Helen Blomqvist leads by example
Helen Blomqvist started working as a research engineer at Sandvik Coromant almost twenty years ago. Today, she is the global President of the company. With a fundamental curiosity and an engineering spirit, along with a desire to constantly learn new things, she hopes to inspire young people to look for a career in the manufacturing industry, not least a lot more women.
“Women are still underrepresented in manufacturing, and there might be a perception of gender roles that makes women feel that the manufacturing industry is not for them. But the industry is for everyone,” she says
Most things have changed since Helen first walked in the doors of Sandvik Coromant in the beginning of the century. Digitalization and sustainability were not very high on the agenda back then, and no one had even started thinking about cutting tools with embedded sensors. The manufacturing industry has undergone a fundamental transformation. Yet, the perception of a traditional heavy and dirty work environment seems to remain.
“That perception bears little resemblance to the modern, innovative and technologically advanced manufacturing we see today,” Helen says.
To erase the outdated image of the manufacturing industry, Sandvik Coromant engages with many schools, universities and local communities to show what an exciting environment manufacturing is. “As individuals, we can all strive to become good role models and inspire the younger generation to becoming engineers,” she says.
Driving a learning culture
As autonomous factories are becoming reality for many of the Sandvik Coromant customers, the demand for talent increases. Big data, embedded tools and innovative software applications require a completely different skill set than traditional manufacturing. To stay ahead of competition, Helen advocates continuous development throughout the company. “I try to lead by example by dedicating 90 minutes to my own learning every week and share with everyone in our organization to be a role model when it comes to prioritizing your own learning,” she explains. She also takes the time to mentor younger female colleagues in the company. “Mentoring is not just about giving back to younger colleagues, but also to challenge my own perspectives and learn new things.”
Leading the way to a more sustainable future in manufacturing.
Along with the technical transformation, Sandvik Coromant works passionately to reduce the company’s own climate footprint, as well as reducing the negative impact at their customers. “The manufacturing industry needs to become more sustainable. It has come a long way in terms of energy and resource efficiency and their environmental impact, but it is not quite where it needs to be. At Sandvik Coromant, we are doing our utmost to lead by example and be part of the change we want to see,” she says. And to Helen, engineers have an important role to play in the transition to a more sustainable world:
“We need to highlight what engineering can achieve and what engineers can contribute to. Many of the sustainability challenges that we need to solve involve skilled engineers and they have truly challenging and critical tasks ahead of them,” she says.
Great place to work
Hence, new opportunities for career development evolve as the world transforms, and Helen strongly believes that a continuous focus on diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities is a prerequisite to stay in the forefront, and that Sandvik Coromant is good at maintaining that focus.
“A successful career for me is a combination of feeling that I can contribute and that my ideas and reflections are valued. In order to achieve career success, you need to find a company where you can develop and that is open, transparent and built on the right values. For me, that company has been Sandvik Coromant,” she says. “If I hadn’t enjoyed it, I wouldn’t have dedicated almost 20 years to the same company. I would recommend everyone interested in shaping the future of manufacturing and being a part of a winning team to join me at Sandvik Coromant. It’s a truly great place to work,” she concludes.
