Over the course of my two week program in Munich, Germany, we attended multiple different types of lectures, hiked in the Alps, attended a Bayern football game, participated in hands-on production simulation activities, and attended multiple company site visits. It was a busy two weeks filled with valuable learning experiences culturally and academically, and I am excited to bring this new knowledge back to Pitt with me!
Academically, this trip aligned very closely with the concepts and ideas that I have been learning in my industrial engineering courses at Pitt. During our first week of online learning, our courses focused on industrial engineering, service business engineering, the German culture and workplace environment, entrepreneurship, and the global German production footprint. Overall, these courses closely related to my curriculum at Pitt, specifically my sophomore level courses. I noticed some similar concepts presented between the global German production footprint course in Germany and the manufacturing course taught at Pitt. It was interesting to learn more about the types of materials commonly used in the manufacturing processes of certain products in Germany and how they have been influenced by Germany’s global production footprint.
One of my favorite activities that we did the first week was our lean production course. This day, we split up into two teams and worked to optimize the layout of an assembly line in order to successfully complete all of our orders in under 30 minutes. The first part of the activity was to attempt to complete as many orders as possible with the original layout that we were given. After a difficult first attempt, we analyzed the layout and completed a few test runs before deciding on a final layout to complete the activity. We were given a lot of freedom with our layout and our decisions, and this hands-on activity was a great way to clearly show the application of lean concepts in a production environment, especially on a smaller scale.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the site visits that we did, but my favorite site tour was the BMW factory. We were able to see the full manufacturing flow and layout as the cars were created from start to finish. Almost all of the processes completed were automated, and it was really interesting to see these automated processes functioning efficiently on such a large scale.
Professionally, this program has expanded my network and given me the opportunity to explore work environments in a different culture. I feel that I have a broadened perspective of my future work opportunities, along with an enhanced understanding of my major. I am very grateful that I was able to connect with both students and faculty at HM Munich and build upon my professional network. Personally, I saw growth in my independence. Over the course of two weeks, I grew to be confident with navigating a new city and language barrier, and I feel better prepared for traveling in the future. Having the opportunity to explore a new culture was incredibly beneficial to me academically, professionally, and personally as I look forward to my next traveling opportunity!
