KARL WACKERBERG - Legend, Myth, Supply Chain Demigod

📊 Karl By The Numbers

0

Years taming supply chains

0

Training hours for first Ironman

0

Hectares board-approved (NBD)

0

Negotiators trained by Karl

0

Ironman finishes (all Kalmar)

∞

Rabbit holes explored

47%

Projects "almost finished"

⚔️ Character Stats

CLASS: Supply Chain Paladin / Code Bard

🤝 NEGOTIATION

99/99

📊 EXCEL WIZARDRY

97/99

🔥 CRISIS MANAGEMENT

95/99

🕳️ DIGGING INTO RABBIT HOLES

MAX

🔧 OVER-ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

MAX

🏊‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️ TRIATHLON

88/99

🏕️ SCOUTING (SINCE BARNSBEN)

96/99

🚛 TRUCK DRIVING LICENSE

YES

✅ "ALMOST FINISHING"

47%...

⏳ The Karl Saga

~1990s

🏕️ Scout Origin Story

Born into the scouting life at Scoutkåren Göta Lejon. Some say he tied his first bowline knot before his first word. Has held every role: leader, camp organizer, board member, nominations committee, course leader. The Baden-Powell of Göteborg.

2006 — 2011

🎓 Chalmers: The Forging

M.Sc. Industrial Engineering & Management. Specialized in Quality & Operations Management. Exchange semester in Singapore because one country's worth of knowledge wasn't enough. Started the lifelong habit of over-engineering everything.

2013 — 2016

🏗️ The Factory Whisperer Era

Industrial Development Manager at Volvo Trucks Operations. Convinced a board of directors to approve a 60-HECTARE site in India. Built capacity planning tools for ALL truck and powertrain plants. "Make or buy? Let me build a whole framework for that."

2016 — Present

💰 The Supply Chain Conqueror

Senior Commodity & Project Buyer. Manages portfolios so large they need their own zip code. Was part of the team that kept production running when a supplier literally caught fire. Everyone burned a little that day. Currently juggling hundreds of parts across global programs like it's a hobby.

2023 — 2025

💻 The Code Awakening

Went back to school for Software Engineering at BTH because... why not add more skills? Thesis on web-based annual report submission. "Programming is a creative passion of mine" — a man who wasn't satisfied with just running the supply chain world.

2015 — ∞

🏊‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️ The Ironman Era

First Ironman Kalmar in 2015 (12:22). Logged 600 training hours for that debut. Then came back four more times: 2016 (9:56!), 2017, 2022, and 2024 (9:48 — PB). Five full Ironmans. Also did Vasaloppet twice, because 226 km of triathlon wasn't enough punishment — add 90 km of skiing. Now training committee lead at Triathlon Väst — Västra Götalands biggest tri club since '89. Teaches beginners because sharing suffering is caring.

🤯 Fun Facts

🚛

Has a truck driving license. Could literally deliver the trucks he's purchasing. End-to-end supply chain, baby.

🔥

Once a supplier factory caught fire. Karl and the team kept 140 trucks/day rolling through a 5-week crisis response. The factory burned. Karl also burned. Everyone burned a little that day.

🏕️

Member of Scoutkåren Göta Lejon, founded 1945. Auditor for Göteborgs scoutdistrikt (5,000+ members) — they trust Karl with the big books.

🎖️

Developed a week-long leadership course with the Swedish Armed Forces. That's right — the military learns leadership from Karl.

🌏

Studied in Singapore, works across Europe, Americas, and Asia. The man's supply chain is his passport.

🐛

Expert level: Digging into rabbit holes. Started debugging a CSS margin issue. Ended up rewriting the entire build system. Classic Karl.

📈 The Ironman Saga: A Love Letter to Kalmar

Some people visit Kalmar for the castle. Karl visits for 226 km of voluntary suffering.

YEAR	TIME	VIBE
2015	12:22:24	"What have I done. Why did I sign up. Oh no. Oh god. I finished?! I FINISHED!"
2016	9:56:22 🔥	"Sub 10! I am basically a professional athlete now." (narrator: he was not)
2017	11:26:06	"Sometimes the race wins. The important thing is I showed up. And suffered."
2022	10:15:46	"5-year comeback arc. Anime protagonists have nothing on me."
2024	9:48:57 🏆 PB!	"9 years in. Still getting faster. The human body is just a project to optimize."

TOTAL KALMAR IRONMAN DISTANCE COVERED: 1,130 KM (AND COUNTING)

📅 A Normal Tuesday For Karl

05:15 🏊‍♂️ Morning swim. 3 km. "Just a quick dip."

