Saab has collaborated with Akaer in Gripen development since 2009. The company is presently one of several partner companies involved in the technology transfer in the Brazilian contract for 36 Gripen fighters to Brazil.
Akaer is an engineering consulting firm with special expertise in the Aerospace area. It was founded in 1992. In 2007 when the cooperation between Saab and Akaer started, Akaer employed approximately 70 people, today there are over 300 employees and growing.
THE COLLABORATION
“Our collaboration has gone really well. An important job for me as a technical leader and responsible for partner collaboration with Akaer, has been to build and strengthen the team. This means finding functioning ways of collaborating, despite time differences and distances. We also have the cultural dimension and differing views on leadership”, says Erik Jylltorp, Rear Section Technical Leader, Gripen E, Aeronautics.
BRAZILIAN TECHNOLOGY LEADER
In November 2014, Lister Guillaumon Pereira da Silva from Akaer was awarded the position of overall Technical Lead in the development of the strength of the rear section for Gripen E. Here he shares his experience of seeing the construction for the first time and discusses how it is to be in Sweden.
During the collaboration, both companies have constantly worked actively for improvement, both in themselves and together.
“I didn’t prepare in anyway special in advance for the work in Sweden with the Swedes, but my tip to others is that you should really try to immerse yourself in the culture. Everything becomes so much easier if you know a little more about how things work in advance. Coming to Sweden is also a very good way of learning English,” says Flavio Teramoto, lead designer for the rear section of the Gripen E, with a smile.
Source: http://saabgroup.com/