How to Rebrand the Industries Everyone Gets Wrong

Speaker A: I would say one of the misconceptions is that we are not that technology advanced. We have since 25 years fully autonomous vehicles that we provide to our customers. We are contributing to the sustainability by having electrified equipment that helps our customers to be CO2 neutral. So these are typical misconceptions around our industry. We have the latest technology and the difference is that as an engineer you can apply it right now here with the customers.

Speaker B: Bjorn, welcome to the show, my friend. How you doing?

Speaker A: Thanks Chris. Really happy to be here. I'm having a really good time here in Stockholm. The weather is beautiful and I hope you're doing well too.

Speaker B: Yeah, not so beautiful, but where we are, typical UK weather, but we can't complain. Uh, actually I say we can't complain, but we always do complain. So I keep saying, how's the year treating you? But it feels like it's already flown by so fast. Like I feel like, where is the first few months of the year gone? It's just like disappeared.

Speaker A: No, it just feels like the time is going so quickly. Right. We are dealing with so many different topics, challenges and I think that also contributes to making time flies very quickly.

Speaker B: Right. 100%. Before we jump into some of the cool topics we're going to be chatting, tell everyone a little bit more about you personally and sort of your journey to where we are now and then also a little bit about the organization, uh, Sandvik.

Speaker A: Yeah, we're happy to do so. I mean I started my HR carrier 23 years ago in the aerospace industry and I spent a few years working as an aerospace technician before I study HR. And uh, then I spent, yeah, 23 years in technology companies. Um, you know, super, super fun things. Different companies, different type of owners of companies, etc. So, um, and today I'm with Zambic since 2019. I'm the chief HRO here at this company. We are one of the big uh, companies, uh, in Sweden and in the Nordics. So 45,000, uh, employees, uh, and we have been around for 160 years.

Speaker B: Wow. And when we spoke a few weeks ago, um, I thought I knew a lot about the business and I was very wrong and I left the call being like, wow, this is a completely different to what I, when I first came in contact with the business maybe 20 years ago to where we are now. Maybe share a little bit about that because I think that was fascinating, the journey that you and the team continue to be on.

Speaker A: Yeah, we are having a really exciting time here at Sunvich. Uh, so, um, we are we are having four different business areas here. And, um, so it spans from machining, uh, solutions and intelligent manufacturing, uh, software solutions to mining and, uh, construction, rock processing. So, um, four different business areas. Uh, and then over the last years, which is super exciting, is that we have acquired almost 70 companies the last six and a half years. So we are transforming the company into the future, which is then of course very much more, uh, driven by software solutions, digital electrified solutions, etc. So, uh, we are very proud about the technology that we contribute with here, both when it comes to sustainability, but in general to our customers to help solve their problems.

Speaker B: Was that part of the attraction for you to join the organization?

Speaker A: There were two, uh, aspects of IT technology. One, given my own background. So of course I'm very curious about technology and I saw Summic having all of that that I was looking for. Uh, but the second was really the yoga piece because we are truly global. I mean, many technology companies that we speak to today, I mean they are present in the northern hemisphere like, like most other companies somehow, but we have a very nice footprint also in the southern hemisphere. So we're working for Summic. It takes you to Africa, to Latin Americ, Australia, to simply more or less all the places in the world. And that was a key driver for me.

Speaker B: What would you say? Uh, and I've definitely had some of my own in our last conversation as some of the common misconceptions when people think about mining as a career.

Speaker A: Yeah, so mining is one part of our business. Exactly. And that was where I actually joined into Summi from the beginning. I would say one of the misconceptions is, number one is that we are not that technology advanced. And that is one of the misconceptions that we have since 25 years, fully autonomous vehicles that we, uh, provide to our customers. We have fully connected fleet, uh, of products. We are contributing to the sustainability by having electrified equipment that helps our customers to be, uh, CO2 neutral and so forth. So these are typical misconceptions around our industry. We have the latest technology, and the difference is that as an engineer, you can apply it right now here with the customers.

