SKF Austria goes BGF World Finals 2008!

Coming from Steyr, a small town in the middle of Austria, SKF rolling bearings as well as SKF Business Game Factory players conquer the world.The motivated finalists are team leader Erwin Uebleis (controlling), Simon Blasl (business development), Joerg Schlager (supply chain) and Klaus Zeppezauer (human resources) - in the picture from left to right. Veronika Pfeffer, participating in the first round, stepped out due to her pregnancy. Veronika, in this way we wish you all the best for your personal challenges ahead!

Over the last five years, SKF - a Swedish company and world leader in rolling bearings and relevant products - has sent over 30 teams from 17 nations to participate in the BGF World Tournament. "Out of those, three teams have made it to the semi-finals, and we are the first team to enter the World Finals", says team leader Erwin Uebleis without hiding his pride.

Being among the top six of over 320 playing teams of this year´s Global Tournament is certainly something special. "The first three will make it to the BGF awards ceremony in Cannes. However, we won´t play for the third place - we will go for victory", says business developer Simon Blasl, knowing his optimism was always reasonable so far.

Not everyone was so happy from the very beginning - besides BGF, there was a lot of "real" work to be done. However, what SKF does - we do properly, and with the success in the first round, the fire got started. "Now we see the Business Game Factory as an excellent way of learning in a challenging, competitive environment and working as a team close to the reality of company management - including the time pressure" says Six Sigma Black Belt Joerg Schlager.

"The game became more and more realistic. In the semi-final, personnel was increasingly important, as it is in reality. In the final round, we will probably have to think about proper training of our virtual employees - for example by Business Game Factory", says Klaus Zeppezauer, representing the HR part.

The Team of SKF Austria looks forward to the upcoming challenge of the World Finals - take the chance now or never, following the SKF vision "To equip the world with SKF knowledge".

Elisabeth Krennhuber, Personnel and Organizational Development, SKF Österreich AG