Michael, welcome to AEM. You and your family moved from Germany here to Sweden last fall. Has it been a smooth move, have you had time to take place in the Swedish society? What has been the hardest and the best?
Moving from Germany to Sweden was indeed a challenge, especially with three small kids, and it took us a while to acclimatise. Looking back it was in fact, quite chaotic. We had for instance, on the evening of our planned relocation, a short circuit on a rented trailer that broke the trailer hitch control units of two of our cars. So, we had to reschedule all the transport and some of our things had to be delivered by a company with a delay of about 3 weeks. Thankfully, we had everything we needed in our house and were very well supported from all sides. Moving with three small children and all our belongings was probably the hardest part, but it wasn’t easy leaving family and friends behind too.
I think one of the best things so far was when we arrived here, we received a very warm welcome and we were surprised at how many young families live here in the countryside and invited us to all sorts of Swedish traditions (Tacofredag, Lördagsmys, etc) that helps us really to arrive and feel welcome.
You started working here at AEM in October 2023 as a development engineer. What did you work with in Germany?
I worked as a development engineer for automotive interiors. As the company was a bit larger, I was responsible for the development and design of trim components t.e. the centre console, doors and interior trims for diffrent OEMs. We developed and produced high quality trim parts with multiple layers in a variety of finishes e.g. carbon, wood, aluminium, plastic etc. I was mainly the interface between the customer, the supplier and our own production. This included supervising the design, but I always also doing my own designs, creating drawings and developing concepts. Basically, it was about the complete product development process from the first enquiry till to carry the concept into mass production.
What projects are you looking forward to being part of and developing and running here at AEM?
I am looking forward to contributing to the development of our BLDC and bringing my ideas to an existing base. I really like the spirit of Ankarsrum Electric Motors. As far as I can tell, I think we have managed to come up with some innovative ideas, but now we need to bring them into series production and this is where we all work together for the success of our existing and upcoming products. In my opinion, the basis for innovative ideas is always existing experience, creativity and courage, here at AEM we have it all. I may see the parts from a different perspective and can contribute with some new ideas, but on the other hand I also have a lot to learn. It’s great that my ideas are received so openly and that we can put them into practice. I look forward to the progress of the project and each new prototype with great excitement. We believe that the market is highly competitive and that we would not stand out by simply replicating a Far East solution. That is why we are focussing on developing new innovative manufactureing concepts, unique designs and a good prozess automatization. We also have the ability to analyse our CAD models in-house, which is a great advantage for quickly validating the advantages and disadvantages of our designs. This is what makes it so exciting for me to work on the tomorrow’s products for AEM, and that wouldn’t be possible if today’s work wasn’t done so excellently.
Finally, is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself that we don´t know?
Yes, absolutely. Most people might not know that we moved here with our three kids to a small old farmhouse in the countryside – it was quite a challenge that first winter, and we were perhaps a little naive. We were confronted with things we hadn’t thought of. But on the other hand, building a fire in the morning or traveling an hour to get a warm pizza can also be an adventure 😊 We had to completely change our consumption behavior – but we have everything we really need and are lucky that our children can attend a very good school nearby. We can fulfill our dreams by renovating this old property and regain more comfort with every task we accomplish. I think that’s what really makes us happy and that’s why I’m so grateful to AEM for providing me with this opportunity with this exciting job on top of it.
All of us at AEM are so happy that you chosen to start working with us.
