Finishing Touch Pays Off

LKAB has a long history of progress resulting from employee suggestions for improvements. Erik Nordblom, mechanic, is one of those people who can’t help thinking a little bit harder when he’s at work.

- What I enjoy most is pondering over how to find new solutions to various things. It can be part of a job that’s heavy or difficult to perform, and sometimes it can be safety risks I come across when working, Erik explains.

He’s already been rewarded for one suggestion that resulted in safety improvements at work through attaching support legs to lifting magnets. And he’s still sketching out his next improvement.

- My main job in the workshop is to refurbish the screens for the sorting plant and some for the pelletizing plant. It’s natural for me to take a closer look at the machinery to see if it can be modified so that it doesn’t wear in the same way. Because the machines vibrate when they’re working some parts suffer heavy wear. Right now I’m working on a solution that improves the screen attachments so that the beams don’t wear out as quickly, he explains.

- Otherwise it’s mainly the rubberized sheets in the screens that need to be replaced when they come in for service. Even though there are just over 30 people employed in the workshop Erik usually works alone at his post.

- I have the best of both worlds. I enjoy working independently and being in charge of my own assignments, but we all work together on a single shift so there’s a great feeling of companionship among us. And sometimes I get to do a little welding work or fix other stuff in the workshop.

The Future

It was thanks to a welding training course that Erik ended up at LKAB. Poor job prospects as a carpenter led him to consider trying something new.

- I did a few weeks’ on-the-job training at LKAB as part of the course and I got hired. I still get to work with my hands so I enjoy my work. But I miss being a carpenter on sunny summer days, he tells us.

Although the summers are relatively short up north he might still get to use his carpentry skills in the future.

It’s mostly just daydreams and mental exercises, but I’m busy outlining plans for a boat and a house building project for the future, concludes Erik.