ESTIEM Magazine | Spring 2015 | Food from Soil to Shelf

IMPRESSIONS

OF ESTIEM VIEWED FROM THE OUTSIDE PAGE 50

WE DO IT BETTER PAGE 44

5 MYTHS ABOUT

TRAVELLING ALONE PAGE 58

FOOD FROM

SOIL TO SHELF European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management Issue 48 2015/1 | ISSN 0874-5242 | Price 0 Euro | www.estiem.org

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Table of contents

INTRODUCTION

30

9

24

58

Introduction

Scene

4 5 6

20 Product Portfolio Management – A Product Management perspective 24 Disassembly for Remanufacturing: The Path to Sustainable Production 27 Industrial Engineering and Management Students as the Leaders and Innovators of 2015 and Beyond

Project Leader’s Speech President’s Speech Introduction to ESTIEM

Focus Topic: Food from Soil to Shelf 9 Malaysian palm oil from soil to shelf 12 Food from Soil to Shelf- the motto of modern food chain 13 Using Shelf Space Planning to Boost Stores Performance in Retail 16 Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan 18 Environmental aspects of the future of food production

Inside ESTIEM 30 Introducing Board 2015 34 Local Group Cambridge is back 36 Forum 20-80 visits the Council Meeting in Budapest 38 Reconstructing ESTIEM’s History - piece by piece 40 IFISO Meeting 41 Do you know what ESTIEM got for

Christmas? A brand new Ambassador!

42 Young and successful 44 We do it better 46 Instructive Trainings, international connections and a lot of fun 48 Discovering ESTIEM 50 Impressions of ESTIEM, viewed from the outside 52 Project, Committee and Initiative updates 55 LG MADrid, a story of continuous growth 56 The ESTIEM Education Initiative

Explore Europe 57 Let’s go Porto!

58 5 Myths about travelling alone 60 Pasta, pizza, gelato

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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INTRODUCTION

Project Leader’s Speech

Imprint Project Leader Mafalda Monteiro Design Marija Mladenović Ege Birol Ilze Šlukuma Lara Picman Mafalda Monteiro Maria Rios Mert Bursalı Réka Szabó Stijn Zanders Yana Zhirnis Editorial Staff Melis Dönmez Benjamin Rensen Danijel Pavlica Ensari Koçak Julia Mukhamedzianova Koen Koolen Lydia Binek Mafalda Monteiro Marija Mladenović Marios Kiriakidis Pekka Huhtala Stijn Zanders Proofreaders Mladen Lukić Danijel Pavlica Marios Kiriakidis Melih Ipek Mert Elitok Pekka Huhtala Pedro Schuller Siros Badlou Sorana Ioniță Advertisement Acquisition Marios Kiriakidis Felix Limper With special thanks to Timothy Byrne, Geert Letens, Jim Platts, Márcia Monteiro and Sorana Ioniță.

Contact leader.magazine@estiem.org ESTIEM Permanent Office Paviljoen B-6 P.O.Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands Fax: 0031-(0)40 2473871 info@estiem.org www.estiem.org

Dear reader, Eating is a crucial part of our daily routine, but we usually do not give food its deserved attention. It is easy to forget that the food we eat does not magically appear on a supermarket shelf or even on our plate.

All actors in the food chain have a role to play, from those who produce and process food, to those who make the food ready to consume and ultimately, the consumers themselves.

People are aware that the food they eat is an important factor affecting their health, but what is less known is the impact that producing and consuming food has on the world’s resources.

What will we eat in the year 2100 and how will we produce it? Something difficult to imagine, since new techniques and the changing climate combine to radically transform the conventional agriculture. As individual consumers, we make decisions every day about the food we buy, which gives us the great power to reshape the way we produce, process, transport and use food.

The Focus Topic of this issue is synchronised with the Vision’s topic for this year – Food from soil to shelf.

Throughout this section, you can find interesting articles from the environmental aspects of food production to the product placement on the shelves. You will also find articles from companies such as one of the elements of the turkish food retail, Sofragrup, and the globally recognised Unilever.

Apart from that, inside the Scene section you can read about current trends on Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM), like how the IEM students are perceived as the leaders of the future, Product Portfolio Management or Disassembly for Remanufacturing.

Furthermore, you will also get an insight on the last achievements and developments of ESTIEM. As our beloved association is celebrating 25 years, we will already start the celebrations by including an article written by Timothy Byrne – executive director of

Disclaimer The contents may not always reflect the opinion of the publisher. Any reproduction or copy is permitted only with the permission of the editors.

Our Partner

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

IIE Ireland – on ESTIEM’s development from his perspective throughout the years.

Last but not least, because we all love to Explore Europe, this time in this section, you will also have the opportunity to discover the 5 myths about travelling alone.

This mixture of scientific and leisure oriented articles was thought, written and designed in order to provide a pleasant experience to all our readers.

