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SNO Intern Blogs

[23.7.2010]
Hello everybody, two weeks since last blog post now, sorry for that, will try to wrap up the last two weeks in one blog post =).

Last two weeks has been very interesting, lot of things has happened. First of all I found a few suspicious numbers in my data used for the cost analysis… kind of a drawback for my project but a great saving for the Physical Distribution Nordic team! So after recalculating all my numbers regarding the costs related to returns my line manager provided me with two new projects that I will run simultaneously with my main project.

My second project is regarding our invoices. We have to check all invoices to reduce the risk for being exposed to frauds from our suppliers. Therefore I will build an improved and streamlined invoice checking tool, write processes and involve the people necessary to extract data from our systems.

My third project will be about our internal OTD's (On Time Delivery). How well our sites deliver on time to our DC in Klippan, Sweden. First of all map all the sites and hauilers that affect the IOTD the most and thereafter write an action plan how we should change the way we work to increase our IOTD's.

Otherwise my life here in Stockholm is great! We have been going out for after works with interns and colleagues several times and the company climate is lovely! I bought a new skateboard last weekend so right now I am really kitted for improve my skate skills as well =)! I and another intern from Finland has been playing golf a couple of times at Kungsängens GC, and it sure is a very beautiful golf course! Not surprised at all that the course has been used as a European Masters course.

This week will mostly consist of getting on track with my new project, call/mail lots of P&G people all over Europe. I will also update my action plan according to the new projects. Wednesday afternoon my manager will provide me with the mid-term evaluation, which I am looking forward to a lot! Think that's a pure privilege to get to know a few of your strengths and opportunity areas.

Stay tuned for next update =)!
Best regards // Simon Henrikson

[9.7.2010]
Hi everybody =)!

It is Friday again and time for a new blog post. Sun is (still) shining and the temperature is now about 30 degrees Celsius, really looking forward to a weekend with lots of sports and water activities in the sun!

My project has taken some further steps and I have summarized most of the data collected so far, nice to see some progress =). I have by now a quite clear cost structure and also a map of the return drivers, it looks like we can do some significant savings by working more proactively.

Every week me and my line manager has a 1-to-1 meeting were we go through my project, problems, opportunities, questions etc, and he provides me with feedback and guidance. It is very appreciated to have such a meeting on a regular basis. Today he gave me some important strategy tips; now when I have a bunch of reasons driving the amount of returns I need to approach it in an efficient way. I should not dig in to the biggest area just because it's big; a better approach is to first investigate all areas on a more shallow level to se were there is potential "quick fix". If I can collect those low hanging fruits with a little amount of work there is a much better payback. We have also planned a presentation for my line manager and his manager next week, where I will present my findings so far and get some feedback at further objectives. So next week will basically be about finding those low hanging fruits and prepare a nice presentation =).

Another really interesting thing is a small addition to my work plan. I will do a small graphical project which I will tell you more about later on. I am really looking forward to it =).

I told you last week that I should tell you about the intern recruitment process here at P&G and I will give it a try =).

• First of all, go to www.pgcareers.com (where you all already have been).
• At the right side of the webpage you can select "Job Category" and "Country/Region".
• When you have found your internship, follow the instruction and provide the information P&G asking you to fill in.
• You will now do an online test, consisting of questions about your personality, reasoning questions and logical questions.
• All the information and results will now be sent to the people responsible for the vacant internship for evaluation.
• Just WAIT.
• Hopefully P&G will call and say that you are more than welcome to their office for a more rigorous test (made with pen and paper) and further interviews.
• Just WAIT, again =).
• Hopefully P&G gives you a call and says that you are more than welcome to do an internship!

This week I went to Humlegården, aka "Humlan" again for some skateboard exercising after working hours. It is really an awesome skate park! If it's possible there will be a picture below of my friend Sacki doing a back-lip in the mini ramp =).

Take care all of you and stay tuned for next blog post!

Best Regards
Simon Henrikson

[2.7.2010]
Hello all readers!

It's an honor to see that my blog is on the first page of www.pgcareers.com which has about 12000 unique visitors every month (according to Alexa.com), hopefully clicking the link and read my blog =).

So, folks, I've just finished my third week here at P&G, really enjoying my time a lot! My project is progressing and I'm really learning so much new things every day. As I told you last week, I get full responsibility over my project which also includes that no-one is telling me what to do (if I'm not asking). This really challenges me to work hard and show P&G that I'm able to deliver results!

When I started my project I was told that the return issue internally was called "The black box", nobody really knowing who was involved or how much it actually costs P&G. That gets my work to become somewhat like a detective work, trying to get all the pieces of the puzzle together – which is very fun =)! Due to this, a lot of issues in the beginning have been related to getting the correct information and also to understand what information I do need to fulfill my puzzle. I've been calling, mailing, booking meetings and reading – everything trying to get somewhat a helicopter perspective of the problem. Who is affected of the problem? Which way does the information and goods flow take through our systems? So far it has been going really well, I think =)...

