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Bruks-Siwertell
Bruks-Siwertell
For forty years, Katarina Åkesson, Human Resources (HR) Director, Bruks Siwertell AB, has worked with the company, always seeing its capacity for teamwork and the inspiration of individual people as two of its greatest assets.
I have been part of the company for a long time, participating in its successful journey since 1984. I first joined as an administrator, then a payroll administrator, and worked my way to the position of human resources (HR) manager.
The people are what has always inspired me within Bruks Siwertell. Everyone always chips in and does their part – and a bit more. Our personnel are the very heart of our company. They are eager to share their knowledge with colleagues and new recruits.
Within my roles, the provision and development of internal services has been a key responsibility and has meant that I have had the pleasure and opportunity to work with so many people over the years. It has also been interesting to see how the nature of this has changed. For some people, they have basically gone from only answering the phone, to doing everything else but answering the phone.
Digitalization has really made a positive impact. For example, we have found new ways to work with internal services and personnel, and enhance wellbeing in the workplace. We are only at the beginning of our digitalization journey, with new services continuing to make their mark both internally and externally. We are digitalizing our dry bulk handling products for the benefit of our customers, and enabling us, for instance, to help with remote support.
In addition to our digital advances over the past fifty years, our sustainability work is gaining greater prominence, and setting the tone of the company for the future. We will need to do this one step at a time, but we have already implemented electric vehicle charging stations at the office and are exploring the potential for a solar panel installation.
As our dry bulk handling equipment production facilities are quite large spaces to heat, we made the decision to upgrade the existing oil-fired heating system to a modern wood pellet-fired alternative, which has meant significant reductions in CO2 emissions and cost savings as well.
However, there is much more to be done. This includes mapping CO2 emissions, both internally and externally with subcontractors. We will analyze this information and, if possible, positively select subcontractors depending on their emissions. We are also changing how we manage waste to meet our zero-waste target.
We have always promoted the environmental protection credentials of our equipment, and this will be even more important in the future with regard to dust emissions, cargo spillage and efficiency.
Specifically in my role within HR, I have a keen eye on meeting our 2030 targets of raising our eNPs personnel satisfaction scores and also the percentage of female managers to 30 percent. We are currently participating in a network for female engineers, which is just one way of promoting our company to female managers and engineers.
We all work as a team, and this is no different in the boardroom. It is important that we have different experiences and backgrounds, from engineering, to finance and strategy, so that together we can find the best solution.
Although I do not work on the technical side of the business, we all have an understanding of the dry bulk handling equipment that we offer. Thinking about Siwertell technology’s role and impact over the last fifty years, it has made ship unloading, ship loading and conveying dry bulk material for our customers easier, more environmentally friendly and more efficient; a legacy that we expect to continue.
If I was to highlight why an operator should invest in our technology, I would say that we always fulfil our contractual obligations, and deliver products that we work hard to ensure meet our customer’s needs.
As for the future, it is vital for the company that we maintain our high levels of competence with regard to mechanical and electrical engineering, wear parts, as well as in automation and digitalization. Our personnel need to be at the forefront of dry bulk handling technology, including understanding market drivers, so that we can continue to serve the global dry bulk industry in the decades to come. The right recruitment policies and the wellbeing of our personnel are central to this.
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