The Magazine team proudly presents to you the 48th issue of the ESTIEM Magazine.

Enjoy reading it and bon appetite!

In high ESTIEM,

Mafalda Monteiro, Magazine Project Leader 2014/2015

President’s Speech

INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader, The focus topic of this edition of the ESTIEM Magazine focuses on the life cycle of food, a topic which has been covered intensively over the past few years by the media and has lead to a surge of ecological food and drink products and companies to enter the consumer markets. The topic also comes with the ethical standards that an increasing number of consumers look for companies to fulfill. Food from Soil to Shelf - the focus topic of this issue of the ESTIEM Magazine - is also the current topic of ESTIEM’s Vision Project, which has enabled ESTIEMers, the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) professionals of the future, to explore and discuss the topic through a wide diversity of seminars.

While the origin of food has been a much discussed topic recently, taking a look at the roots of our beloved organisation has also become very topical this year.

ESTIEM is set to reach the ripe age of 25 years in 2015, with the 50th statutory Council Meeting happening already in April this year. It is indeed breathtaking to see how much the organisation and its people have grown over this time span, but at the same time we aim to go even further in developing the future of Europe.

To celebrate the success of ESTIEM and all of the remarkable achievements over the past years the ESTIEM Book Project has been fervently working on gathering all the information and significant happenings in the ESTIEM network over the past 25 years, and to put it all into one comprehensive book. The year has also marked one more forward step with the collaboration between ESTIEM, the ESTIEM Alumni and the IEM Foundation, which is the Club 100 - a project which enables equal opportunities and financial support to ESTIEM and its members. Furthermore we are in the process of updating the mission, vision and values of ESTIEM to match the changing world around us.

All this and plenty of more exciting material await you in this 48th issue of the ESTIEM Magazine. I invite you to dive in and would like to wish you a most pleasant reading experience!

In high ESTIEM,

Teemu Metsola, President of ESTIEM 2015

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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INTRODUCTION

All over Europe...

Back in 1990, students from five different countries founded an organisation, which they named ESTIEM: European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management. Its aim was and still is to establish and foster interrelations among European students of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) and support them in their personal and professional development.

After 24 years, it has grown into an organisation

The decision-making body of ESTIEM is the Council,

bringing together over 60 000 students from 74

which meets twice a year, in autumn and in spring. Each

universities in 28 European countries, and it is still

university, represented by its so-called “Local Group”,

growing. All these universities offer courses in IEM.

sends two student representatives. The six members

Based on this structure, ESTIEM forms links between

of the Board of ESTIEM are elected during the autumn

students, academia and companies in order to create

Council Meeting. The Board is responsible for the

a European-wide, multi-level IEM network. ESTIEM

management, coordination and administration of the

has continuously increased the number of its activities,

association.

thus being able to offer a great variety of events to IEM

Besides taking leadership positions in the Board and as

students and an opportunity to experience different

Project or Committee Leaders, ESTIEM members can

cultures, take part in international projects and become

also take up responsibilities by working in one of the

friends with other ESTIEMers from all over Europe.

Projects, Committees or Initiatives. With lots of teams and tasks to choose from, there is a place for everyone.

Naturally, the backbone of ESTIEM is the European IEM student. The students involved in ESTIEM incorporate

For more detailed information about our organisation

both the skills required for modern business and an

and its activities, please visit our website at www.

open-minded approach towards other people and

estiem.org. ■

cultural issues.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

... Students involve themselves in various international Projects....

INTRODUCTION

ESTIEM is also a playground for great ideas developed by highly motivated students. If a student manages to convince ESTIEM’s Council of his idea, he can start his own international project. Currently, there are 10 projects running.

The

and

Through the Summer Academy, ESTIEM recognises

Engineering Skills (TIMES) is the largest pan-

Tournament

In

Management

the importance of and takes responsibility for providing

European case study competition for the students

knowledge of ethics and sound leadership among

of Industrial Engineering and Management. This

the future leaders of Europe. It was set up to bring

prestigious, highly acclaimed event is the flagship

international students together during summer holidays

project of ESTIEM. It has successfully been organised

to engage in open discussions, group work, debate and

since 1994 and attracts around 1000 top European

private study under a senior Academic Leader.

students every year. After Local Qualifications in 75 different universities and 8 Semi-Finals in selected cities,

The ESTIEM Student Guide is ESTIEM’s guiding

the winning team of the Final is awarded the title of

service provided to any student who is interested in

Europe’s “IEM Students of the Year”.

studying Industrial Engineering and Management in Europe or in travelling to any of the ESTIEM Local

The Vision Seminar Series aim to improve the personal

Groups: an online database filled in by students, sharing

skills and capabilities of the Industrial Engineering and

academic and practical information on universities,

Management Students in Europe. The seminars contain

cities and countries.

a balanced mixture of academic lectures, workshops and company visits which are combined with cultural

The official publication of ESTIEM provides the perfect

and free-time activities of the organising city. Through

platform to reach a target group of approximately

those activities the participants of a Vision seminar

60 000 students of Industrial Engineering and

develop themselves both personally and professionally.

