Bye Businesses

January 27

Today was our last double business day and was honestly the most interesting and fun day I’ve had yet! We first travel to Braunability in high style on a nice coach bus they sent for us because it was about a 30 minute drive out of Gothenburg into the country side (which was so pretty!) Braunability is actually a supplier of Bruno which we visited back in Wisconsin so we were familiar with their products and what they do! To recap, their purpose is to help as many people as possible live a more independent life by enabling them to drive in a vehicle safely with products that assist in seat accommodations for the elderly, disabled, and kids. They remove the manufacturer’s car seat from the vehicle and use their own car seat that can be moved via remote control down to the individual so they can hoist themselves onto the chair. Braunability also ensures that this kind of chair lift has a hand crank if the electronics fail. It’s really an incredible mission and was so cool to see the precuts in person. Something that really struck me was that they were all so passionate about their company and their mission/goals. We met with Anna-Karin who is an HR Manager and Rolf Ekblad who is the VP of production in Denmark and Sweden. From the idea of a product to finish, they pour their hearts and ideas into the supply chain, marketing, sales and customer support, and more to make world-class seats and wheelchairs for those who need it. “Failure is not an option” was a running quote that many of the employees live by, they are around the clock finding solutions and making sure their products are reliable and safe for customers. Below are some examples of products that they make for vehicles including a wheelchair and seat controlled by a remote.

We went on a small factory tour of the plant as Rolf explained to us that lots of small or popular items are kept in stock at all times. Other products need to be built through customization. Braunability mostly uses steel in their manufacturing of products, but can sometime use aluminum, depending on the equipment. They have a maximum time of three days between a customer order and the delivery date.

After our tour, we listened to Hasse Slayen, who is a design engineer, give us a run down on some engineering and math that goes into their seat accommodations. It kind of reminded my of high school math because he referred to things like sin, cos, tan and angle measurements that I thought I would never use again but here we are. He explained to us what genetic energy is, mechanical stress and more and how to decrease a bad angle in a collision. The amount of tries and formulas and math that goes into making parts safe is crazy! He showed us videos of crash tests gone wrong with the seats and wheelchairs and explained how crucial it is to get the right measurements and angles for the safety of the user.

We then listen to Anna talk about HR and more on the mission of the company and how they operate. Their vision is to shape the future of global inability transportation solutions changing the lives of people. They value what’s right, serving as a champion, celebrating success and driving for innovation to meet the future needs. She referred to values like a flower as they are always flourishing and without water or sunshine, there is nothing to the value system! That’s why they put customers first, believe in themselves, support others and learn, never stop improving, show commitment and take responsibility, and treat others the way you want to be treated. For each of those, we split into teams and wrote on a post it what those phrases meant to us. From there, we got up and put them on a flower. By the end, our flower was full of terms that mean a lot to the company and their values .

Overall, the company visit was very interesting and kind of made me emotional at times because what they are doing is really for the good of those who need accommodations. I know a few people in my life that use similar products and it makes me feel good that companies are working on improvements every day.

We then traveled to Remente which I was really excited about because Nicole and I did some pre-work on this company for the class before the trip! We didn’t find a whole lot of information but learned so much today. It was honestly one of my favorite visits here in Sweden! We met with David who is the CEO and Co-founder of the company. The mission is to democratize mental well being. Some background work the company and him have done include mentally training the best athletes, helping Sweden become world-memory champs and pioneering ePsychiatry of Northern Europes largest hospital. One of the teammates on Sweden’s memory team can remember 55,000 numbers of pi (3.14159…….) WHAT! But basically, Remente is an app that serves as a life coach for life, school, business and to overall feel better and more productive. The app is top ranked with about 1.6 million downloads and has made it on Business Insider, The Guardian, Telegraph, and Forbes! The app is based on cognitive behavioral therapy and fugues on inspiration, insight and impact for those who need help or guidance. Our brains are powerful-which David pointed out and talked about his experience with depression and anxiety. He then focused on ways to improve productivity, happiness and how to understand our brains. We can get ourselves out of a bad state of mind which I found to be so interesting. He also mentioned that our phones and social media have a huge impact on our mental health and social skills which I totally agree with as I can defiantly tell a difference when people aren’t on their phones around me. I tested it out tonight for dinner and almost everyone checked their phones at least 3 times.

After Remente, we had the rest of the night off and Robby, Cam, Nicole, Sam and I were STARVING so guess where we went?!!!! PASTA HAUS!!! (for the third time) Seriously the best Italian I have ever had. I got spaghetti again which was the best I have ever had. We also ordered a pizza which was the best. I seriously could live at the Italian place-I’m in LOVE!

We then walked to some shops by Nordstan and stopped at O’Leareys which is our favorite sports bar here in Gothenburg. Our favorite bartender we’ve had the past few nights has served us and treated us so well but tonight was actually her last night there which we were SO sad about. But she introduced us to our favorite cider is on tap there called Somersby Pear Cider which literally taste like apple juice so I will be shipping some back to the US.

Daily Reflections

• It’s really important to understand companies mission and goals and to create some sort of values chart so everyone is on the same page!
• Remember you have a brain-you have control! Take care of it, take breaks if you need them, and go live your LIFE!
• I actually downloaded Remente and it has really helped me with preparation for my days and prioritizing what I’m doing! I highly recommend it!