On the last day of the CITO visit to Japan, representatives Johannes Schygge and Alexander Fornell visited Volvo Group Trucks in their Kiba office located in the southeast part of Tokyo. CITO met with Heather Partridge, VP of HR and Per Sundström, VP of Communications who shared their experiences of working at the Volvo Group and their experiences regarding working in Japan.
Partridge and Sundström talked about the history of Volvo Group Trucks, which consists of several brands that have been acquired by Volvo and one of them is UD Trucks in Japan (formerly Nissan Diesel). When the previous CEO Leif Johansson stepped down in 2010 and was replaced by Olof Persson who had previously worked as CEO for Volvo Construction Equipment a programme of streamlining Volvo was put in to place. The “streamlining” programme is aiming to make the companies that Volvo had acquired in the past more integrated with each other and to minimize the risk of cannibalization between brands. Partridge and Sundström have both come to Tokyo to help with the implementation of the programme by applying their experiences from working in Warwick, England and Gothenburg, Sweden respectively. Partridge also said that currently Volvo Group Trucks Japan does not take on interns but that the goal is to be able to do it in the future. However it is possible to apply for Volvo’s 12 month International Graduate Programme via their online recruitment website and if one gets accepted one will get a chance to work three months abroad. CITO thanks Heather Partridge and Per Sundström for a great meeting!