Summer Internship Experience At UltraTech Cement

My teammates and I were the national finalists of the competition UltraTech India Next Campus Edition which helped us in bagging the PPO for their summer internship programme, “Ulchemies”. The competition was one of a kind, where we had to identify an infrastructure-related problem in any city and provide solutions and we chose to address the problem of Asia’s largest slum-Dharavi. I remember putting our heart and soul into the competition, pulling all-nighters, researching over every small detail and in the end, we were rewarded for it and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support and help of our friends, professors and seniors. INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE Being a part of the Ulchemies program was such an amazing experience. I interned under the domain of logistics and I was allotted a mentor and buddies. My mentor was the zonal head of the South region and even though he was a very busy person, he made sure he spent at least 15 mins of his time with me every single day discussing my project. My buddies, who were a part of the previous Ulchemies, currently working in the organization, were so helpful and guided me in every single step. Being completely new to the industry, my buddies helped me understand the nuances of the cement industry. My project was to identify potential opportunities of integration of inbound and outbound transportation for all their plants in the South region. I got to interact with a lot of people in the plant as well as the regional heads. I came up with a review mechanism which the company can use so that no potential is being left untapped and which will also help us regulate the performance of the different plants monthly. LEARNINGS AND TAKEAWAYS  Being a fresher, I’m very glad I got this opportunity to experience the corporate culture. Even though it was a virtual internship, I got a plethora of learning opportunities. I learnt the end to end functioning of the entire logistics of the companies. This internship helped me develop better interpersonal communication skills and also helped me realize the importance of interdepartmental communication. Being an MBA student helped me approach the problem with a 360-degree view and helped me analyze the situation better. Time management and teamwork were two of the most important factors I always had to keep in mind while working on my project, both of which we learnt during our first few months into the MBA. Time is something we should never lose track of as it is important to achieve the given set of deliverables within the stipulated time and that teamwork plays a very important role in an organization, especially in terms of change management. My only advice to my juniors would be that all of us have our share of ups and downs during our internship days, it’s no less than a rollercoaster ride. There are days when you feel clueless and then there are days when you feel you can land on the moon. Nevertheless, it is important to never lose sight of your goal and in the end, it’s all going to be worth it.