Management at universities all over Europe. The

Each year, at the Spring Council Meeting the new Vision

ESTIEM Magazine is published twice a year and

Project Leader it’s elected along with a topic. All the 11

distributed among IEM students, graduates and also

events of the series are connected through this topic.

professors and companies across Europe, through the

This years’ main topic is Food from soil to shelf.

ESTIEM network.

The goal of Academic Days is to share ESTIEM

businessbooster aims at creating an environment

universities’ knowledge with the network. It supports

where all needed information, experience and support

the personal and professional development of students

to excel in your future professional endeavours can be

across Europe willing to complete their curriculum. In

found. The goal of this unique environment is to boost

order to achieve this, each event provides participants

entrepreneurial spirit and engage ESTIEMers, Alumni

deep insights into a specific topic in which the organising

and companies to collaborate with each other.

Local Group’s university has a high expertise.

BrainTrainer is designed to develop leadership, Europe3D is a seminar series where participants

presentation, business and social skills of participants

get a deeper insight of the hosting country in three

through professional trainings lasting one or two

unique dimensions: politics, culture and economy.

days. Its aim is to coach and develop the participants

An environment with a blend of different cultures

to become more professional and successful in their

helps the participants get a better understanding of

organisation as well as in their own future career.

the basic local parameters existing in the European states. Lectures given by experts from these 3 fields,

The ESTIEM Book project is aiming to create a

combined with trainings about intercultural awareness,

Book about ESTIEM’s past and present it for ESTIEM’s

provide participants a theoretical insight. With a high

25th anniversary in 2015. Besides presenting all of

level of interactive participation, Europe3D is a unique

our history, it will show all the Projects, Committees

opportunity to start changing your world.

and Initiatives of ESTIEM and present all of our Local Groups. It will be published at ESTIEM’s 51st Council Meeting in spring 2015. ■

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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INTRODUCTION

... and Europe-wide Committee Work The committees support the Board in maintaining and developing the organisation ESTIEM further. Students from all over Europe engage themselves in various topics in one of our 8 committees.

Corporate Relations Committee

Knowledge Management Committee

The Corporate Relations Committee coordinates the

The

relations between ESTIEM, companies and universities

two things. First, updating & creating Best Practice

jointly with the Board. The Committee’s work covers

Documents (BPDs) by documenting the collective

a number of fields with the aim of improving and

experiences of ESTIEMers throughout time - from

simplifying ESTIEM’s relations with companies and

organising a Project to how to be a Leader. These BPDs

universities, such as updating co-operation proposals,

are available online on the ESTIEM Portal. Second,

creating and gathering results for different surveys or

managing the quality of ESTIEM events by collecting

training people on how to approach companies and

feedback from the event participants in order to make

universities. The Corporate Relations Committee

Event specific and Project Specific Reports, showing the

also plays an active role in supervising and supporting

development of ESTIEM’s Projects and events.

Knowledge

Management

Committee

does

Projects and other Committees with regards to sponsors and academic supporters.

Members Committee The Members Committee supports the members of

Financial and Legal Committee

ESTIEM and supports students interested in joining

The Financial and Legal Committee’s role is to ensure

ESTIEM by forming their own Local Group (LG). It

ESTIEM’s compliance with all laws and regulations.

guides them through the whole process, starting from

It supports the Board, other Committees, Projects

establishing contact, via the Guest and Observer

and Local Groups in all financial and legal matters.

period, all the way until their fully pledged membership.

On one hand, it consists of experienced ESTIEMers

It takes care of the LG Requirements, helps all LGs

and ESTIEM Alumni, who are motivated to provide

via the Regional Coordinators, and supports LGs and

advice whenever requested. On the other hand, active

central ESTIEM in motivation and recruitment issues.

Committee members work on creating and updating

It fosters connections between LGs, tries to figure out

Best Practice Documents, trainings, templates, etc.

what they need locally and cooperates e.g. with the

for all related topics, giving advice on event budgets

Trainers on Tour concept to fulfil the needs for training

and proactively giving legal advice. Since many people

topics such as HR, PR, recruitment and fundraising.

are unexperienced with finances and regulations, the Financial and Legal Committee aims at helping them to

Public Relations Committee

deal with them correctly.

The aim of the Public Relations Committee is to take care of ESTIEM’s outer appearance. The Committee

Grants Committee

is responsible for communicating the brand of ESTIEM

The Grants Committee supports ESTIEM’s applications

and increasing the awareness both inside and outside

for EU Grants and aims to establish and develop

of ESTIEM. The PR Committee works with several

knowledge on public funding opportunities and

different tools to achieve this, for instance designing

their application procedures. It also wants to share

PR material, creating design templates and guidelines,

the existing knowledge with as many ESTIEMers as

as well as working on press and social media visibility.

possible and to support more and more Local Groups in applying for an EU Grant for their events.

