The Swedish module starts the first of October. We welcome the French and Spanish delegations to the third module in this projekt.

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Gothenburg and Kungsbacka

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Kungsbacka town is situated approximately 30 km south of Göteborg and there are about 70 000 inhabitants in Kungsbacka municipality. The scenery around Kungsbacka is extremely varied with the rocky shoreline in the north giving way to heather-clad moorland and long sandy beaches in the south. A local geographical landmark is the glacial ridge Fjärås bräcka, to the south of the town, but it is the coast that is the predominant geographical feature. Elof Lindälvs gymnasium is a modern upper secondary school, centrally situated in the town of Kungsbacka. Our school is equipped to answer to the demands of the new IT-society, combining competence and quality in the form of both material requirements and dedicated and highly qualified teachers. International co-operation forms part of the school curriculum, e.g. collaboration with England, Italy France, Spain and Belgium.

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The ongoing scedule for week 41.

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Monday, October 01, 2007, was the first day in the Swedish module. The French and Spanish students, and their teachers, arrived in the morning for a short information session about the planned activities for the coming 3 weeks, as well as the agenda for the day. Afterwards our hired bus took us to Volvo Truck Corporation, which is situated on the island of Hisingen in Göteborg. At the arrival we gathered in the LV-hall for welcoming and presentation of the company history (1927–2007). There was also an introduction of the SCR-system (Selective Catalytic Reduction). Volvo has chosen SCR to perform Euro 4 and Euro 5, the new directive for reducing green house gas emissions. After the information it was a short break, “fika” with coffee and cookies. The following activity was a round tour inside the building; we split into two groups participated in a very interesting guiding of the engine test labs. The first part of our visit at Volvo was coming to an end, but before leaving free lunch was provided. The lunch consisted of salad buffet and a seafood pasta. After the lunch our bus took us to Volvo truck production Factory in Tuve, were we received an excellent guided tour with the “Red Train” through the factory. It was truly fascinating to see every step of the truck making process, from raw steel to finished vehicle. The journey home started at three o´clock and everyone seamed to be satisfied with their first day.

Heléne Johannesson

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Tuesday, October 02, 2007. In the morning we gathered for some information about the day. The Swedish teachers had made “Project-shirts” to all the students and teachers who are involved in the present project. The shirts were dark blue with trucks and EU-stars at the back, (see photo below). They gave out the shirts while music was playing in the background, which made the atmosphere more solemn. Shortly after, there was a concise presentation of Mats and Martin from Volvo trucks educating program for “GENUINE VOLVO SERVICE”. These guys then held a whole day lecture about “the soft skill” within vehicle service and repair, which also included some practical exercises. Genuine Volvo Service is a program developed to make all employers think: ONE TEAM – ONE DIRECTION and pay attention to the customer who is the most important part in service and repair. The lecture ended at 4 pm, the student were at that time very tired but filled with lots of interesting facts and thoughts to take home. Thank you, Mats and Martin.

Heléne Johannesson

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Wednesday, October 03, 2007. Today was a hard day but at the same time it was very interesting and we learnt about the Volvo program(Impact).At first we begun with a little course to use the program and then we started with the exercises. We did a lot of different exercises about many things like the cylinder balance test and ECU and euro4 and euro5 etc. We did the last exercise in front of the group and showed them on the computer.

Marcus Eriksson, Victor Marco, Steeven Jean baptiste

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Thursday, October 04, 2007. Today, at 8:25 we met at school and we had a little briefing about what we were going to do this day. We went in a van to Volvo demo centre where we had a little briefing about Volvo´s history and the Volvo models FM, FH, FL, and the new FE. At 11 am all the students got to test drive different Volvo trucks (FH 660 rigid, articulated, FE and FH 400 to 460) We finished at noon and then we went for lunch at the restaurant. We had hamburger with fries and it tasted well. At one pm we went back to the school and we had a class with Steve about “meet the customer”. It was about all the expectations that customers might have when they come to our workshop, and how to develop a relationship and retain them as our customer. Just before the class ended some nice Swedish girls joined our class, and afterwards their teacher suggested that we all could go bowling and ice skating together next week. It was a good day, the best day of these four days, and that’s all!!

Mickael Pinho, Johan Kryssbo and Eduard Gonzalez Martinez.

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Friday, October 05, 2007. Dear readers of this blog. Today we have been working with VCADS-pro. We have learnt how this program works, and how to trace faults through the ECU. The day has been very interesting and fun. We have been busy learning all day. We worked on the trucks with VCADS-pro to find faults. It was quite hard but it was our first time to practise this on a Volvo truck. That was all for today.

