Meet Erik Tholén

Erik Tholén is the geoscientist who became an environmental inspector, then an insurance advisor — and who has been working as a Project Manager at Swedish Hydro Solutions since 2018.

Curious and inventive — those are qualities Erik believes are essential for anyone who wants to work as a Project Manager at Swedish Hydro Solutions.

– And you need a bit of courage too. You often dive into things you don’t know everything about. But we get a lot of help from each other.

What does a typical workday look like?

– I have two kinds of workdays. Office days involve customer communication, writing quotations and invoicing material, conducting risk analyses, and handling documentation. Since we work a lot with product development, I also talk to suppliers about ideas and how we can solve different kinds of challenges. What we purchase often needs to be modified to suit our operations, because the technology and equipment are new.

– The other type of workday is fieldwork — on average one day a week, although it varies a lot. Sometimes you’re out for an entire week if you have several projects that need checking, says Erik.

As a Project Manager, you are involved in both the setup and dismantling of a treatment system, and you visit the site between those phases. A setup typically takes around two days. In larger projects, ongoing supervision is often handled by the customer’s own staff, who then need training in Swedish Hydro Solutions’ specific water treatment technology — something the Project Manager is responsible for.

During site visits, the focus is on ensuring everything is functioning as intended. You may need to adjust dosing in the treatment system, add chemicals, or replace a component that has broken. Managing unexpected situations is also a common part of the job — projects often change over time, Erik says.

– Suddenly, there may be much more water than expected that needs to be treated, so the system has to be expanded. Or the entire water treatment setup needs to be moved because that area is required for something else on site.

We’re doing something genuinely good for the environment and the world — for the animals and plant life in our waterways, and ultimately for people as well. That feels rewarding. It’s always fun when customers are surprised by how well our treatment technology works, when extremely dirty water goes in on one side and comes out completely clear.

— Erik Tholén, Project Manager, Swedish Hydro Solutions

What do you find most rewarding about your job?

– You get to learn a lot of new things and challenge yourself — I really enjoy that. We work with new technology, and it doesn’t always work the first time. Or the second, third, or even fourth. But it’s a supportive workplace where it’s easy to ask each other for help — we work together.

– It’s also a workplace that focuses on ensuring employees feel good and have fun. We do many things together, including weekly fitness activities — for those who want to join.

What does the future look like?

– We already have plenty to do today, so we will definitely continue to grow geographically, and perhaps into new business areas as well. Personally, I think it would be exciting to work with water issues for the UN — for example, with water treatment in refugee camps. That’s a place where our technology could make a life‑changing difference. We already have an EU project underway and want to continue contributing to long‑term sustainable development.

Meet our co-workers

Our employees

Meet Andreas Pettersson

Andreas has been with the company since the beginning and now works as a project manager, responsible for several of our most complex water treatment projects.

Our employees

Meet Lina Hamel

Lina has over 15 years of experience in environmental and dewatering. Since 2022 she is a key team member with strong broad environmental expertise.