Today we went to Qualisys to start our day as young international business professionals, we met with Magnus and he explained to us his company and what they do to separate themselves. Qualisys makes top of the market motion capturing cameras, they have grown to producing 2500 cameras per year and do everything in house except for production of the actual cameras. The company was founded in 1989, their cameras are now found in many fields such as professional sports, they are used in hockey baseball and golf.
The engineers at Qualisys allowed us to try on some of their suits and see their motion capturing technology first hand. We borrowed some of their stylish outfits and put the sensors on, and had 3D caricatures. It was extremely interesting seeing the back end of technology you see everyday in animation. we wore the same suits that they wear when professionally . Some of the major companies that use this technology are BMW, ABB, and Olympics. Their technology is used globally in multiple industries.
This the worlds largest ball bearing and it is located outside the world headquarters of SKF.
SKF’s general public tour was very interesting and informative, our tour guide Lars was full of energy and definitely made the tour. We started with a short video and learning the history of SKF, the company was founded in 1907. The companies roots are based in solving the needs of companies with unreliable traditional bearings they created their own, he initially had to give the product away and asked as payment the reduction in the companies electric bill. The company is back to a similar approach today, as they have moved away from a mass production style of business and have moved towards to building per the customer request, and remanufacturing a customers parts to reduce the cost for a customer and have less effect on the environment.
The presentation was very interesting but did not compare to the actual plant, the plant was world class all the way. But sadly photography was not allowed in the plant. It was the most high tech facility i have ever seen from the full automation, and self driving fork lifts, but probably the most impressive part of the factory was the volume of it. The factory had gone from a dirty deafening loud shop to a factory that is cleaner than most households, and a noise level that that is almost inaudible.
MATT’S DAILY TAKEAWAYS
- SKF has the world’s largest ball bearing.
- I like curry sauce.
- Fun fact you can accidentally call the Swedish emergency number through your pants pocket
Matt travels to Sweden 