welcomed and appreciated by colleagues and been supported during difficult choices.
 
The supervisors have been a major support for us during the master thesis each phase. They have been given useful advices and guidance and the commitment they have showed us has made our stay in Älmhult extraordinary. We are grateful for the opportunities they have given us by including us during work related activities as Kick-offs, dinners, meetings, fairs and parties.
 
The master thesis got a good finish and we got a good start in our working life with employments as Design Engineer juniors at IKEA Components!! What an opportunity!
 
Living the dream…………. =)
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The twenty-second week, Summary

2011-02-14 14:27

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The twenty-second week, Friday

2011-02-14 14:24

January 28

The nervousness was raised!! The day was spent together with all of the Design Engineers at ICOMP and just after lunch we were going to present our master thesis.
 
The morning went by in a hurry with interesting topics and discussions. The lunch become hectic, we had to take the dogs for a walk, eat and prepare the prototypes.
 
The presentation went well, we both were nervous but it was really fun to show and let our colleagues test our prototypes. We were pleased and it felt like they also were happy with the results.
 
After the presentation our supervisors handed over a diploma and an engraved gift basket in true IKEA spirit to each of us. It was a really kind gesture and we both got very moved by their words. We were sooo grateful just to be given the opportunity to accomplish our master thesis at ICOMP, the experience the work has given us and the fabulous people we have met.
 
It was really fun to view the faces of our colleagues when the re-organization was presented. We were two of the “new faces”!! =) But we hadn’t officially said yes yet….!
 
During the coffee-break, we sat down with our boss and gave him our finial answers….. YES! We both wanted to become Design Engineers juniors at ICOMP! We shook hands and went to join our colleague! In the end of the meeting our boss announced that we had said yes to the job-offers and we got applause and hugs from our colleagues!! It was many smiling faces and we felt like we were living the dream…. =)
 
Next time we enter ICOMP, we are Design Engineer juniors and really a part of the team!! It felt great! =)
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The twenty-second week, Thursday

2011-02-14 14:21

January 27

The next day, Helena’s dog was spending the day with her new “best-dog-friend” at our colleague’s house and we headed for ICOMP!
 
It was sooooooooooooo lovely to be back and meet all our nice colleagues again!
 
That morning we walked on clouds, we had got job offers at ICOMP as Design Engineer Juniors!! After the upcoming presentation of our master thesis, our colleagues should be informed so we had to keep it a secret for a day. It was really hard, we both just wanted to shout it out and celebrate!! =) We couldn’t believe it!
 
The rest of the day we tried our best to stay focused on the prototypes and the upcoming presentation….
 
The evening was spent at our standard Thursday-hang-out, the IKEA after work, with ICOMP friends! We felt that we had to introduce the after work to Helena’s boyfriend and the two new students at ICOMP who just had started their master thesis.
 
It was really pleasant to chitchat and get to know the two new students at ICOMP a little bit better!! We hope that it will be more Thursday-hang-outs together with them! =)
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The twenty-second week, Wednesday

2011-02-14 14:18

January 26

We left early in the morning and headed for Älmhult by train. This time we also had Helena’s dog with us.
 
Helena’s boyfriend was already in Älmhult. It was his first workweek at IKEA and he had the fortune to live with one of our friends from work, during the first period of time before he and Helena got the keys to their new apartment in Älmhult.
 
This time we were also going to live at our work friend’s apartment because of the fact that the ICOMP apartment should be free from “dog-hair” in order to be used by allergic colleagues. Our friend from work was going to leave for Thailand later that evening so he was kind enough to let us borrow his apartment during our stay in Älmhult. =)
 
At Älmhult we took a long walk with the dog and bought ingredients for the taco-pie we were going to make for dinner.
 
