Who am I?
My name is Klara Logård. I'm spending my first summer at Holmen, but earlier this year I participated in the student program, where I had the opportunity to visit all the regions and learn more about Holmen as a company. When I’m not working, I’m studying to become a Certified Forester at SLU in Umeå, and in the autumn I’ll be starting the final year of my Master’s degree in Forest Ecology and Sustainable Management. The rest of my time is taken up with all sorts of things: a lot of exercise and cross-country skiing coaching, as well as spending time with friends and various creative hobbies. My biggest problem is probably that there are so many fun things to try and to experience and not enough hours in the week.
A common working day
Join me on a working day as acting production manager for Västerbotten! I tend to get into the office between 7 and 8 in the morning – a level of freedom I really appreciate! Then I usually go through the fire risk forecasts. Here in Västerbotten they’ve been very low all summer, which is good news for a summer worker like me, though those of you on holiday might be wishing the weather was hotter... The job of a production manager is very varied, so no two days are ever the same.
This particular Thursday was scheduled to begin with the joint delivery management meeting for the North Region. This is when everyone in the production department gets together with the workers from logistics to review production and distribution. At the meeting we learnt about the plan for a ship to take timber to Norrköping at the end of the summer, which is exciting!
The afternoon was spent planning for this shipment, as we needed to find the right volumes within reasonable range of the port. There is also the issue that spruce saw logs can easily be hit with blue-stain if they’re left too long in the sun after felling. Yes, you heard right – I’m hoping for rain in August... After much discussion and cooperation across production, we managed to reach a solution.
Today I also had the last of six handovers from the permanent production managers, including a summer assignment that will tide me over nicely in the quieter holiday weeks before things start up again.
How I would describe my time at Holmen Skog
My summer colleagues and I (who are also classmates) have all been treated well and welcomed into the workplace. We’ve gradually been given increasing responsibility, and we’ve had the real luxury of shadowing the employees for a few weeks to familiarise ourselves with the job and what it entails, so we feel confident about doing the work while they’re on holiday. It’s been fun to try out a possible future career for real, and also to gain a deeper insight into some of the other roles at Holmen. As a production manager, I liaise with the forest machine teams and make sure they have everything they need in the form of tracts, maps and log cutting files. Sometimes we also go on a field trip to check that everything is going to plan. I’ve always wanted to work with people in some form or another and this job certainly gives me that and then some!
The lessons I bring with me further
After four years of study and working on my own a lot, it has been great to join a workplace where everyone pulls together to achieve the same goals. It’s also clear that everyone in the chain is needed to keep everything on track. I’ve learnt a lot already, from planning volumes for our mills and creating maps, to what all the forest machines are called, and everything in between.
4 quickfire questions
· Morning or evening
· Running or cycling
· Work in a team or on your own
· Creative tasks or analytical tasks
Finally
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog!