While in Copenhagen, we visited Skandinavisk, a fragrance company that aims to capture the scents of Scandinavia. The founder, Shaun, started out wanting to spread the story of Scandinavia to the outside world. He experimented with textiles, ceramics, and candles initially and found that candles were the best option. He started with three scents and expanded to many more, exploring different areas of Scandinavia to try to capture different aspects of his fragrances. This seemed especially fitting to him as in Scandinavia, candles are always lit, even during the long days of the summer, and symbolize a sense of togetherness. This visit was extremely interesting and engaging, and we loved learning about the company’s background and the interactivity of Shaun. If this company was in America, the biggest difference is that they would be trying to reach the highest level of profitability or possibility seeking a bigger company to buy them out. This is because in America we work for money which is not what people in Scandinavia do. Shaun also uses as many resources as he can to keep his products sustainable, which also create a premium brand as well.
In Gothenburg, we visited Volvo Cars and Volvo Group. Volvo Group sold Volvo Cars in 1999, becoming two separate entities. Volvo Cars focuses on the sales and production of cars. We toured the manufacturing plant on a bus, going through the assembly and the old paint building. It was a very interesting experience. Volvo Cars utilize just-in-time manufacturing, and all of the cars being produced in this factory are to existing purchase orders. Interestingly, they offered a pension and found out that only employees in Sweden received a pension at Volvo Cars. At Volvo Group, they focus on several sectors, including energy and electric trucks. They make different trucks depending on where they sell them, as the laws differ depending on the country on whether the length is measured from the start or back of the cab. We also did a case study analyzing the effects of changing energy, what trends and challenges will be present, and what they can do to become the best in transportation in 2040 in the cities, on-site, on-road, and on ships. It was clear through this that most groups agreed on the topics of autonomous driving, using our resources to create more renewable energy and unemployment being factors in 2040.
These last visits were a great way to end our trip in Scandinavia!
Stay Tuned for the last blog post!
