When I began my MBA journey, I was quite perplexed about the direction in which my career should steer. Determining what job function, role or company I should aspire to during my search for a summer internship seemed like a mammoth task. An internship is that beginning of a career when we are so eager to apply everything you’ve learned in a real job. However, with my past experience in the automotive sector as R&D engineer, I wished to explore it more. Also, I wished to step out of my comfort zone.
When I sit back and think of my internship at Fiat Chrysler Automobile as a project management intern in Manufacturing and Technology, I can only think of gratitude towards those who impacted my experience. I was very excited to be a part of FCA during an internship that met all of my predefined criteria. It had been a fabulous 10 weeks journey! I have been able to make meaningful learnings from my projects that will help me grow personally as well as professionally.
I joined FCA on 26
th of March in their Ranjangaon Manufacturing Plant which is situated 40km from Pune city with a total land area around 250 acres. The plant, which is the fruition of industrial joint venture between Fiat Group Automobiles and Tata motors. It was the first time I saw the car manufacturing plant. I was thrilled to see how it was all made.
I was assigned to increase the accuracy of Spot welding robots in the car body of Jeep Compass. This was my first experience in a car manufacturing plant. I was totally unaware of its operations. I strongly believe that learning by seeing has the best impact on any person. This was proved right in FCA when I saw the effort that goes in building a car like Jeep Compass.
The work culture at FCA was commendable. It has open office work culture i.e., no cabins to managers nor plant head, instead all sit in open cabins and are easily approachable. The best part is that my managers and team members were very open to my suggestions. Even though I was an intern, my ideas had always been welcomed. I was involved in daily meetings to know the proceedings in the body shop. Here, I learned how to handle the projects and how to keep a track of them.
I analyzed various aspects of body shop working with Engineering team for making the Business case in the plant. I coordinated with internal functions like Manufacturing, Plant services, Quality, Production Planning & Control and Material team to ensure system readiness and its execution. I worked with suppliers to optimize errors in Spot Welding and Sealant Robots.
During the entire experience, my skills were valued, and I was entrusted with projects that would put them to work and allow for points of improvement to be identified. I learned how to approach new ideas with a critical mind. My team members shared the data without hesitation and gave complete freedom to analyze it and come up with solutions. The project I worked on allowed me to interact with a variety of people, leadership levels, and personalities. And, each of those people taught me a lot about how to manoeuvre through a career in the professional world.
The operators in the plant were very friendly and towards the end, I felt like a part of their family.
I was very happy when I was appreciated by the Divisional manager – Mr. Santosh Gundewadi and the General Manager – Mr. Rajesh Sharma. I had excellent colleagues who were ready to help at any time of the day. I also got a chance to present my work to the plant head – Mr. Ravi Gogia who also appreciated my work.
The knowledge I have gained from my college, SDA Bocconi Asia Center was of immense use. Since I’m Lean Six Sigma – Green Belt certified, I could get a chance to apply the same during my internship. Also, the courses and guidance from my professors came in handy. The soft skills which my college has helped me to build upon and my experiences through various B-school competitions have guided me to succeed.
My take away from the entire internship was to never hesitate, be truthful and stay connected with all levels of people because you never know where the knowledge comes from. Each of them has different perspective and knowledge is vast. Gain as much as you can and learn from them. Though my tenure was tiring (since I had to wake up at 6:00 am in the morning and come back at 8:00 pm at night), the experience that I gained from it was worth more than that.
Now, when I say people that I have been a part of building Jeep Compass, they will be able to see the sparkle in my eyes depicting my pride