For nearly 50 years, PCA and IDCON worked in the same industries, sometimes side-by-side, sometimes as competitors. Today, both organizations come together under TRM.

The two companies shared passion for reliability, maintenance excellence and practical change leadership feels like a natural fit. Few people embody that shared DNA better than Owe Forsberg, VP of Consulting at IDCON. This is his story.

A Life Shaped by the Sea

Owe grew up in Sweden with a fascination for machinery and how things worked. That curiosity pulled him toward the merchant marine, where he trained as a mechanic and later a marine engineer. Life on board demanded discipline and responsibility.

On a ship, Owe explains, “You learn quickly there is no one to call. You have to fix it.” Those long voyages instilled in him a simple principle: Do the maintenance, follow the process and take care of the equipment so it takes care of you. For Owe, the reliability mindset meant survival.

A 25-Year-Old Consultant and a Life-Changing Weekend

By age 25, Owe had joined IDCON as a young consultant helping paper mills and industrial facilities design preventive maintenance programs. When the company’s founders invited him to the U.S. in 1989, he took the leap.

His first assignment brought him to a Philadelphia mill. One weekend, the paper machine manager brought him home to meet some friends, including the woman who would one day become Owe’s wife. “I‘ve been here ever since,” Owe jokes. He married, settled into life stateside and transitioned into a long and meaningful career with Novo Nordisk.

Two Decades of Real-World Leadership

While at Novo Nordisk, Owe moved from maintenance engineer to supervisor to production manager to logistics and purchasing leadership. Over nearly 20 years, he became known for his practical leadership style and was always willing to apply a structured approach to every problem.

Nothing was off limits for Owe, including his own role. He recommended a move from regional purchasing to a global approach, which effectively eliminated his position. He then stepped into supply chain management.

After doing “every possible job,” as he puts it, Owe felt pulled back to IDCON. In 2012, he returned as a senior consultant and eventually became the VP of Consulting.

A Career Built on Reliability and People

Owe’s greatest strength is his ability to walk into a site and read the culture instantly. He can enter a plant or mill and determine whether workers are trained properly and the process has discipline. Owe gravitated toward solving big problems using his skills and addressing human behavior.

Why PCA + IDCON Works

With TRM bringing PCA and IDCON into the same family, clients gain the best of both worlds. The conjoined entities can deliver:

• Deep diagnostic assessments
• Work process design
• PM optimization
• Skills training
• Culture change
• Systems integration
• CMMS/EAM expertise
• Master data enrichment

The two organizations share a philosophy similar to the one Owe learned decades ago: Do the work, trust the process and take care of your people.