At the apartment we planned the upcoming days and wrote some blog sections. Later that evening we had dinner with our friend from work and Helena’s boyfriend. After dinner, we went to another “Älmhult friend” and let his dog and Helena’s dog play in the snow.
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The twenty-first week, Summary

2011-02-14 14:14

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The twenty-first week, Friday

2011-02-14 14:11

January 21

Today it was presentation day! We meet up at Anna’s apartment in order to together bring the material to the college. A cabinet is necessary to test our prototypes and to show the function. The picture below shows us making a pause in the park early in the morning, posing with the furniture.
The cabinet comes originally from IKEA and fulfills Anna’s need of storage in her bathroom.
We met with the supervisor at the college and prepared everything, computers, furniture and prototypes, for the time of presentation. Thereafter we walked to meet up with Elin and Pontus that had arrived to Eskilstuna the night before. And before it was time to present we chitchatted over a coffee in the teacher's staff room.
As you readers know, our master thesis is confidential, therefore there were only our supervisors, objector and examiner at the presentation. We were first up and got a little-healthy-nervous.
The presentation went really well and we got a lot of great positive criticism, both from examiner, objector and supervisors! We were very happy and proud of ourselves! A nice surprise was an unexpected orchid that we got from the supervisor from the college for a good work.
After our presentation we listened to the other student work and thereafter objected (gave criticism) about his report, just as he had given us.
Before we waved goodbye to Elin and Pontus, they got a little tour around the college. We also had a common lunch with our supervisor from ICOMP, the college and Anna’s boyfriend. We talked about the autumn and how it has been working with the development of the push latches, and of course we could not help talking a little about the future as well..!

 

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The twenty-first week, Monday-Thursday

2011-02-14 13:35

January 17-20

During these days we prepared material for our presentation day. We were going to be objectors for another student in our class who would present his work the same day as we. And therefore we read his report in the beginning of the week and made a document as a base for our roles as objectors.
We also prepared a PowerPoint presentation to present our work with text and pictures. We had so much we wanted to talk about during our 30 minutes of presentation. We decided to talk generally about the process and methods and to focus on the result and recommendations. We practiced our speech several times and assembled a new prototype of one of the concepts.
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The nineteenth and twentieth week, Summary

2011-02-14 13:30

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The nineteenth and twentieth week, Tuesday-Friday

2011-02-14 13:29

January 4-14

During these days we either sat down at our usual desk at Helena’s apartment, in Anna’s apartment or in separate apartments. The work was however focused on getting the report finished by writing the last parts of result, conclusion and analysis and our recommendations. A lovely quality of the word processing program is when it breaks down, over and over again, because of the size and amount of pictures in the report. It could drive us to madness.
When everything was written in the report AND the appendix, it was time to read every single page one more time in order to secure the quality before sending it to the objector, supervisor at MDH and the examiner.
We had ordered a couple of parts as prototypes of both concepts for the presentation day in Eskilstuna. Our dear mate at the pattern shop sent them by mail and Helena gladly collected the package at the post office on January 11 =)
January 14 we had finished the work, and it felt so good! The report with appendix was submitted and containing, for example:
·        A general pre-study
·        Patent investigations
·        A cost analysis
·        3D-models in CAD, rendered pictures and technical drawings
·        Result, conclusions, analysis and recommendations
·        Two concepts with an alternative concept each
·        The two concepts has a unique shape, movement or a new attachment method which can’t be found in any other push latch

We celebrated our submission of the report with some sparkling wine together with our boyfriends who have been a great support during this master thesis!

 

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The sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth week, Summary

2011-02-14 12:11

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of these weeks:

 
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The sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth week, Monday- Friday

2011-02-14 12:10

December 13-31

During the weeks before Christmas we focused on the technical drawings and the alternative concepts. The alternative concepts were created in order to improve the features or functions of the original concepts.

We had support from our supervisor at MälardalensUniversity who gave useful feedback and guidance.

Before Helena left for “Norrland” we sat down at our work space in Helena’s apartment and divided the sections in the report which needed to be written or changed. For the last upcoming weeks we were going to work from different parts of the country, we both were convinced that it was going to work well this short period of time.

The individual work involved report writing and the goal was to finish up the report writing before the third of January when we were going to meet again. 

For a few days we got to meet our nearest and dearest and enjoy a really snowy white Christmas!!