Speaker B: Yeah, you got to tell me about the background.

Speaker A: This is part of one of the campaigns we have called the no mine car in a mo. And it illustrates here a car, um, that doesn't have any minerals included, such as copper. And that means that there will not be too much of a car here, as you can see. Right. It's more, less than an empty shelf. Uh, and with that we, we Want to convey the message that mining is very important both for um, the industry in general, but especially for the green transition. We need mines to contribute and get minerals that is used for everything that has to do with the renewable energy and traditional industry.

Speaker B: Love it. Do you find like um, uh, quite a big perception shift when you share that with young talent?

Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. So we have a little bit of, let's say a barrier. So most people that come to and where we have the chance to really show what mining is about, most people get really interested and they tend to stay with us. Um, but we need to come to that point where we really can show ourselves uh, from that side. And uh, so that is sometimes a challenge for us for sure. It depends a little bit of the yoga fees as well. Our industry is very popular in many parts of the world, but let's say in the Western countries and the Anglo Saxon countries today we have more of a challenge there, even though many of those countries are still very important markets for mining.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I can only assume Ben, that a, uh, big part of the technology piece is also making mining safer.

Speaker A: Yes. So let's say if we look at what we contribute with one of the pieces like you indicate Chris, is that by self driving vehicles and automation we can make the mines much safer, but also much cooler to work in. You can bring your own Xbox control when you run uh, one of our machines from a control room in a big, big capital city for instance, with the mine far remote from there. So that attracts very much of the next generation also working for us. So that's one of the examples. And then we help our customers to become CO2 neutral by also providing uh, fully electrified vehicles. And that gives another driving experience. But it also helps the mine and the environment in the mine to be cleaner. And you don't need that much ventilation compared to if you have diesel engines in the mine for example. Uh, but most of us that have trucks ride or maybe own an electrical car, there is another driving experience that comes with it as well, which our customers really like.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's hard to describe to people. I think when we got our first Tesla, uh, it just makes every other car that we had feel, feel dumb. Ah. And uh, I've been in the US and tried full self drive and then that just is quite shocking to be honest. It kind of takes you back for a second. You're like whoa, this is. And um, I think was it this week maybe? I think they just announced in uh, the Netherlands, uh, they've just approved full self drive so this won't, you know, now this is coming to our roads, um, as well. Like the future is here. But what was such a surprise when we last spoke that you've already been doing this in your organization for a while.

Speaker A: Yeah. That also you know one thing with the mining industry is that we can introduce products such as self driving vehicles far much earlier because it's ring fenced environment. On the other hand it's very important to say that there's also very strong string, uh, and sorry strong regulations when it comes to uh, safety. Of course.

Speaker B: Yeah. So if you're talking to young talent, maybe listening right now, what, what, what's the message to them? You know what, why is this so attractive to the next generation?

Speaker A: We released the talent report here recently where we look into the uh, STEM talent pool for instance and of course for them and we have a knowledge uh challenge here to really ensure that people really understand the mining industry. That's number one like we touched on here, there is a perception also regarding safety that mining is not the safe place to work. And I will say that the standards of safety in our industry is extremely high. I've been working in several other industries before but I think one of the topic is that 90% of the global STEM talent pool would be interested in mining if they knew how it contributes to the um, uh green transition. Yeah, that is a great opportunity for us because uh, to be clear we provide equipment and solutions and services for the big mining houses to extract ore. Uh and then of course one of the big uh, uh commodities for us uh, and with our customers are copper. And then another topic is of course rare earth metals which is uh, important as well for the green transition.

Speaker B: Mhm. Is it like, I mean maybe this is a silly question but given the AI boom that we see around us. Is that, is that being a huge uh, influx of demand for you?