Trainings Committee Personal development is part of ESTIEM’s vision – and

Information Technology Committee

it is what ESTIEM trainings are meant for! By passing on

The IT Committee maintains the e-mail, intranet and

knowledge, skills and attitude in their sessions, ESTIEM

web servers of ESTIEM and coordinates all IT-related

trainers support ESTIEMers on their path in ESTIEM

development in the organisation such as the IT back-

and in life. The Training Committee provides training

end system (.NET framework & C#). To complement

support to all ESTIEM activities and Local Groups. It

the knowledge of ESTIEMers about ICT and IT systems,

also guides trainers and people who want to become

it provides trainings in an open learning environment.

trainers with their career through ESTIEM, and gives

In addition, ITC offers troubleshooting services and

them personal support and feedback. ■

technical advice to all ESTIEMers.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

Malaysian palm oil from soil to shelf

FOCUS TOPIC

If you have heard anything about the production of palm oil, it is probably the concern about destroying rain forest areas to grow the palms. Where it is happening this is a problem, but in Peninsular Malaysia, which has been farmed for over 100 years, this is not the problem and there is a quite different problem needing attention.

Jim Platts

Institute for Manufacturing at the University

of Cambridge

Palm oil is Malaysia’s biggest industry and largest export, palm oil plantations have covered almost all of Peninsula Malaysia for a generation and the establishing of them was important in the development of Malaysia itself as a newly independent country from the 1950s onwards. As well as the development of very large plantations owned and run by large Malaysian companies, an organization called FELDA (Federal Land Development Agency) enabled poor Malaysians to establish smallholdings and assisted them in planting palms, growing them and harvesting the palm fruits which are taken to centralized palm oil mills where they are crushed to squeeze out the oil. FELDA supports and represents cooperatives of smallholders and, over decades, it has not only, as its name suggests, developed the land of Peninsular Malaysia, it has developed the people, enabling them to achieve not only wholesome work but good incomes and, above all else, freedom. Not for nothing are the indigenous Malaysians called ‘Bumiputera’ – ‘Princes of the soil’. It is a wonderful food product and it has built Malaysia.

But it has not been developed towards being what is now understood to be good forestry practice, or good processing industry practice, or good social practice and its sustainability is under threat.

Source: Flickr Cifor take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, through photosynthesis, create the hydrocarbons that form the structures of all living things. But this is only half of a cycle. When those things living above the ground die

“

Palm oil is Malaysia’s biggest industry and largest export

they pass those hydrocarbons into the ground, where the microorganisms that are the soil (soil is alive and they are its fertility) use those hydrocarbons to build their own structures, but what they do is mine all the minerals from the rock to supply all the trace elements that are also fundamental to life. This is symbiosis. The key element of understanding is that, whilst humans

About Jim Platts Jim Platts is based in the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge, but has been a member of the advisory committees of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and The Federal Land Development

When you grow things, there is an important piece of agricultural practice that you need to understand.

What we see above the ground are all the plants that

Agency (FELDA), and he is a smallholder and goat keeper.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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FOCUS TOPIC

“

As it ripens, the quantity of oil increases and so does the quality of oil, so harvesting ripe fruit is very valuable.

can take a proportion of the fruit from the plants that exist above the ground – the oil from the fruit from the palms, for instance – everything else is needed as food for the organisms in the soil. If you take it away, the soil slowly starves and its fertility slowly disappears. That has been happening in Malaysia for decades. They take away from the land things it is not wise to take away and their soil is now so damaged that it is the infertility of the Malaysian soil that now sets the productivity limit for palm oil production in Malaysia.

The reason they take too much organic material away from the land is due to the continued use of a poorly thought out harvesting and processing method for extracting the palm oil from the fruit, which grows in big bunches at the top of the stem of the palm tree under the palm fronds which form the crown of the tree. There is a particular detail of understanding that, if you handle it rightly, offers a route to a very efficient modern farming and processing industry, but they are not doing this yet and what they currently do highlights all the bad potential of not thinking about it well enough. The bit of understanding concerns how the fruit ripens. A fruit bunch is a large, heavy and tightly packed ‘bunch’ of literally hundreds of fruits, each the size of a plum, but with a tough skin, a firm flesh and a hard kernel, fastened on to the fruit bunch core. A full bunch weighs 15-25kg and is almost spherical and perhaps 50cm across, but only half the weight is in the fruit. The other half is in the bunch core.

The important bit of understanding concerns the ripening of the fruit. Before it ripens the fruit is tightly attached to the core, and as it ripens it loosens. As it ripens, the quantity of oil increases and so does the quality of oil, so harvesting ripe fruit is very valuable.

