Teamwork in Focus with Manufacturing and Offices in One Building

Aritco was founded in a living room outside of Stockholm in 1995. Today, the lift producer resides in a 16.000 m² building where the majority of floor space (12.000 m²) belongs to the factory. Here, nearly 4.000 Swedish-designed elevators are produced each year that are then sold to 40 countries. The rest of the building consists of office space. One of Aritco’s core values is Teamwork, and the company considers it a given that all coworkers, whether they work in production or at a desk, should be under one roof.

We had a chat with Jonas Furu who works as Production Manager. Our conversation covered the importance of team spirit and kinship, the challenges of combining manufacturing and office spaces in one workspace, and the reason why all Aritco employees have at least one mandatory day of working on the factory floor.

“Working under the same roof creates good dynamics in the shared spaces, for instance in the cafeteria,” says Jonas. “Here, we can both discuss work-related questions and talk about football or other interests, get to know one another in other ways. It also creates development opportunities both ways, maybe primarily for my group.”

Jonas reflects on the rare situation where a company with such different departments as industrial production and deskwork is gathered in full on one address. The different practical needs of the two sides can pose challenges, and he mentions that compromises have been required at times.

“We moved to this space in 2018 and got a far better work environment than in the past. At the same time, we had to make compromises which we wouldn’t have had to make if we were looking for a space that is just for production, with ceiling heights and storage, for instance” says Jonas, adding with a smile:

“The compromises are worth it, as the important gain is that we are all gathered under one roof as the united Aritco family that we are.”

“It has become a tradition that all new employees work in the factory as part of their introduction. Manufacturing is the beating heart of our business and no matter what your job at Aritco might be, you are affected by how we make our product” Jonas explains.

The factory floor training can be for one day only or a longer period, depending on the tasks and amount of interaction with production the coworker will have. Jonas explains that no matter their role, it is important for every employee to get a look at the production side of things, and see how the mechanics work and why certain lift types take longer to manufacture – more knowledge leads to more understanding between departments.

“It is also important to meet all your colleagues, it contributes to the team spirit. In production, there are also several colleagues who have worked a very long time at Aritco. They can point back in our history and provide meaningful insights into the journey that this company has made. On the factory floor, our trainees get to meet real Aritco ambassadors. There is a lot of pride here among our production staff” says Jonas with a hint of his own pride showing.

“To us, the fundamental aspect is working together. Both all of us in production, but of course also the factory with the office workers. We want to manufacture at the right pace and with quality, and there’s a lot of focus on making sure that everyone thrives here.”

“Having a sense of justice in the workplace is very important to us. However, different jobs can’t have the same exact conditions. That gives communication the utmost importance, we must have conversations.”

“In production, flexible working hours are not possible to the same extent since everyone in the production chain depends on one another in the various stages of manufacturing a lift. There are, however, tasks that are independent of the paced production where we offer coworkers the flexibility to start earlier or later if you have private matters to handle with your kids, a doctor’s appointment, or similar.”

“We strive for continuous improvement. Where it is possible to make changes so that we can offer more flexibility, we are not afraid to test and evaluate. Some things are a given. For instance, everyone in production was offered to take their Covid vaccines during working hours.”

We thank Jonas for a lovely conversation and tour through the beating heart of the Aritco headquarters.