 

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The fifteenth week at ICOMP, Summary

2011-02-14 12:02

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The fifteenth week at ICOMP, Friday-Saturday

2011-02-14 12:00

December 10-11

The Friday was a nerve-wracking day for us…. We presented our prototypes and the calculations of cost for each concept. The presentation went very well and both we and the project group at ICOMP were pleased with the result!! =) We felt that we were satisfied with our accomplishments but also sad about leaving Älmhult and ICOMP during the Christmas-holiday.

During the afternoon we packed and cleaned our workspaces at ICOMP, it looked sooooo empty when we were done… almost as we never had been working there. We were really going to miss ICOMP………. Hopefully, we would soon be at ICOMP again! 

The evening was spent together with our dear Älmhult-friends… We had dinner “down town” and went for a couple of drinks to celebrate the outcome of the master thesis which had been presented during the day but also to say goodbye… we wouldn’t be back in Älmhult before the end of January and it felt very strange.

We were heavy loaded with luggage during the trip back to Eskilstuna. We waved goodbye to Älmhult for now and hoped to be back soon again.

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The fifteenth week at ICOMP, Wednesday-Thursday

2011-02-14 11:58

December 8-9

The prototypes were carefully being handled, cleaned, assembled and tested at ICOMP during Wednesday and Thursday. We were eager to study the movement and function of the products. The study of the prototypes have been very useful during the further development of the concepts, in order to create an optimize design.
 
During Thursday lunch we helped to prepare the upcoming Christmas-dinner later that afternoon. We carried chairs and tables to the colleague’s house where the dinner was going to be held together with all the Design Engineers at ICOMP.
 
It was hard to leave our prototypes at ICOMP when we left for the Christmas dinner. We really wanted them to be outstanding for the upcoming presentation of the prototypes the next day.
 
When we arrived to the Christmas-dinner, we were welcomed in to the relaxed and joyful atmosphere by many happy smiles from our colleagues. Everybody got an assignment or responsibility to maintain during the early hours of the evening. Anna got the responsibility to decorate the Christmas three and Helena was going to hand out the pen and papers which was needed to participate during the “questionnaire-game”.
We had dinner, played a “gift-game”, danced, played some videogames and chitchatted in to the night. We had a really great time with lovely people!!

 

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The fifteenth week at ICOMP, Monday-Tuesday

2011-02-14 11:53

December 6-7

At Monday afternoon we arrived to Älmhult to spend our last week at ICOMP before the upcoming Christmas holiday.
 
During the early Tuesday morning Anna became a happy owner of a driver’s license!! A really great start of the week in Älmhult! Later that day we went to the IKEA pattern shop in order to collect our freshly made prototypes… guess who drove? =)
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The fourteenth week at ICOMP, Summary

2011-01-25 11:32

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The fourteenth week at ICOMP, Wednesday-Friday

2011-01-25 11:30

December 1-3

These days of work were very similar. We got prototypes, sent orders, worked on development and 3D-modeling.

On Thursday PM we had a Christmas-fika at ICOMP with some beverage and gingerbread cookies. It was an enjoyable moment with our colleagues. It was also a kind of pre-party, because in the evening ICOMP had arranged a Christmas Party with the theme gold and glamour.

We had decided to become look-alikes inspired by both gold and glamour…that is to say a similar black dress and golden necklace. We had a nice time; the food, people and atmosphere were great!

On Friday we got our first prototype that worked properly and we were very much in high spirits, of course!
In the evening we got on the train to Eskilstuna. We wanted to stay over the weekend to hang out and work. But we were working our last week next week in Älmhult and had too much luggage that it would be very-much-to-heavy to bring it all during one trip.
We couldn’t be all free this weekend, our minds kept going; work, work, work. So we spent some time with the computers during the weekend working with 3D-modeling. The coming week was the last week to prepare for the meeting with the project group. We had decided to present functional prototypes and calculations of costs!
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The fourteenth week at ICOMP, Tuesday

2011-01-25 11:15

 

November 30

We collected prototypes and headed to the workshop of ICOMP to fix the parts so that they could be attached together, to be able to have a working function. Later on we had a meeting with our supervisors and showed our prototypes, discussed improvements and were overall happy of the direction of the project.