But there is a problem. As the fruit ripens it loosens and begins to drop off, and you then have to spend time picking up the loose fruits. So the people doing the harvesting cut the bunch off the palm before it is fully ripe… and even then spend 25% of their time collecting loose fruit. But the much worse consequence is that most of the fruit is still tightly attached to the core. So they put the whole lot on the truck and take the whole lot to the oil mill – so you are taking all the cores away from the land and transporting them tens of kilometers, which uses a lot of fuel… and then you use even more fuel to heat a steam oven that you put all the fruit bunches into for an hour to loosen the fruit from the bunches… and then you pile up the now empty fruit bunches – tens of millions of tons of them a year – and call it waste! And you put a lot of fertilizer on the soil in the plantations - which again represents

Nature is based on a figure-of-eight cycle in which each half feeds the other. No material leaves the cycle.

This is the fertility cycle that is life itself. Every creature ensures its survival by ensuring it pays back in balance and sustains its place in the cycle. All trade with this cycle (taking material and energy from it) must show a positive payback ratio.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

FOCUS TOPIC

Robust, Resilient, Sustainable Energy Policy

a lot of fuel – to try to replace the fertility that you have stolen from the soil by taking away the empty fruit bunches. It is a hugely inefficient process, and it has the effect of reducing the harvesting to a low paid and unwanted job, which most Malaysians now do not want to do. So there is a social problem too.

The answer is easy and has the potential to transform the game, but to do it the whole game needs to be transformed. The key thing is to find out how to reach up and put a net bag round each fruit bunch as it is beginning to ripen, to hold the loose fruit. The harvesters spend 25% of their time now picking up loose fruit, how about spending 25% of their time preventing loose fruit from falling down, instead?

If they did this, they could then harvest ripe fruit containing more oil of higher quality, and easily comb the fruit from the bunch at the foot of the palm, leaving the empty fruit bunch on the ground and only taking away the fruit… and since the fruit is now ripe, there could be a travelling collector-truck which goes to each smallholding in turn and presses the fruit at the

entrance to the smallholding, only taking away the oil… and if the smallholder also kept goats, the goats could eat the squashed fruit remains and the cores from the bunches and add their droppings to the fertility cycle of the soil as they walked round, and create a second industry creating dairy products, meat and leather… and suddenly these smallholdings that have come to be poor are now very attractive sources of income, built by a deep understanding of how the interwoven processes of the organic cycle can be developed to complement each other and to support a vibrant and wholesome community.

The core truth is that of you really want to be ‘Princes of the soil’ – understand it! Real sustainability comes from understanding the steps that enable it… that each step has to be robust and work in its own terms and that the whole system has to be resilient and able to adapt as circumstances change. This has to be true in organic terms, in social terms and in economic terms.

Then - it works! ■

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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FOCUS TOPIC

“From Soil to Shelf” is the motto of the modern food chain The vital relationship between soil and us flourished continuously. Our predecessors ate wild fruits on trees and hunted herbivores, developed farming and animal husbandry. They built villages and cities next to fertile land. They made their living working with soil. They simply fed themselves with the food that they produced.

Until industrial revolution, this direct association between individuals and soil continued uninterruptedly.

Then some people found other ways to make their livings and let others do the farming and food production.

This new food chain is under scrutiny since the last few decades and modern traders intend to control it for economical and food safety reasons. Now big retailers eliminate the intermediaries which do not add value to the product.

Thus, for the first time in human history, the link between us and soil became extended. People did not eat the food from their back garden any more but went to shops to buy it. The last three hundred years totally changed our food chain. New intermediaries emerged: Farmers produced, agents appraised, transporters carried, wholesalers stocked and finally retailers sold individuals the food they once used to grow themselves.

Each intermediary puts its own profit margin on the product and there are times those profit margins are speculative rather than being rational. In this way, the final consumers pay twice as much as the price with which the producers sell.

Nowadays “from soil to shelf ” is the motto of the modern food chain. This has brought new dimensions to the market and changed farming, purchasing, distribution and sales practices.

Big retailers sign contracts with certain farmers who then produce for individual retailers with demanded specifications and agreed prices. Then retailers distribute the products to the sales units so consumers can find the products on the shelves.

One of the biggest advantages of “from soil to shelf ” practice is to provide fair pricing. This practice does not allow any surprises in pricing because there are no uncontrolled intermediaries in the process.

The other advantage is maintaining the food safety.

As technology develops rapidly, new methods are used in farming. New types of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are continuously served to the agriculture sector to increase yield and profit. Uncontrolled use of those techniques definitely harms the human healthiness.

“Food from soil to shelf ” practice regulates the food production and distribution. It brings traceability in food chain. Consumers know under which conditions the products they see on shelves were produced and how they were carried.

About Mr. Volkan Gönenç Volkan Gönenç is the Procurement Director of Compass Plc. in Turkey. He has been in food industry for 20 years and during his career he has worked in international retailers and caterers. He has BS. Degree from Middle East Technical University and M.B.A degree from University of North Alabama.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

There are also ethical benefits of this. Every day we are much more conscious about work abuses and child labour issues due to the transparency and traceability aspects of “from soil to shelf ” practice.

