Meet a handful of our amazing employees as they share why being part of Team RIVAL is so great.

Training and development of employees are integral parts of RIVAL’s strategy and culture. “We believe in development and in its ability to make a significant, positive difference for both the individual employee and RIVAL,” says Thomas Timmermann. “Our industrial technician, Lene Kruse Jensen, is a great example of a colleague who has been given and embraced opportunities.”

Lene started as an adult apprentice at RIVAL in 2016 and progressed first in “small milling” and subsequently “big milling”.Here, Lene was responsible for our two Mazak machining centers before joining our quality department.

Glenn Scharling has been at RIVAL for about 30 years. He started as an apprentice and is today a foreman. “Glenn is a really good example of what our culture can do when it is allowed to fully unfold,” says Henrik Holvad. “Thus, Glenn possesses a special culture super glue, creating a sense of security for both customers and colleagues. He knows about most things and has a unique ability to apply his knowledge and skills both internally and externally. At the same time, he is a team player and has grown through the trust shown to him by us in management.”

Ready to take responsibility
It all started with Glenn’s huge interest and knowledge of technology. Over the years at RIVAL, he has built a solid background and can often see through things, such as optimization of machining strategies and the customer’s technical drawings. Thus, he has become an important teammate, which is evident when it comes to discussing the difficult technical details with the customer and making complicated decisions. Today, he is ready to put his hand on the stove and stand by the decisions he helps make. At the same time, he also takes on a great internal responsibility to collaborate with colleagues on how best to reach the right decisions on, for example, machining strategy.

22-year-old Frederik operates production at our YCMs with a steady hand in the ‘small milling group’. He was trained as an industrial technician in 2021 and is convinced that digitization and readiness for change are the way forward.

‘It’s great with the many exciting challenges I get here at RIVAL,’ he says. ‘It’s incredibly motivating to be part of the development we are in the midst of. Many tasks are obvious for digitization. We see this in many other areas of society too. We should also take advantage of that here at RIVAL.’

Group leader Allan Mikkelsen has been with RIVAL for over 10 years. He is one of RIVAL’s strongest CNC experts. He possesses a vast knowledge about the work of producing critical and costly items.

‘What we are all chasing is more spindle time, and that can be through our planning, use of robots, increased digitization (VERICUT) or something completely different,’ Allan says. ‘The crucial thing must be that we make wise choices and choose the solutions that create the most value.

I have just spent several days planning the next production of items. It has been an extensive job with programming and preparation of more than 50 tools. I have been able to do this alongside my machine producing a larger series of items.

RIVAL’s new production engineer, Anders Steenbjerg Rou, has extensive experience in areas such as automation, quality assurance, and the development and implementation of standard work instructions. He has successfully worked with these at Grundfos, Danfoss, Kamstrup, and Densply Sirona.

Anders is an essential part of the team behind the implementation of Industry 4.0 at RIVAL, and he looks back with pleasure on the first few months. “I have felt very welcome and have been given excellent opportunities to contribute with my core competencies.