Who am I?
I live with my husband and two nearly grown-up children outside Hallstavik.
I’m also a part-time firefighter, as well as a member of the Hallsta Paper Mill fire service. Almost all the rest of my free time is spent looking after my animals. At the moment there are five horses and two dogs in my life and I spend a lot of time out in the forest with them.
I’ve been working at Holmen since February this year and had no experience of working in industry before. I previously worked in retail. I love the job itself and all the great colleagues I work with who are happy to pass on everything they know!
My workplace
I work in preventive maintenance at Hallsta Paper Mill as a tribologist, or, to put it more simply, a lubrication technician in our pulp mill. The mill as a whole employs around 380 people, and our little preventive maintenance team is currently made up of three lubrication technicians and one preventive maintenance technician. My main area is wood chipping and part of media, a relatively large area that involves a lot of work outdoors. I see that as a major plus!
Being a lubrication technician means you are taking preventive action. You are equipped with a grease gun and cartridges and you work your way around the site lubricating pumps, motors and bearings, changing filters and checking oil levels in tanks and gearboxes.
A working day
Today I’m going round the aeration ponds, checking the screw pumps and topping up the lubrication. When the weather’s like this, there’s nothing to complain about, although it’s beautiful when the snow is glistening and the bay is coated in ice too.
Also on the agenda for today is checks on the gears on the wood line, which includes the conveyors – not my favourite job... I’m not exactly thrilled to step out on the catwalk
The work is fun and you get to be independent. You look at the work orders for the week and plan your day and your week accordingly. It feels great when you walk past a motor and think it shouldn’t be sounding like that, and then you get your grease gun and the noise stops!
Why Holmen?
I’ve had the good fortune to work at Holmen without any previous experience and I’ve found Holmen to be an employer who believes in you and gives you the chance to learn and develop. Gender equality is taken for granted here and I’ve really been welcomed, and support and encouragement is there if I need it.
Conclusion
This week is drawing to an end – thanks for keeping me company!
I hope I’ve given you a little insight into what I do as a proud lubrication technician in a wonderful workplace!