Made in Hillerstorp. Born global. Axelent’s products are made in the company’s heartlands of Hillerstorp in the Småland province of Sweden. The same place as the unmistakable Axelent spirit that is as essential to the company as the steel in the machine guards.
The demands on companies are greater than ever today. Everything from adequate sustainability and environmental policies to providing professional development opportunities. Cecilia Davidsson, who has worked at Axelent for 20 years and is now HR Manager, explains:
“Since 1999 we’ve gone from 26 employees in Hillerstorp to 150. We’ve always worked globally, but today we are represented in more countries and have a much clearer global group than before. Our expertise has also grown during these years. A larger company means a larger workforce and new positions, but despite our global presence we are still made in Hillerstorp,” she explains.
Internationally it is mainly about sales, storage and logistics. All manufacturing still takes place in the Hillerstorp heartlands.
“We are as proud of our international success as we are of our production facility. So proud in fact that we show off our facility to colleagues the world over. Axelent is built from the heart and the heartland is Hillerstorp.”
Human resource managers are responsible for staff issues and recruitment, inductions, professional development, salaries and benefits. Also, leadership and coaching everybody in their roles. In a growing company like Axelent much of the work is linked to organisational changes. Human resources is about development.
“Finding the right person for the right job is becoming increasingly difficult but is no less important. Recruitment plays a vital part and the next step is a good induction, so people know how things are pieced together. After this it's about developing and growing in the role and with the company. Axelent is good at developing expertise,” explains Cecilia.
Axelent always looks for an internal candidate before advertising the job. There are several positive examples of this approach, one being Marcel Darroch-Davies, who began at the warehouse in England at the age of 16 and made his way up the Axelent ladder to become MD of Axelent Ltd, acting MD in Italy and European Sales Manager. Marcel is now taking up the position of MD for Axelent Safe-X and is moving to Sweden with his family. Another example is Andreas Gotmark, who worked for Axelent in the USA and Germany before returning to Hillerstorp as Sales Manager. This is summarised in Axelent’s Grow with us, career opportunities within the company.
“We’re proud of our approach, our model. We are Axelent, we are good at this. We’re good at developing people inhouse and long-term. Grow with us means everything is gathered under one umbrella term,” explains Cecilia Davidsson.
For the sake of clarity, what is Axelent Academy?
“Axelent Academy is a part of this but is something we also reach out with to people in our subsidiaries around the world. We bring them to Hillerstorp and show them the heartlands and pulse of the company. This gives them a feeling of belonging and an understanding of the company's core values.”
When did it start?
“About five years ago. Since then colleagues have visited us from places like Thailand, USA, Japan and Australia. They are the most far afield colleagues. It all began with an exchange between countries to develop customer service but grew into something much bigger.
But going back to where we began with sustainability and environment. Axelent has a code of conduct that clearly lays down our approach to sustainability and environment. It runs like a golden thread from staff induction and on through the whole company. It’s also there internationally via Axelent Academy breathing the spirit of Axelent across the globe.
And the air that it breathes is Hillerstorp air. Made in Hillerstorp. Born global. With the Axelent spirit anything’s possible.
