The Danish Defence visits RIVAL

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On Tuesday, October 22, General Lieutenant Flemming Lentfer, head of Danish Ministry of Defence, visited RIVAL with some of his colleagues and representatives from General Dynamics European Land Systems-Mowag (GDELS).

In the past years, RIVAL has been a supplier to GDELS and therefore to the Danish Defence as well. The visit was a part of the Danish Defence’s – including the Danish Ministry of Defence’s – work and dialogue with the Defence Industry and its’ suppliers.

General Lieutenant Flemming Lentfer attended the tour and the dialogue at RIVAL with Lieutenant-colonel Carsten Hasenfuss, Major Torben Grinderslev and Major Christina Hviid Mailund. Representatives from GDELS also joined the tour, hosted by sales director Christian Aarup and owner Henrik Holvad from RIVAL.

Competent company
Flemming Lentfer experienced RIVAL’s interest during the visit, and he gained new insight and inspiration.

“In our dialogue with the Industry, market knowledge and ongoing visits at Danish companies are important aspects. We need to attain greater knowledge of what Danish companies can offer FMI and the Ministry of Defence’s authorities,” Flemming Lentfer said. “You are a very competent company, and it’s so important that you maintain your mantra about quality and delivery reliability.”

The stakes are high – every time
Through the years, RIVAL has produced critical and costly components to combat vehicles such as PRIANHA P5, EAGLE 5, Leopard 2 and Ajax.

“When it comes to such jobs, it’s so important to focus a hundred percent on quality and delivery, because the stakes are so high,” owner Henrik Holvad says. “If we fail on the quality, catastrophic consequences might follow. It’s a matter of life and death, and our employees are extremely aware of that. Therefore, they go to great lengths to solve the jobs to the letter.”

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Engagement and inquisitiveness cause top level solutions

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The employees at RIVAL have a great inquisitiveness and interest in the components, they work on. That means, they give competent feedback to the customers and they make an effort to improve the ideas and solutions.

“My colleagues are very inquisitive and truly interested in knowing how the components, they process, will operate – perhaps several hundred metres under the surface of the sea or 150 metres up in the air,” group manager Torben Pedersen says. “That gives us the opportunity to provide the customer with inputs that can optimise the production and cause new points of view on solutions.”

Development projects with strict non-disclosure agreements
Several of the development project, RIVAL is engaged in, are very secret and have strict NDA demands. That applies to one of RIVAL’s recent agreements with a big wind turbine manufacturer. “We will contribute to develop brand-new components to the wind turbines of the future,” Torben says. “The customer’s engineers, who work on the development tasks, have a very theoretical approach to the job, which is a crucial competence in the initial work. However, our practical approach and knowledge can help transforming theoretical ideas into a production. Often, that give rise to new perspectives and solutions.”

Order in chaos
Often, the customer hasn’t completed the development projects, when RIVAL is involved. That could mean, the customer doesn’t have an overview of the procedure, which can result in continuous updates of tolerances, demands and drawings.

The employees at RIVAL need to keep a cool head in the “chaos” and maintain the overview of the situation, which they have lots of experience with. It happens in close cooperation with the customer’s engineers, and thereby they secure an ongoing optimisation of all elements in the project.

We consider the details – and the economy
“We have built a great experience in always studying the details of the drawing to a component as well as considering potential flaws, which can ultimately result in the component not living up to the customer’s demands and expectations. It means the world to our customers that we help quality assuring the process,” Torben says. “Furthermore, we bear the cost reduction in mind. If strict tolerances are not crucial for the component, maybe we can lower those and most likely reduce the costs. That is important knowledge to our customers, and they appreciate that we offer it to them. Actually, we can’t stop doing that.”

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Welcome on the front page

This Monday, we were on the front page of the leading business paper in Denmark – Børsen – with the headline “Many CEOs deselect temporary refugees”.

We are not supporting the current paradigm shift in Danish politics, as we have successfully employed many Syrian refugees, who fit well into our “RIVAL-team” due to their drive and openness despite the fact that they were non-educated.

However, we do know from our own experience that it is resource demanding to train them to run the machines in the production at night.

Therefore, we do consider whether we are going to continue investing in more refugees, if the current focus on repatriation rather than integration continues in Danish politics.

“Obviously, if we know that they will be sent home again as soon as possible, I will consider, if it’s worth our while,” owner Henrik Holvad says in the article in Børsen.