07:30 ☕ Coffee. Opens SAP ARIBA. Whispers "good morning" to KOLA.

08:00 📊 Supplier meeting. Karl negotiates. The supplier doesn't stand a chance.

10:30 🕳️ "I'll just quickly check this Python script..." (enters rabbit hole)

14:30 🔧 Emerges from rabbit hole. Has accidentally built a microservice.

15:00 🔥 Supplier crisis call. Karl activates crisis mode. Coffee #4.

17:00 🚴‍♂️ 60 km bike ride. "Active recovery." (it is not recovery)

19:30 🏕️ Scout leader meeting at Göta Lejon. Ties a perfect bowline blindfolded.

21:00 💻 "Just one more commit..." Opens VS Code. Over-engineers a to-do app.

23:30 😴 Falls asleep reading ISO 14001 documentation. Dreaming in supply chains.

🎓 The Degree Collection

Most people stop at one. Karl collects them.

🏛️

Chalmers University of Technology

M.Sc. Industrial Engineering & Management

+ EXCHANGE IN SINGAPORE BECAUSE WHY NOT

💻

Blekinge Institute of Technology

Higher Education Diploma in Software Engineering

THESIS: DIGITIZING ANNUAL REPORTS (EDGE OF SEAT STUFF)

NEXT DEGREE: TBD (PROBABLY ASTROPHYSICS OR PASTRY CHEF)

🎯 Things Karl Can Probably Do That You Can't

🚛📋

Drive a truck to a supplier, audit their ISO 9001 compliance, negotiate a new contract, and drive the parts back. In one day.

🏊‍♂️⛷️

Swim 3.8 km in open water AND ski 90 km across Sweden. Ironman + Vasaloppet. The Swedish Decathlon nobody asked for.

🏕️🔥

Lead a scout camp for teenagers, then manage a supplier fire crisis on Monday morning. Same crisis management skills. Different fires.

💻📊

Write a Python script to analyze the data, build a Power BI dashboard to present it, then over-engineer the whole thing into a full-stack web app nobody asked for.

🎖️🏕️

Teach leadership to the Swedish Armed Forces during the week. Teach scout knots on the weekend. Both are equally mission-critical.

📄🔍

Wrote his thesis on digital annual report submission. Now audits annual reports for the scout district. The universe is poetic.

>>> TRUCKS KEPT ROLLING BY THE TEAM <<<

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(140/day × 35 days of crisis management = 4,900 trucks. Team effort. Karl was on fire too.)

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💬 Probably Real Quotes

"I'll just quickly check one thing..."

— Karl, 4 hours before emerging from a rabbit hole

"It's almost finished."

— Karl, about everything, always

"We should probably build a framework for that."

— Karl, solving a one-time problem

"Programming is a creative passion of mine."

— Karl, in his CV, while managing enormous global supply chains

"Ja, jag har lastbilskort."

— Karl, casually, at every dinner party

"I did 600 hours of training for my first Ironman. The second one was easier. The fifth one was... also not easy."

— Karl, stretching in the office kitchen

"I'll just add one more feature to this script..."

— Karl, 3 features ago

"Vasaloppet was a nice change of pace from triathlon. Only 90 km. Basically a rest day."

— Karl, absolutely unhinged

"I don't have a type-A personality. I have a type-A++ personality."

— Karl (probably) (definitely)

🛠️ The Sacred Volvo Tools

Weapons wielded by the Supply Chain Paladin

GPS SAP ARIBA EDB KOLA RAPID EXTER SPOT CSDB POWER BI JIRA PYTHON SQL EXCEL (LEGENDARY)

⭐ Totally Real Endorsements

"Karl once optimized our seating chart for a team dinner. It had a Gantt chart."

— A COLLEAGUE (ANONYMOUS BUT IMPRESSED)

"He showed up to the scout meeting straight from a 60 km bike ride. Wasn't even breathing hard. I hate him."

— A FELLOW SCOUT LEADER

"I asked him to fix a small bug. He refactored the entire module, added unit tests, set up CI/CD, and wrote documentation. The bug was a typo."

— A CLASSMATE AT BTH

"He negotiated the price of his own wedding venue. Got 15% off. The venue owner said it was the most professional negotiation they'd ever experienced."

— UNVERIFIED BUT PLAUSIBLE

"Karl's Excel spreadsheets have Excel spreadsheets."

— EVERY VOLVO COLLEAGUE EVER

🎰 Random Karl Fact Generator

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