As I wrote last week my first task was to map the process and do a return cost analysis. Basically I know by now that the costs related to returns can be divided into three big areas:

• Administrative handling costs
• Placing and handling orders in the first place.
• Handling the returns when they occur.
• Transportation costs
• To customers, before the return problem arise.
• Back from customer when something is wrong.
• Scrapping costs
• A part of the returned goods has to be scrapped due to the fact that we cannot ensure that the products still has the perfect quality we demand.
I told you that I would tell you more about what precisely returns are, here follows a short list of examples to clarify:
• A customer orders a pallet of Gillette razors and somewhere in the communication or handling something goes wrong. E.g. we send the customer a pallet of Gillette shaving foam instead, which the customer naturally wants to return due to his wish of having razors and not shaving foam.
• A customer orders a pallet of Gillette razors and by some reason we send him two pallets instead of one, then he might want to return the one he got extra.
• Finally, a customer might have ordered some products and due to weather and transportation issues some of the products get damaged and therefore the customer wants to return the products and get new ones.

Now you know a bit more about returns and my project =). Next week I will try to go through all the collected data, sum all the costs and find out what drives the costs within returns and if something really stands out.

Stockholm is a beautiful city for sure! Especially when the weather has been as great as it has during this week, 27 degrees hot and sunshine almost all the time. We had some birthday celebrations for another intern outside her apartment one day, very pleasant. I have been walking through the city after work hours trying to get more familiar with the city – I really love all the water in central Stockholm!

Last Tuesday I brought my skateboard to the office and in the evening started to explore the two central skate parks in Stockholm. At first the pool area close to Medborgarplatsen called Björn's trädgård. It was a very nice set of pools with a great variety of angels and heights. Since I am more a ramp/street guy I continued with the subway to Humlegården, close to the famous Stureplan, for some street skating and I really loved that place! A mini-ramp with extension and a nice street area, everything right in the middle of the beautiful park Humlegården. I can promise you that I will go there several times this summer, for sure! If it's possible I will include a picture in another post =).Today I also found out that P&G gives us free green fees at Kunsholmens Golf Club, which what I have heard is a really nice golf course. Will try that out asap with my line manager and a new college who started 1st of July.

So, I think that was about it for this week. Next week I will give you more updates around my project and life here at P&G in Stockholm. I will also tell you something about the recruitment process if you also want to apply for an internship in the future =), I really suggest you do!

Take care, best regards
Simon Henrikson

[25.6.2010]
Hello all readers =)!

My name is Simon and I just started a 3 month internship with P&G (14th of June). I am working in the Supply Network Operations function and more precisely within the Physical Distribution team. I am based in the P&G Nordic headquarters in Stockholm taking care of the four countries, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

First of all I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I am originally from a small city named Vänersborg, 1h north of Gothenburg, Sweden. In August 2005 I attended an education at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg were I got my Bachelor degree in Automation and Mechatronics. I will in the upcoming autumn enter the final semester at the Master program Supply Chain Management and the writing of my master thesis, hopefully able to have my Master Degree ready in January 2011. In my spare time I prefer to be rather "active", practicing several action sports, such as skateboard, snowboard etc. but also playing golf and hanging out with my fellow interns and friends =).

Everything started with a recruiting event at my university, November 2009. My present line manager and a couple of other P&G employees talked about the internships and P&G in general, it really sounded awesome! I applied, got an internship, and here I am. Really looking forward to this summer!

A short introduction of my function, Physical Distribution:
We are about 12 employees, taking care of our warehouse and all transportations within the Nordic countries. Booking transportations and developing our business continuously. It is really a nice spirit in the team and my onboarding has been exceeding my really high expectations!

This is my second week here at P&G and the first weak was containing lots of introductions and educations, such as Effective Business Writing and Presentation Skills. Very challenging and we were really developing our techniques. In the end of first weak I and my line manager went through my work plan which contains the project which I will be working on for the next 3 months.

Basically my project consists of four main tasks:

• Map the current return process and develop the Current Best Approach.
• Do a return cost analysis.
• Create an action plan for reduction of return costs.
• Implementation of the action plan – reduce the return costs.

Returns refer to the situation that occurs when we send products to the customer which by any reason wants us to take the shipment back. I will talk more about this in the next update.

My second week (basically my first week running the project) has mainly consists of gathering information about the processes and attending a lot of meetings with colleges and the people working at our DC in Klippan, Sweden. I actually took a flight to the DC yesterday which was very interesting and challenging! I am really impressed on the fact that P&G gives me so much responsibility and freedom to attack the problem the way I think is the best suitable, still helping me as much as I want/need.

From now on I will give you weekly reports on my project and life here in Stockholm, stay tuned for next update =)!

Best regards
Simon Henrikson