The rest of the day was all about the design program and concept development.
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The fourteenth week at ICOMP, Monday

2011-01-25 11:10

November 29

This Monday we worked with a design program and sent a prototype order to ICOMP’s pattern shop. We were now heading to become their regular costumer that always comes and goes with happy smiles, loves to chitchat and sometimes share a slice of cake. 
We made some phone calls and ordered free samples of retaining rings for one of the concepts. We also made a FMEA, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.
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The thirteenth week at ICOMP, Summary

2011-01-25 11:04

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week: 

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The thirteenth weekend at ICOMP, Saturday and Sunday

2011-01-25 11:01

27-28 November

The Saturday was spent looking for gold, glitter and glamour for the Christmas party at ICOMP. We jumped on the train to Växjö hoping to find outfits for the evening =)

All day long we were looking, finding and testing… It was strange that we didn’t find as many super duper sparkly dresses as we had expected. We changed our idea from after-ski and disco-ball-team into a mission of becoming look-alikes. We bought identical dresses and necklaces just in time before the shops closed for the day.

 Back in Älmhult we finished our shopping-day with a pizza at our “ordinary standard place”, great as always!

 On Sunday we spent some time at the activity house café. Later that afternoon, we joined a friend from ICOMP and his friends at the IKEA warehouse to eat “julbord” alá IKEA-style. Lovely!

The walk on the way home turned in to a serious snowball fight….. and sadly, we didn’t win. We more or less looked like gigantic snow figures!

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The thirteenth week at ICOMP, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

2011-01-03 16:01

November 23-26

The days during the week were spent in front of the computer until our eyes became shaped as rectangles. We did further development of the concepts and spent quite some time on the phone talking to different “spring-experts” about several solutions. The dimensioning and calculating of springs turned out to be pretty tricky because we had to take many aspects under consideration. We spent hours looking through product catalogues to analyse the standard components that are available.
 
We contacted several sub-contractures to compare different attachment methods efficiency and costs. We don’t want to end up with a product that breaks our cost-limit.
 
We have ordered prototypes for both of the concepts and each time we got as happy as we had been when we got our first prototype. It’s still as Christmas Eve when we get to assembly them. Big thanks to our friend at the workshop, who manage the plastic printer, for really really good prototypes!
 
The evenings have either being spent at ICOMP or with friends =) On Wednesday we drank “glögg” and watched a movie at a friend’s apartment. On Thursday, we were playing guitar hero, virtual bowling and fencing at the activity house with a couple of friends. After Work has really becoming a traditional Thursday activity!
 
We were invited to dinner at a friend’s house in the woods on Friday evening. The men cooked dinner for us and we got a soup for starter, rise and peanut buttery chicken for main course and chocolate mousse with whipped cream and raspberries for dessert, YUMMIE! =) Big pluses to them!
 

Later on that evening we ran out in the snow barefoot to jump in a “wilderness bath tub” where we floated many hours that night! We had a really good time! =)

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The thirteenth week at ICOMP, Monday

2011-01-03 16:00

November 22

We started the week early in the morning at MälardalensUniversity. We had got the opportunity to work with simulations at a separate room to keep the confidentiality. The simulations gave us a chance to analyse the models abilities and optimise the design.

After lunch we worked individually with the 3D-modeling before the trip to Älmhult in the afternoon.

Instead of four hours it took eight hours to reach Älmhult that evening. Tired after the loooong trip we had the fortune to be picked up by a friend from work, very very appreciated!

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The twelfth week at ICOMP, Summary

2011-01-03 15:49

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week: 

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The twelfth week at ICOMP, Friday

2011-01-03 15:46

November 19

This Friday in Eskilstuna we were simulating parts of the 3D-models. We also talked about springs and calculations. Our mailbox went warm this day!

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The twelfth week at ICOMP, Thursday

2011-01-03 15:46

November 18

This Thursday we continued working with 3D-modeling and went to collect a prototype for concept number two. These prototypes are made in a plastic printer which has the ability to give us a good hunch of the result, but the plastic is very fragile and can easy break so with a gentle touch we must remove the leftovers of the support material to be able to assemble the different parts and test the function. Exciting, yes it is!

