We are happy to share Laura Jacque´s story of her first six months within SWEP. Laura started in mid-August 2020 as Compliance Manager at SWEP. She has a background with a degree in Economics and Philosophy before attending law school in the United states. After six years as a litigation attorney in the United states, she moved to Sweden and completed her Master of Laws.

What was the reason that you choose SWEP as your new employer?

I was drawn to SWEP because they are an environmentally forward-thinking company with a real eye on innovation and sustainable growth. I was looking for an in-house role at an international company that was committed to environmental initiatives, so SWEP was a top choice. Also, when I was interviewed, I really got the impression that employees are invested in the company, work collaboratively, and maintain a supportive work environment, which were all important attributes for me.

How was it to start at SWEP during the pandemic?

I think my ability to be integrated into the team during the pandemic was attributable to the level of collaboration at SWEP. When a new member joins, there is support across the organization to welcome the new member and immediately get them involved, but I look forward to meeting them all in person.

Do you have some reflections of the culture at SWEP?

SWEP culture to me seems to center around learning through experience. This requires people to share the knowledge they have and seek out answers for their own questions. This give-and-take mentality fosters a cooperative open-door environment where people make time for each other and are willing to share resources. It also means that all SWEP employees are on equal footing as we are all learning from each other.

I started working as Customer Support at our sales office in SWEP North America in October 2002 while I was studying at Mercer University Stetson School of Business & Economics (Atlanta, Georgia). It was intended to be only a temporary job while I attended college. However, after I graduated with my Bachelors of Business Administration degree, I was given the opportunity to move to Sweden to work at our headquarters. I jumped at the wonderful opportunity and worked in Sweden for close to 2 years as Customer Support for Strategic Key Accounts.

I have gained much information and experience from working both within a HUB setting and at Head Office that has helped me to understand SWEP from many different aspects. From quoting a customer and receiving their order, to keeping up with the production of the order until it ships out the door and arrives at our end customer's location. This level of involvement can be very time-consuming at times, but can also be very fulfilling. I want our customers to be delighted and completely satisfied with the level of service they receive from SWEP, so I have always strived to make that happen!

I have also worked with various projects in our World Class Service program. I think it is extremely helpful to be able to bring in the insight I have from dealing directly and personally with customers when we are exploring ways of improving the level of service that we provide in every area. It is extremely important not only to know the expectations and needs of the customer, but also to be able to meet them!

I now work within our Sales Organization in the UK as Regional Manager. I feel incredibly lucky to work for such a great company like SWEP!

Carla Luongo is our branch manager for our SWEP Brazil office and has been with SWEP for 10 years now! Carla has a degree in chemical engineering and economic business management and uses both in her current role of branch manager where she is responsible for maintaining a healthy and profitable operation in Brazil while managing the areas of logistics, shipping, COMEX, and sales. She credits the SWEP environment, amazing people, and great energy for the main reasons that she truly enjoys her role within SWEP.

Carla also adds,‘In my full history of career and backgrounds, I’ve learned so much technical and strategic knowledge and have used this to develop myself professionally and to apply this knowledge in all my past companies and roles. I’m grateful for this growth of course, but I’ve realized that experience and practice in my daily role now is what makes me actually grow and develop the most – both professionally and personally. I love what I do daily at SWEP and that is what makes me the happiest!‘

SWEP operates with a global footprint, but is in tune with the uniqueness of each market.  That means having the mindset to alter the approach based on where you are in the world, while still offering world-class products and solutions that drive change for the better.  I was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also lived in Germany during my childhood, prior to moving to the US, so I think this global outlook really appealed to me. 

I graduated from Kennesaw State University (GA) with a degree in Sales and Marketing.  I have always been fond of the psychology of relationships, such as the interaction between a seller and prospective buyer.  Therefore, perusing a degree in that field was natural to me.  I am also, currently, in the process of my MBA degree which I firmly believe will help with my career aspirations within SWEP.  There are opportunities to advance your career aspirations with the backing and support of management, if you are open to broadening your outlook.  There are many challenges that can be found as well as possibilities to address the status quo and ask, “why not this way?”

Before moving to SWEP, I worked in the power transmission industry for an Italian company called Motovario and we provided gearboxes and motors that were used for various industries- moving conveyor belts, automated packaging, boatlifts and more.  My first role with SWEP was as Regional Sales Manager, covering the Southeast of the United States.  That journey started in 2015, and since then I have moved over to our Business Development group.  Within this part of the company, we tend to focus on conversion of other technologies as well as applications where the SWEP presence might not have been as strong as our core competencies.  I enjoy the opportunity to dive deeper into new segments to assess what is needed by the market, how SWEP can leverage our strengths to gain access while working with a wide range of SWEP departments to put forth the best value proposition.  