Speaker A: Yeah. I would like to say that 70 of you know we have acquired 70 companies the last years. I would say that the big portion of the acquisition is related to software and digitalization.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And AI is really alive and kicking in our company as well. I did just a quick check here actually today on one of our okrs where we drive the transformation of AI. We have close to 2000 agents active right now as we speak and we did two and a half million prompts here last uh, year. So that of course what is big and what is small in that is we are still learning I would say. But um, we really drive the AI uh transformation also in our company. And of course we help our customers to digitalize also with the help from AI. So most of our software solutions they have AI features built into.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's almost like. Yeah, I've gone through this whole process the last few months with my team. Every one of my uh, team members are now essentially AI orchestrators. They have a team of every, every role. Actually there isn't a single role in our business where they don't have at least two or three orchestrators. And we actually went through on um, um, yesterday with the team. The team was sharing different use cases that they're really excited about. And uh, we get in so much time back to be more creative, more innovative, to think more strategically. And it's just, I think it's more of a mindset shift if I'm being honest, than a technology shift. The last month has more been the technology is there. Right. It's more of like how do I bring the team on the journey with us? Ah, because it's a big shift.

Speaker A: I agree 100% Chris. And I mean when we look at this, we have let's say three different categories of AI opportunities. Number one is everyday job for our employees to be more productive, more efficient like you explained. Right. The other one is that we have a huge opportunity when it comes to our back office processes inside our company. But lastly, and maybe the most importantly is to create new revenue streams through AI solutions.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: So those three are all very important. But of course being in hr, um, very important for us is to have the transformation with our employees in the company in order to uh, scale and use AI. And I think we can all see today who is on the train with AI and who is not. Right. So it's, it, it's very, very clear. Um, but you know, the progress is, is very, very uh, exciting.

Speaker B: Yeah. Uh, obviously you've acquired organizations you're hiring, but you're obviously competing for talent that every organization's competing for. Um, what has this meant for how, uh, for your talent strategy? Uh, and your uh, like just walk us through your approach because obviously you're all fighting for the same talent out there.

Speaker A: Yeah, I would say uh, you know, for us, very important there is to have a uh, solid uh, evp, of course for how to position ourselves uh, on the market, uh, to ensure that we can both be true, uh, when we approach our uh, candidates, uh, and that we are well anchored into our culture and that we have a clear purpose. Ah. So we try really to use uh, an EVP as a navigator for how to drive the talent attraction and so forth.

Speaker B: Yeah. Do you have um, I mean I can imagine you must put a lot of focus as well on things like early career programs.

Speaker A: Yes, we do, we do. And we have a portfolio of programs that is quite impressive I would say. I mean um, if we just focus on the mining part. We have 15 uh, academies around the world that produces uh, technicians uh, in the mining space, producing around 500 new graduates every year that we take from the schools and that we train, that uh, you know, can go directly work with our customers and so on. And we have global graduate programs that we also uh, have a global intake too. Ah, we have around 10 different internal leadership programs that we also offer uh, from you know, start of your career up until you're on an executive level, then people to Switzerland to IMD for example. So there are a bunch of different initiatives that we do here. We even run our own schools, our own gymnasiums around the world in different places of the world. Yeah, so we invest a lot early on in the career and um, try to ensure, you know, that we can hire people at an early stage.

Speaker B: Do you think that's also um, helped you in terms of the time to proficiency and also that stickiness that people then stay with the business because you've invested them early on?

Speaker A: Yeah, uh, it is really so. And I think to touch on the mining topic is that we have seen in the Anglo Saxon country, especially if you look at countries such as Canada, Australia, that mining engineering enrollments at university has dropped uh, dramatically over the last 10 years. And that is related to the picture of mining that uh, has not been seen as uh, let's say attractive in that sense. So of course what does that mean for us? We have our own programs for non mining engineers with the best mining universities in the world. Uh, so when you start here and you're not the mining engineer, we will let's say give you the right tools and education in order to be uh, successful in the mining space by uh, also working with those universities around the world.

