Trips to China are part of the job

The first time he traveled to China for work, tooling engineer Roger Ståhl had never flown before. Now he’s headed there for the fourth time.

His job title is tooling engineer, but Roger Ståhl prefers to call himself a tool repairman. He repairs casting tools and also handles maintenance of the casting machines themselves. It would be hard to imagine a hotter workplace. Although the tools are turned off and cooled down before he clambers into the machine, the temperature still hovers around 150 degrees Celsius.

“Yes, it’s quite toasty. You need to wear gloves, and long-sleeved shirts are a good idea. But of course you still burn yourself from time to time.”

Another unusual feature of Roger´s work routine are his trips to Ljunghäll’s factory in China. In early November, it will be time for his fourth visit to the Chinese city of Wuxi. His job there has been to both help the Chinese launch the factory’s operations and to solve any problems that may arise. In the long run, the goal is for Roger’s Chinese colleagues to be able to handle things on their own.

“We must ensure that everything works properly.”

When Ljunghäll began searching for a tooling engineer to liaise with its Chinese factory, Roger Ståhl, who before his first trip to China had never stepped foot on an airplane, offered to take on the challenge. Today he is happy that he dared to take the leap.

“It´s great to be able to go down there, a really memorable experience. It’s a long trip, of course – but it´s worth it. Sure, it can be difficult to communicate when most people don´t speak English, but everyone is very friendly and welcoming.”