We are truly worried about environmental destruction and economic crises all around the world, yet we should be very happy that ”food from soil to shelf ” practice is a strong remedy for humanity. ■

Using Shelf Space Planning to Boost Stores Performance in Retail

Shelf space planning is a mid-term operational planning activity that defines the allocation and the inventory of the products on the shelves. Therefore, it is a vital activity for retailers in the process of bringing the food from soil to the shelves, and then, to the consumers.

More precisely, it ensures that consumers find the products that they need (and also the products that they do not need but feel tempted to buy) when entering the supermarkets. The low level of involvement that consumers have with in-store decisions, often made quickly and with only a minimal search, reinforces

the importance of this activity. Moreover, the short product life cycles, the increasing number of products available and the high number of stores lead to a continuous need for shelf space planning and turns this activity more and more challenging.

Retailers use planograms to plan the products placement on the shelves. A planogram is a blueprint of the shelves, showing exactly where each product should physically be displayed and how many facings that product should hold (see Figure 1). Products are usually placed following complex merchandising rules that organise the products by families (such as brand, type, color or flavor), and try to reproduce the way customers search for the products while shopping.

These rules vary from retailer to retailer and are defined with the help of category captains (key suppliers with a deeper knowledge about each category) and techniques such as market basket analysis.

According to a survey to US retailers (AMR Research, 2009), the main drivers for space planning initiatives rely on the improvement of overall profitability (and overall sales), reduction of the stock levels, improvement of product availability and in delivering a differentiated consumer shopping experience (see

Figure 2). However, the same survey concludes that the benefits realised are not meeting the expectations.

As a result, space planning investments are required because “conventional assortment analytics and space tools do not deliver the optimisation capabilities need for success”.

Maria Antónia Carravilla University of Porto INESC Porto

Figure 1: Example of a Planogram (front view on the left and side view on the right)

Teresa Bianchi-Aguiar University of Porto

In today’s increasingly competitive environment, retailers strive for customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, aiming to improve stores’ financial performance. For that purpose, they are moving towards demand driven initiatives (current trends arise such as consumer-centric merchandising), while trying to optimise their two most expensive resources: space and inventory.

FOCUS TOPIC

Teresa Bianchi-Aguiar Teresa Bianchi-Aguiar is a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering by the University of Porto. She is currently a PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering and Management and a researcher at the Center for Industrial Engineering and Management from INESC TEC. Specialist in applying analytical methods to the practice of Shelf Space Planning. Her current research interests are aligned with retail operations management.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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FOCUS TOPIC

José F. Oliveira University of Porto INESC Porto Figure 2: Answer from 100 US. Retailers to the question: What have you realized from your space planning activities?

(AMR Research,2009) Space Effects on Consumer Demand Many of us as shoppers are susceptible to in-store marketing, mainly because when shopping we only have a general idea of what to purchase. Additionally, reduced assortments and out-of-stock situations force the search for substitute products. Experimental studies have been addressing the effect of space variables on the demand of the products. These studies point to three main space effects: quantity of space also known as space elasticity, display location also known as location elasticity and interdependency between adjacent products, cross elasticity.

• Increasing the number of facings is a tool to catch the attention of consumers to products. Space elasticity measures the rate of which product’s demand increases as more space is allocated. However, the increasing rate slows down until reaching a saturation point, in an S-shaped curve.

• The location within the aisle and the gondola has also been proved to have an impact on the demand of the products. This effect is captured by location elasticity, namely vertical and horizontal effects. The impact is higher if products are located on the top- and middle- shelf positions (in the eye-level) and near the horizontal center of a shelf, with the vertical effects dominating the horizontal ones.

• Cross elasticity measures the effect of placing

complementary or substitute products together. If two products that are substitutes are placed nearby it is expected that the demand for both will suffer a reduction from cannibalisation. While if two complementary products are displayed together the cross selling effect is expected to increase the overall sales.

Additionally, the way product families are arranged on the shelves can also have an important role on gaining the consumers’ attention. Carefully organizing them in families, in particular following the consumer choice behavior, can increase interest, while disorganised or excessive complexity (i.e. variations in the basic visual content) damages the buying experience.

Current Practices Generating planograms is a highly time consuming activity and the industry standard for manually creating a single planogram is three hours. Therefore, adequate Information Technology (IT) systems are essential.

However, in 2009 more than 20% of the retailers did not use, nor planned any kind of IT support and only 46% had up-to-date technology (see Figure 3). The aforementioned benefits of space planning and also the automation issues are raising the attention of retailers to these systems.

Maria Antónia Carravilla Maria Antónia Carravilla is Associate Professor with Habilitation at FEUP, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, where he has been teaching courses on Management Science, and senior researcher at INESC Porto.