Speaker B: Yeah. Is most of it classroom based right now or are you also perhaps looking at leveraging things like AI to create some digital offerings? Because I think one of the incredible opportunities of AI is to create um, learning that meets people where they're at, uh, but also is tailored to them. It could be even things like we're using AI right now for our learning pathways and it even understands cultural nuance. So depending on what country they're in, the way it will teach them a particular topic, will have the nuances of, you know, of their culture. And obviously of course language is something you're exploring just out of curiosity.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we do that as well. And uh, we have been running those programs, uh, for uh, our own internal mining engineering programs for almost one and a half decade now. And um, yeah. So I think you know, the last years we have seen a lot of uh, of transformation into digitalization, AI and so forth.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: And it's also very important because you know, our offering to the customers is also related to let's say mind planning, which is fully digital, um, software based and so on. So of course it's important that we help our students to understand that too and that we design the trainings in that way.

Speaker B: Yeah. I said this to you on our uh, call when we first met, but I would love uh, for you and the team or at some point to like create more content to show some of the cool work that you do. Right. And not maybe it's on site, seeing it, you know, following the day, a day in the life of one of your. Like, I think um, I think that would really get them quite excited because I think uh, you know, they live on social media. Right. And when they're looking at new roles now, they're looking at video, they're looking at audio social media. I think that. I know, I know you're already on that journey. Um, it's part obviously why we're chatting today. But I feel like if you look at the platforms that they're on, most organizations in your space, they're not there. No, no one's there. It's a huge open space. Uh, I agree. 100. Yeah.

Speaker A: But I would recommend everyone that listened to this one to go to the sunvik Instagram. Uh, and uh.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Nice.

Speaker A: And the difference with us is that uh, it's not run by corporate, it's our employees hosting the account every week.

Speaker B: Really. Okay, that's it. I didn't know that. Great. No, that's what I mean. Right. Because normally it's like so overly polished and so it needs to feel organic, it needs to feel real and people gravitate. I love the fact that you put that trust.

Speaker A: Yeah. We really like if we want to show ourselves from the right side and from authentically with our employees. And that's the same one, most of the campaign we're doing we can always do more, but it's always with our own people. So uh, we really try to ensure that we let our employees speak, uh, about the company.

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean there's no Stronger. There's no stronger way. Or if you're talking about your evp, right. If it comes from your employees. Right. That's the best way as you look ahead. Right. So, I mean there's so exciting. Right. Especially given all the acquisitions, the technology, space, like so much. What are you most excited about?

Speaker A: I would say, uh, looking ahead, uh, the mining industry I think has a very bright future. Uh, and I think also it has come to a point where people really start to understand how important it is with access to uh, minerals, for example. I think we are on the right path here. I think the knowledge is gradually coming, um, and it's a little bit sad to say that maybe geopolitics has also exposed this a little bit more, uh, how important it is, um, because I think, uh, if you look at the last years here, I mean, um, the mining industry in general has had a very nice momentum and um, with regionalization and so forth is more and more important to ensure that there is a safe supply of minerals in order to make the green transition. For example. We see that in Europe, but we also see that in other parts of the world where uh, the urgency on this matter has been, uh, increasing. So I think you're on the right path and that makes also this industry very purposeful, um, and very important.

Speaker B: Yeah. One of the things that we didn't talk about, which I think is not spoken about enough, also is maybe the importance of the cultural curiosity and the commitment to supporting local communities where you operate. Because I think that's something that we don't hear about enough.

Speaker A: I agree. And that one is very important for us. We, um, purpose for many of our managers and employees around the world is really to help to improve local communities. And our industry offers an opportunity for you to really get to know the world, uh, by traveling around. And if you go into the mining industry historically, it's full of people seeking for adventure, uh, but also full of people that have had a lifestyle of a nomad, uh, moving around a lot. Uh, and many of the professionals in the mining industry, they live a little bit like that as well. So they have seen a lot, they have been around a lot. And many of the countries where you go to, uh, you see that there is a great opportunity to improve local communities. So that's a very important uh, topic for our organization that we really contribute to local communities and improve life for people in the local communities.

Speaker B: What does that look like? Could you give an example?