As the world is getting smaller in a sense, with advancements in technology and ways of doing business, SWEP continues to adapt and grow with the trend.  The entrepreneurial spirit is well and alive, as you tend to have freedom to develop and grow in many ways.  SWEP provides great learning experiences across cultures and departments as long as you are willing to look for it.  The SWEP culture understands that each customer or application is unique, and we approach our solutions in that fashion.  There are far reaching resources to utilize and colleagues willing to go the extra mile to help.  

I enjoy working in a company that wants to provide good products and support to our customers and I have a good content in my job. I started my career at SWEP in 2009 as a quality assurance engineer and after being a Business Engineer for some years I am Business Engineer Team Manager today. It has been a journey of learning different customer requirement variations and I have got support from most parts of the company like product management, quality, design and HR. We really need to communicate with a lot of people outside of Japan for ourselves and for the customer. As we are a true global company, we are using all channels there are such as email, Skype, phone and meetings.

We are cooperating internally to solve many different kinds of problems and sometimes it can be challenging. That is how we learn. Different in different positions and roles. In my last position as Business Engineer I learned a lot about different applications for our products and also how to face the customer.

Within engineering department, I have a big opportunity to influence the thinking about next steps in operation and I am challenging myself and people around me to not just think better but to try think differently.
I started as a process engineer for brazing and today, I am Engineering manager.
I like our culture where we are challenged to take the next step and at the same time it is accepted to do mistakes and learn from them. And I like to work with all the SWEP people around me.

To work on different positions allows me to learn new things, understand different perspectives of our business and a deeper understanding of connections between different areas.  

In the future, I want to work with groups of people local or global. I just enjoy learning new things and learn from my colleagues. Within the engineering department, I have a big opportunity to influence the thinking about next steps in operation and I am challenging myself and people around me to not just think better but to try think differently.
There is still places to improve in global cooperation, but I see we all are trying to be more supportive and finding new ways how to use this unique opportunity.

In my former work I was used to take care of hierarchy, and a lot or rules. Freedom in SWEP allows me to concentrate more on task instead of keeping the rules.
After 14 years of my carrier had passed, I felt the need for change and discovered SWEP – with a working environment completely opposite to what I experienced before. The introduced company image along with great feedback from one of my former colleagues gave me assurance that this is the place I want to continue. My current role is still rather new in SWEP and it is coming step by step into the colleagues’ mind to keep me informed about expected sales changes for both directions (winnings and losses). This helps me to improve myself in persistency.

SWEP culture may seem traditional for Nordic countries, though I would describe it like team-based oriented with employee engagement on all levels. In my former work I was used to take care of hierarchy, and a lot or rules. Freedom in SWEP allows me to concentrate more on task instead of keeping the rules.
I’m lucky to be in contact with all our business units. We are good in global thinking while our global acting can be still enhanced.

My reasons for working at SWEP is based on respect for people.
I started as a Press team supervisor in 2007 when SWEP Suzhou was opened. Today I am Plant Manager.
My reasons for working at SWEP is based on respect for people, the SWEP culture of focus on continuous improvement impresses me deeply and the friendly cooperation delivers a peaceful environment to me as well. Furthermore, we encourage employees to develop by taking challenges. To balance the work and family is another attractive reason to retain employees.

I have learned how to achieve the delegated target by organizing relevant resource precisely; how to develop the team in terms of business growth, how to create the plan by following company strategy plan and make sure the activities are in control.
Taking on challenges encourages me to improve my knowledge; methodology drives me to focus on root cause and therefore the trouble shooting is getting efficient. Respect for people guides me to develop the team based on both talent and business needs.

Culture difference is the biggest challenge when we develop SWEP culture to all. That means we need adopt different approach to launch SWEP culture in different locations.

My advice is to try to communicate with colleagues around you, and you will get help. Maybe you're not 100% ready, but it's better to start than to do nothing.
I joined SWEP in 2009 because of my career plan. After that, the company's culture, products and staff's enthusiasm for work have made me deeply believe that SWEP platform can stimulate my potential and enthusiasm for work. Under this platform, I may continue to extend beyond the comfort zone.
I started as the first product engineer in China and my current position is engineer team manager.
There are three things I have learned from my journey,

- Knowledge and experience of previous positions and contacts within company can help you adapt to new positions as quickly as possible.
- You should change your role as quickly as possible and enjoy the challenges and interesting things from your new position.
- To quickly figure out what you need to improve in your new role, be bold and follow the basic rules, and everything will be all right.
I think I will continue to develop in the sales market, but I want to make more contribution to and influence on the market strategy making for products and applications in SWEP China, even in Asia-Pacific and SWEP Global.