Today we also had a protocol meeting to plan the coming week, because later that evening we were heading towards Eskilstuna and we wanted to be well prepared and up to date with our actions.

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The twelfth week at ICOMP, Monday – Wednesday

2011-01-03 15:45

November 15-17

During our 12th working week at IKEA Components AB, Monday to Wednesday was very similar. We kept on working with concept development in 3D-modeling, where we drew different kinds of solutions, focusing on the function.

On Tuesday we also sent some files to IKEA’s own pattern shop to produce prototypes of our concepts. It’s exciting for us to get them as prototypes! It’s very useful to be able to touch and test them, it makes it easier to see which improvements that needs to be done that isn’t always obvious in our 3D-program. On Tuesday at PM we invited a friend from ICOMP for some food a la Garfield, lasagna, and some cake and chitchat!

At Wednesday we spent some time at a friend’s house playing guitar hero and tried level medium instead of our standard style; easy! 

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The eleventh week at ICOMP, Summary

2011-01-03 14:42

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The eleventh weekend at ICOMP, Saturday and Sunday

2010-12-14 15:27

13-14 November

At Saturday we gave Anna’s boyfriend a tour around Älmhult, the activity house and of course the IKEA warehouse for some shopping! =)

In the afternoon Anna and her boyfriend decided to go to a cozy Christmas market while Helena went to chitchat and get a cup of coffee with a friend from ICOMP.

All three of us spent the rest of the evening in the sofa in front of a good movie… Chilling out!

The Sunday started with a walk through the streets of Älmhult. Fresh air can do miracles! Anna and her boyfriend took a fika at the activity house while Helena was chilling at the apartment. It was a still end of the weekend and soon it was time for our dear visitor to leave for Eskilstuna…

 

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The eleventh week at ICOMP, Friday

2010-12-14 15:20

12 November

The day was dedicated to 3D-modelling… and after lunch we sat down with our supervisors to discuss the models and the upcoming prototypes. We came to a conclusion… and one of the models would be sent in the afternoon! It felt pretty exciting to finally get to feel and try out one of our two concepts!

A helpful colleague gave us some useful tips when it came to ordering prototypes. We have so much support from our colleagues. It really feels good to be part of a group of such lovely people!

At the traditional Friday fika we got the honor to taste our former room mate’s fabulous master piece, a delicious chocolate cake! It looked like art and tasted like heaven! =)

In the evening Anna’s boyfriend came to visit her in Älmhult to spend some time in the town that has become our second home during this fall. =)

Helena went for dinner to a friend from ICOMP with a bunch of real Smålänningar. They went down town later on to explore Älmhult by night, a really fun experience with nice company.

We both had a really good time!

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The eleventh week at ICOMP, Thursday

2010-12-14 15:15

11 November

At 07.00 we got picked up outside the apartment by a colleague from ICOMP who helped us with tickets to the ELMIA fair where we would meet subcontractors.

After the early ticket search we passed by the activity house to pick up our fourth passenger. At 08.45 we were on our way towards Jönköping. It was pleasant to chitchat during the trip, we really have outstanding colleagues! We stopped right before our destination for a breakfast-fika with coffee and pancakes =)

The fair was soooo big, when it was time for lunch we realized that we had just gotten through one of three fair areas. We and a colleague went together and met many interesting subcontractors. We talked to many nice and helpful people which could become important parts of the project.
Tape samples from one of many subcontractors…
We were eager to discover every inch of the fair!

We took a break at a table with chairs made of cardboard, not bad at all!The day passed by in a hurry but we felt pretty happy about the contacts we had made and the samples we had collected.

We really appreciated that we got the opportunity to visit the fair!

Back in Älmhult, we went to an ICOMP-buddy to hang out until it was time for our Thursday tradition, the AfterWork at the activity house. Our colleague, who we spent the day at the fair with, also joined us later on. The evening continued with dart and chitchat.

What a day! =)
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The eleventh week at ICOMP, Monday to Wednesday

2010-12-14 13:23

8-10 November

The first day of the week started in Eskilstuna, Anna continued with the CAD and Helena with the writing of the report.
 