Read the full article here (log-in required)

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Strong three-shift system on the DMC 80 FD

RIVAL’s 5-axis multi-machine runs day and night. Right now, the machine produces components to a big customer in the defence industry.

The processing centre works perfectly with components, to which the precision demands are high and where there is a relation between the turning and milling surfaces. This is applicable for the components produced to the defence industry. Among the critical measurements of the components is a flatness of 0.05 mm and a drilled hole of Ø4 mm through two types of material over a length of 200 mm. Therefore, RIVAL’s Zeiss measurement machine continuously measures up spot checks to always have the right knowledge of the tolerance compliances.

Ongoing optimisation
Karsten, Glenn and Kenni make up the team of the DMC 80 FD, and they work to optimise all processes continually. “Over a longer period, Karsten has optimised all the milling work, and Kenni is now focusing on all the parts, which have to be turned,” production manager Søren Djursland says. “Kenni is relatively new here at RIVAL. He has settled in very well and we all respect his many professional competencies.”

High capacity
The 5-axis multi-machine is in great demand, and the work is carefully organised. The team produces components to the big customer in the defence industry for three weeks followed by one week of producing other components. “It is organised in this way to optimise the production, make room for all components and to ensure variety to the team that works on the machine,” Søren Djursland says. “It is a vital part of our orderliness, and both our employees and customers benefit from it.”

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Orderliness, openness and productivity

If you ask RIVAL’s production manager Søren Djursland, orderliness begins with openness. Discontent must be put out in the open in order for action to be made. It is essential that the production workers at RIVAL’s are happy to go to work.

“To me, the 80/20 rule applies,” Søren says. “80 % of the time, our employees should feel good because they thrive at RIVAL, have challenging tasks and great colleagues.”

“Therefore, we have to treat each other well and with respect – both internally and externally,” Søren continues”. “It’s okay to curse and swear a little, when things are not going well, however, it’s not okay to malign or speak ill of each other. That’s where the line is drawn.

It’s better to have things out in the open
Our employees spend most of their time awake at RIVAL – and it’s important they are happy to do so. Therefore, we say things straight if there is something that doesn’t work.

Likewise, we always pay regard to our colleagues, when they need their private lives to work. Therefore, working at night works for someone, while weekend work or daytime work is better for others. We try our best to always make a long-term plan and thereby allow our employees the best possible conditions for fitting work into their family lives. These opportunities are increased as we get more and more fixed long-term cooperative agreements with our customers.

Growing productivity
At the same time, there is no doubt that our employees take on more responsibility when they are treated nicely. It all comes down to a growing productivity, quality and delivery reliability,” Søren says.

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RIVAL is something out of the ordinary

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31-year-old Kenni Møller started at RIVAL as a machine worker in November last year. He had heard many great things about the company beforehand and he hasn’t been disappointed since he started – not at all.

The professional competencies, the challenging tasks and “the RIVAL spirit” appeal to Kenni. “I had heard a lot about the very special culture and community at RIVAL before I started working here, and it all sounded very attractive to me both professionally and socially,” Kenni Møller says. “Yet, I asked myself if the rumours were true? And I have to say, they were. The culture here at RIVAL is indeed very special. It is truly a unique place to work.”

A part of the team
From day one, Kenni became a part of “team RIVAL”. He felt, he was respected by the management and by the colleagues in the production from day one. “If you want to be a part of the team, then the team is more than happy to welcome you to join,” he says. “We have a short line of commands, and we always get quick response to suggestions and ideas. That encourages the motivation and benefits our customers in the daily work.”

Enthusiastic about optimisation
Kenni has worn a boiler suit since he was three years old. His grandfather owned a machining company and Kenni was a part of that since he was a child. “I’ve learned how much it means to constantly focus on streamlining, optimisation and automatization,” Kenni says, “and in those periods, in which ‘clever hands’ are hard to find, we have to utilise the opportunity to automate.”

“Kenni is razor-sharp professionally and he has succeeded in entering into our team and being a part of optimising the production of various components,” production manager Søren Djursland says. “He has quickly become a part of the team that works on the 5-axed DMC FD 80. The different competencies in the team supplement each other very well.”

Me warmest recommendations
“RIVAL is without a doubt one of the best places – if not the best place – I’ve ever worked, and I would happily recommend it to others,” Kenni says and continues his work on the components to a big customer in the defence industry, where the last details must be fine-tuned before the production begins.

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