Joonas, Renaud and Gulliem

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Monday, October 08, 2007. Today we worked with VCADs Pro and Impact. We were expected to find the function of different components, and we used VCAD and a multi metre to check if it had the correct values. In the beginning it was difficult for us to find all the facts that we needed, but when we finally worked it out it was not that hard to see how it all worked, and we managed to find all the values we needed. In the end of the day when we all understood how everything worked, we did a short presentation for the rest of the class. The presentation covered everything we had done during the day, as well as an explanation about ghe components.

Ludovic Garrec, Martin Jakobsson and Abel Vila

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007. text under progress...

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007. Today, we swapped place with group one. The first group had their first day at Company stay (Scania and Volvo), and we (group two) were at school, training with the system of Volvo Diagnostic (Impact). It is a system used for finding the spare parts number, and looking for the method for the technician to repair the different components (electric, brake, clutch…) It is a good experience because we learn from each other how to explore things. With this program we also learn how to find the answer for questions you face in the workshop. This kind of training is very interesting. There was a good atmosphere because there were two teachers for our group (five teams of students with three in each group). We had access to one computer in each group for working with the “impact” program.

Sergi Tejero Revelles, Carlen Toma and Andre Gabien

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Thursday, October 11, 2007. Today at 8 am we meet up outside the school for a trip to Volvo Demo Centre. We visited an exhibition where a very nice girl talked about the truck body, engines, security, and she also gave us some facts about the after market. After the visit we were allowed to test-drive the trucks in a special test area. It was very exciting because none of us had driven a truck before. We finished at noon and then we went for lunch at the restaurant in the Volvo Demo Centre. At one pm we went back to the school and had a very interesting lesson with Steven Beasley, about how to behave in front of the customer. The name of the lesson was "meet the customer". Just before the class ended, some girls came and visited us in the classroom.

Jaume Garcia Lafuente, Robin Thunström and Emmanuel Goncalves

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Friday, October 12, 2007. Today we started at half past 8. Stefan showed us some pictures from yesterday, it was interesting to see. We then did an introduction about Vcads pro. It is a computer tool we use to search for error codes in the trucks we work on. We did an introduction exercise on our laptop to get familiar with the program, and learnt how the system worked before we went out in the workshop to work on the real trucks. Tommy played a customer who had a problem with his truck, and we had to fix this with the skills that we learnt during this week. We used the programs and then we started to search for the problem. After a while we found the problem and it was one sensor which was disconnected. It was good practise, almost like in a real workshop, you learn how to use the computer tools in reality. In the afternoon we got some time to prepare our "examination" lesson which we are going to have on Wednesday. We think we have a good idea for this assignment and now we are looking forward to the weekend. Good bye.

Christoffer Brorsson, Joan Navarro Rodriguez and Sylvian Sablin

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Monday, October 15, 2007. Today we learned how to search for fault correctly step by step and it was very difficult. The English language makes it even more difficult. We did some practical work with the truck and we worked with impact programme and Vcads Pro. Every group made a short presentation about one specific practical skill that we have been working on during the day, and then we explained how every step goes with the solution. The last hour we prepared our presentation for this Wednesday.

Rubén Arranz Cabalar, Johan Berntsson and Sébastien Saulliere.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007. We started the day at 8:30 with a short meeting about what we were going to do during the day. After the meeting we started to work on our presentation concerning the lessons we are going to have for the one grade class of students. We had an early lunch at eleven o´clock because we were going ice skating at twelve o´clock. We had to walk across Kungbacka city to come to the ice skating rink. We were ice skating for one hour and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we headed back to the school and continued with our presentation. When the school day ended, the Spanish and French students went back to their hotel in Gothenburg, and the Swedish students went home.

Sébastien Havard, Fredrik Johansson and Christian Ramos Alvarez

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Today we had a lesson for the first year students. We had prepared the lesson during two afternoons and the morning just before the lesson today. Our lesson was about impact, Vcads pro and how to meet the costumer. We were a bit nervous but it went well. We did an act about how to meet the costumer, and explained how to do this for the students. We had some problems with the computer program but everything else went well. This was a good experience for us and we thought it can not be easy to be a teacher.

Christoffer Brorsson, Joan Navarro Rodriguez and Sylvian Sablin

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Thursday, October 18, 2007. Today it has been the last of two days of examination. At first everyone in the group was a little bit nervous but now afterwards we think that everyone can feel proud of themselves. We felt that we had improved speaking in front of a group since the first module in Paris. The first part of the examination was to teach first grade Swedish students. We though that they would not care what we had to say but they behaved in a very good way and they were interested. The second part of the examination was to apply our knowledge about the Vcads pro and impact. We had to demonstrate that we know how to solve the problems step by step. Now that we are finished the feeling is good and the project in Sweden has ended. We have had a good time at all stages and it has been a very good experience for us.

Jaume Garcia Lafuente, Robin Thunström and Emmanuel Goncalves

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