Speaker A: It can be, for instance, that we help um, um, to ensure that the local um, communities have access to uh, clean water. It can be that local communities have access to electricity. Uh, it can be for instance, that in countries where uh, there is problems, um, with currencies or whatever, that we ensure that our employees and the local communities get access to the essentials. But it's also uh, to help to contribute to reconciliation when it comes to uh, indigenous peoples m. Um these kind of topics.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And um. Uh, so, so, uh. Yeah, and that's, that's full of purpose for many of our employees.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's why I asked you that question. I think people maybe um, there, there is a very clear why and purpose connected when you, when you talk about how you're helping them. These are things that most people take for granted. Right. In our day to day.

Speaker A: Yes. So it's very educational to work in this industry because you, you learn a lot about the world, uh, in that sense.

Speaker B: Um, I've interviewed quite a few people in the mine industry over the last sort of 10 years and one of the things that come up always on the podcast that just popped into my brain randomly right now is they always mentioned that if especially those that were parents that had kids with them that, that moved and relocated for different jobs, they always would say to me that it, it was an incredible experience for their children and that they became very well rounded and you know, they're culturally aware and you know, you know like a very, um, they just always brought up their kids and the experience that. Because I was like how was that? Is that tough? Right? Because you know, kids build friends and, and then they're off, they're like no, actually they build a lot of resilience. I suppose the word that came up quite a lot. So do you hear that from employees or you know, just accuracy?

Speaker A: We do that a lot. We do that a lot. And uh, I believe very much in, you know, you have something called the third culture Kit, uh, TC case. Our family is a little bit like that too. I mean we've been in different countries throughout our lives and uh, yeah, uh, of course that's an opportunity, uh, to be versatile in terms of culture, languages, self confidence and uh. But of course moving around also can be certain challenges. Right. So uh, bonding m with friends and things like that. So I think uh, we have seen of course many of our employees and their families having a fantastic development over time. Uh, and their kids as you say, grow up uh, uh, in an environment where they meet people from around the world. And I mean that's a fortune and a gift to uh, the Kids especially.

Speaker B: Yeah. Because I'm sure that is a question and consideration that comes up right. During the interview process or, you know, you're chatting to people, Right?

Speaker A: Yeah, it is. And one thing there, Chris, is that one of our core values in summic is curiosity, actually. And I love it. Yeah. And people usually feel very attached to that, uh, that core value. But, you know, we also see that it has a lot to do with how we can learn, experiment, how we can be open, inclusive, uh, and how we can offer, let's say, uh, you know, learning throughout an entire life at work.

Speaker B: Is there, Is there anything that we, um, haven't spoke about that we should have, uh, along. Along the way, or maybe what advice would you give to other colleagues in the same that will be in your position one day?

Speaker A: My strongest advice, you know, for people working as HR professionals, but also in general, to get, uh, international experience as quickly as possible. I've got that myself. And I can just say that changed a lot in my life. And, um. Yeah. And be curious. Try to learn things all the time. And, uh, I think if you really want to be good at your job, then, uh, it's a little bit like sports. You need to be open for feedback, to always improve.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you're going to fall over. You're going to take a few hits, uh, along the way. Um, before I let you go, where can people connect with you if they want to reach out and say hi and also learn more about the organization?

Speaker A: Yeah, the easiest way is to connect, uh, through LinkedIn. We're happy to connect with everyone here. That is interesting to have a conversation. And, uh, of course you can find us, uh, also at Instagram, Facebook and so forth. And then of course, our traditional homepage as well.

Speaker B: Nice. Well, as always, anyone who's listening right now, all of those links will be below or whatever platform you're on. They'll be in the description. Um, but beyond, I appreciate you coming on and definitely you also educated me. Right. I mean, I've learned a lot that I didn't realize. I thought I knew a lot about the industry and space, so this was definitely educational. And, um, I'm super excited for you and the team and, uh, for what's, um, yet to come.

Speaker A: Thanks a lot, Chris. Was a pleasure to be here.