Her research interests are related with decision support, operations management and logistics. She has taken part on several R&D projects that approached the resolution of these problems by constraint programming techniques whose results are published in main scientific journals. She was responsible for several very successful contracts with industry and services concerning the development of decision support systems.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

FOCUS TOPIC

Figure 3: Answer from 100 US. Retailers to the question: Indicate your company’ use of technology tools to support micro Space optimization (AMR Research, 2009) Many of today’s commercial IT solutions share a common purpose focusing on simplicity, realistic views of the shelves, the ability to easily handle products and the powerful data handling and reporting analysis.

These systems also incorporate tools for the automatic generation of planograms based on rules such as proportional-to-market share or proportional-to-profit share. Among the space planning solutions currently on the market the top three vendors are: Spaceman suite (AC Nielsen) and Space planning ( JDA), with over 2000 users each, and Apollo professional (MEMRB/IRI), with over 800 users (Hubner, 2012).

Nevertheless, today’s commercial IT solutions for space planning have been essentially used for visual and handling purposes since the rules for automatic generation often lead to manual adjustments by the end users. As a result, automatically generated planograms are still a mirage for most retailers and they often opt for generic planograms that fit clusters of stores.

Opportunities in Shelf Space Planning Much has been written about the “next-generation” of shelf space planning systems, as part of the road to consumer centric retailing. The key is the generation of store-specific planograms that better account for consumer demand preferences. Moreover, the use of demand insights should shift the analysis of historical

data to intelligent forecast of future buying patterns, trends and promotional lift. (JDA, 2013). Planograms should also better account for shelf space availability and, together with efficient replenishment strategies, avoid excess inventory and stockouts. Finally, shelf space planning is seen as a downstream activity from assortment planning but a close integration is needed.

Despite the practical relevance of the problem there has been somehow a misalignment between commercial software applications and scientific knowledge.

Software vendors mainly tackle the development of large-scale data processing technologies to be able to address the complexity of shelf space in practice, but disregard space optimisation and demand effects.

Whereas, most state-of-the-art mathematical models and optimisation methods have strong practical limitations due to their simplicity and lack of key features or excessive complexity and prohibited number of model parameters hard to estimate.

There are plenty of opportunities for Industrial Engineering professionals in shelf space planning, both in R&D activities, for developing optimisation methods and demand estimation models, and in retail companies, studying market trends and improving merchandising rules. ■

AMR Research, Custom Executive Summary on the trend toward consumer-centric merchandising requires assortment management and space planning investments, 2009 A. H. Hübner and H. Kuhn. Retail category management: State-of-the-art review of quantitative research and software applications in assortment and shelf space management. Omega, 40(2):199 – 209, 2012.

JDA, White Paper on the Next Generation Space and Category Management Strategies for Progressive Grocers, 2013

José F. Oliveira Jose´ Fernando Oliveira is Full Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and Senior Researcher at INESC Porto, in Portugal. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computers. Within logistics and operations management problems, his main application area are the cutting and packing problems, while from the techniques viewpoint his research is centered in the use and development of metaheuristics approaches. He has been the scientific leader of several R&D projects, funded either by governmental agencies or industrial companies and he regularly publishes in top international journals. He is currently editor of the European Journal of Operational Research.

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Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan

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Did you know that in the EU, 100 tonnes of food are wasted per year?

And that this value will rise up to 126 tonnes by 2020?

Márcia Monteiro

Local Group Porto

In Europe this is a major concern nowadays and the EU commission is taking some serious measures to fight against this. Two of these measures are “best before” and “use by” concepts. It has been proven that most people throw away their food after the “best before” date has passed, although this label only indicates the date when the food retains its expected quality. On the other hand, the “use by” label indicates the date when the food can be eaten safely.

Still on a personal approach, the EU gives some tips on how to limit food waste and surprisingly or not, these are very related to the warehouse management knowledge IEM students have been acquiring. Plan the shopping, store in accordance with the instructions, use FIFO in your fridge rotating food, serve in small size batches and rework instead of throwing away - eating leftovers, in this context.

Their strategy is very straightforward, since 70% of the world’s food is produced in small farms by smallholder farmers, the most effective way of stimulating the economy is supporting them.

Next to worrying about the food waste, Unilever has a focus on fair markets, the living of their suppliers and the sustainability of their lands. Unilever wants to improve the livelihood of these farmers, increase their income and increase participation of young entrepreneurs in their value chain. They are trying to achieve this by creating relationships that generate shared value with them.

According to the EU, there are many aspects that fall within the scope of ‘Food sustainability’. It’s crucial to focus on food supply, safety, quality, affordability, water and soil quality, biodiversity and climate changes.

Siros Badlou

Local Group Eindhoven

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In reality, all the actors of the food chain have an important role. From soil to shelf, all the actors are consumers themselves.