There are many opportunities for us to collaborate with our colleagues at our headquarter or other countries to complete some of the global customer projects, and the Application Management department at our headquarter is always providing us with application technology support, which makes me realize that we are a global company.

Petra Homolova has been working in CS in the Kechnec office in Slovakia since 2007, as part of the EMEA South Team.

Despite starting out with a degree in Finance, she quickly realized that her future did not lie with banking, finance and number crunching, but rather working with people, something that her kept her happy throughout her years in SWEP CS.

“I really like to work with people and having the daily communication with customers – you work with different tempers, personalities and cultures. Not two days alike – there’s always something new on the horizon and it never get’s boring and always challenging.

CS is the first line of contact to both external customers and various internal departments and gets involved in many processes throughout the order handling cycle; from claims and shipping to logistics and payment. As Petra explains, there is so much more to ‘order handling’ than what meets the eye. “We’re responsible for the entire process and often do ‘detective work’ where we follow a trail that can lead in many different directions. This gives us a unique perspective of what’s going on both with the customer and internally. We truly care for what’s going on with the customer and nurture those relationships – I guess you can say we are the connecting dots with one foot in SWEP and one with the customer”.

It’s not just the diversity of the job and the close ties with the customers that makes Petra proud and happy with what she does. It’s equally being part of a team where new ideas and inputs for improvements are always welcome. “We are the department that moves things forward to get things done and we collaborate with so many different SWEP departments to ensure quick reaction time and added value.”

Giada works in the Milan office and has been part of the EMEA South CS team since 2014. She describes her job as being part of a big family with colleagues in Milan and around the world and staying in close, daily contact with customers to help them with requests and issues from A-Z.

“We’re not just doing data entry – there are a lot of details that goes on behind the scenes. We’re involved in all parts of order handling and completely connected to sales, logistics, finance, production and business engineers”, Giada exclaims. “What makes me proud is to see the relationships with customers grow. I hope that our customers know that we always do our outmost to meet their needs. Good relationships with mutual understanding and knowing that I add value to the customer keeps me motivated.”

Carlo Vercelli joined SWEP in CS in May 2018. With a background from the cruise line and tourism industry, he made quite a switch to the world heat exchangers. Then again, as Carlo puts it: “I was schooled in personalized service, so switching to support for heat exchangers was not all that different. It’s all about providing great and personal service building on relationship and trust.”

“I enjoy the variation of tasks and the charm in not knowing what will hits you, as well as being in an international environment with both colleagues and customers around the world. We would never be successful without the understanding from other colleagues, and it gives me lots of energy and pride when we work together with Planning, Shipping, Production, Sales – a true One SWEP spirit.”

Elaborating on why he finds the work rewarding, Carlo goes on to explain: “What I find really satisfying about this work is that everything that we do, every action we take, every person we bother - is for the good of the customer. We never give a firm NO, we always look for an alternative solution. It has a deeper complexity, not just order processing and our work matters to people.

When we’re able to deliver an order on a very short deadline or know that the work we did prevented a stop in the customer’s production line, that makes me proud of what I do.”

Rachel Wu is the latest breath of fresh air to the CS team in Landskrona. She joined SWEP in February 2020 from a temp agency and was recently hired to her permanent position in CS. She handles a wide range of tasks that comes with the territory – order handling, stock availability check, claims, shipment and so on and enjoys the variety.

As a Chinese now living in Sweden, Rachel says she learned a lot about different cultures and that different customers have different demands. “I’m the link between the customer and SWEP and when I push to make things happen, it’s for the benefit of the customers and I rely on the support I get from other departments like production, sales, shipping, quality, product engineers.

“I’m proud of being part of a team where we catch everything that comes our way and help each other out to act and adapt quickly. You’re never alone - we all have different responsibility, but we’re working toward the same goal of helping our customers and each other. I like this about the SWEP culture; value the customers, value the employees, keep the promises. Rachael exclaims”.

As a French national living in the UK since her university days, Anne-Céline has been working with SWEP CS since 2013, not surprisingly supporting French customers, although a recent shift now has her working with the Benelux customers. When asked about the job and what she enjoys, it’s clear that it is the variety of tasks, multi-tasking and talking to customers and different departments every day that rocks her boat.

“We’re responsive to the customer’s needs and you get to know some of them really well, to the point that with some, I can anticipate their specific needs, they don’t event have to ask me.

At the same time, I’m part of a team where each person is involved and does their part behind the scenes really well. As Anne-Céline puts it: CS is sitting in the control tower – where we liaison with everyone involved.”