After lunch we headed for Älmhult by train and took the opportunity to write on our blog about our feelings at the time.

The trip went well and a friend from work picked us up at the station. He helped us home with our bags and took us shopping for the week but first of all some “dinner shopping”, we were starving! We had dinner and for dessert we took a cup of mull wine, in Swedish called “glögg”… =)

The next day we were finally able to use the CAD program at Helena’s computer. We thank our dear computer-fixing-friend at ICOMP! =) Now we were ready to get started with some serious 3D-modeling.

In the afternoon we had a meeting with our supervisors to show the progress of the modeling and discuss how we would proceed. We decided that we would meet again at Friday to order prototypes. Felt VERY exciting!

Tuesday evening became a movie night with a friend from work!

On Wednesday we focused on the 3D-modeling so hard that our eyes became shaped like squares!

In the evening we went to a market in true Christmas spirit.

We were shining in the dark night! Some snow had been great though…

The view from the second floor at an old foundry….. what an atmosphere!

Anna in an “old lady-hat” in sheep-skin, warm and cozy!

Candy cane production at its best in the basement of the mansion… Everyone wanted to taste them!

Like Tuesday evening, this evening ended as a movie night…. A horror movie night! Helena spent the last 10 minutes of the movie in the kitchen because she was tooo frightened.

 

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The tenth week at ICOMP, Summary

2010-12-09 13:04

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The tenth week at ICOMP, Monday to Friday

2010-12-09 13:01
November 1-5

This week we did our work from our home office in Eskilstuna. We had planed to focus on the 3D-modeling, but we discovered that only Anna had the program on her work computer. Therefore, Helena needed to wait until next week, when we were back in Älmhult to get some help to fix her computer. Until then we focused on catching up writing report about “Implemented methodology of solutions”, such as describing how we have used our tools and methods during the concept generating, concretization and evaluation tool and also describing the results and conclusions.

Anna made different prepositions in 3D to one of our two concepts and was focused on the function, the most difficult and important thing for us to focus on right now. We needed to draw 3D-models to simulate tests and order prototypes.During these days we also made a PIPS and meeting protocol.At Friday AM we had a meeting with our supervisors from ICOMP over the internet and discussed our 3D-models that Anna had made so far and got some valuable feedback. We had also a meeting with our supervisor at the University and discussed more 3D-modelling and got us some good guidelines. On Friday PM we went to the workshop at school in order to produce some very very simple prototypes of the function of our concepts. We got the opportunity to play some with the milling cutter! We soon realized that it’s very hard to do it by hand, but tried it out anyway only to create something that we could feel, instead of the 3D parts. BUT also because we were both very beautiful in our yellow glasses!
 

At this moment we were longing to actually send our 3D-models to IKEA’s pattern shop in Älmhult! They make MUCH better prototypes…. And next week they were going to be produced, we couldn’t wait!
 

 

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The ninth week at ICOMP, Summary

2010-11-18 15:53

By viewing our steps in the process of the project, we get this summary of the week:

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The ninth week at ICOMP, Friday

2010-11-18 15:47

October 29

Today was the day that we had been looking forward to. It was introduction day for all the people that do their Master's Thesis at IKEA. It was fun to finally meet them!

We watched an introduction movie about the village Älmhult. Later on we went on a guided tour through the Museum of IKEA and got to see and hear all about the history of Ingvar and his enterprise. We could see the furniture’s design developing over the years since they started. It was an interesting tour that gave us a good base for the understanding of the company.

  

 

    

 

We also visited ICOM, IKEA Communication, and got a tour to see how they work there. They don’t only work with the catalogue there, they also do the homepage =), commercials, advertising, brochures, 3D-modullering with a program that we have used in school; 3D-studio Max.

The day ended with a man from IoS, IKEA of Sweden, who talked about that part of IKEA. It was an end full of laughter as he was very funny and easy going! =)

In the evening we took our bags and went by train to Eskilstuna. Next week we are going to start working with the 3D by Solid Works and have a meeting with our supervisor from the College.