Taking the example of Unilever, they have developed a sustainability business model - the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan - that has the goal to reduce their environmental footprint and increase their positive social impact, whilst growing the business at the same time. By the end of 2014, 55% of Unilever’s raw materials were sustainably sourced and the target is 100% by 2020.They aim at developing their relations with suppliers, innovate and reduce costs in order to reduce the risk of the raw material in supply chains.

They have 9 commitments to reach these goals and the purchasing department of Unilever is very critical here.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

About Dirk Jan de With Dirk Jan de With is the vice president of procurement ingredients and sustainability at Unilever. Dirk Jan has worked at Unilever for 25 years, in Supply Chain roles in Foods and Home & Personal Care. Dirk Jan is also the President of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI).

a secret, so suppliers know that we are only working with companies that are committed to this.

Q: : Do you have timeline and metrics in place to measure the success?

DJW: In addition, we will work with suppliers to develop individual time-bound plans that support our commitment. Our metrics are also available in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan annual report.

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Q: What are the big issues to watch in 2015?

DJW: I think we will see a greater focus on climate issues, in particular how we protect and help our small scale farmers in terms of climate resilience.

Q: Tell us, in a sentence, what do you do?

Dirk Jan de With (DJW): At Unilever, I am Responsible for the procurement of Ingredients globally and for the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan Sustainable Sourcing agenda.

Q: In your role as vice president of procurement ingredients & sustainability at Unilever, what are your priorities for 2015?

DJW: We have reorganised our team so we have three areas of focus in Procurement that contribute to the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan: Sustainable agriculture, enhancing livelihoods and eliminating deforestation from our supply chain. We also aim for industry wide cooperation as we cannot do this on our own.

Q: At your recent “Partner to Win Supplier Summit”, Unilever stated that it aims to improve the lives of one million people, through influence over your extended supply chain. How will you achieve this?

DJW: In September we started a strategic partnership with the NGO, Solidaridad. The partnership will be focused on promoting gender equality, improving agricultural and labour practices as well as supporting young agricultural entrepreneurs and land management. It will be targeted at sustainable sourcing key agricultural raw materials (tea, cocoa, sugar, palm oil, fruit and vegetables, soy and dairy) in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Q: Can you tell us about the Unilever Responsible Sourcing Policy?

DJW: I will be sharing how we are implementing our Responsible Sourcing Policy within Procurement.

The Responsible Sourcing Policy embodies our commitment to conduct business with integrity, openness, and respect for universal human rights and core labour principles throughout our operations.

We aim to improve the lives of workers, their communities and the environment consistent with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. This policy provides the framework through which we set out our responsible sourcing ambitions and approach.

Q: Could you please share how you intend on rolling out your environmental best practices?

DJW: If you take palm oil for example. Unilever significantly reduced (by half ) the complexity in its supply base.

Our first step is to get traceability back to all the palm oil mills we source from. This means that suppliers need to make transparent to us the exact mills the palm oil is coming from, so we can then make Unilever’s sourcing origin transparent.

Unilever has been engaging with our suppliers since the start of this year, to help them understand how we need to work together to transform the industry.

This has happened through face to face workshops and meetings, to really help them understand the issues and now the majority of our supplies are fully on board with traceability.

We also didn’t make the reduction in our supplier base

The Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan did change its international sourcing strategies a lot. Good relationships with suppliers are very important to create value in the supply chain. This value is not only based on creating shareholder value, but aimed at meeting demands of all important stakeholders.

Unilever shows how shared value is one of the keys of creating sustainability in their supply chain. ■

References http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living-2014 http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/food.htm http://www.responsiblepurchasing.org/purchasing_guides/food_services/index.php

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FOCUS TOPIC

Environmental aspects of the future of food production In contrast with its importance for the environment and biodiversity, the agricultural sector has a rather low economic significance. In Germany it only contributes to the GVA with 0.8 % and has a share of 1.6% of the labour force. However, 11% of the labour force are employed in “agribusiness”, which shows the importance of food processing in Germany.

In the last century, technical progress has led to a decrease in labour force and an enormous increase in average yields. Labour productivity almost doubles every 20 years (e.g. 96% increase from 1993 to 2013).

While a mere 1.85 t/ha wheat could be harvested around 1900, in 2010 the average yield amounted to 7.57 t/ha. Average milk yields increased from 2165 to 7352 kg/cow per year in the same time period.

About Dr. Almuth Ostermeyer-Schlöder Dr. Almuth Ostermeyer-Schlöder is the head of the Division “Nature Conservation and Environment Protection” of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). During Vision Karlsruhe “The future of food” she gave a lecture about the agricultural sector as part the bioeconomy, environmental implications of modern agriculture in Europe and especially Germany and suitable policy approaches.

While one farmer could feed only four people in 1900, today he is able to feed almost 150 people. The driving force for these developments was an extreme increase of capital input (mechanization) and of intermediate inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, fewer crops, and more efficient varieties in combination with structural changes, such as larger fields.

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To cope with adverse developments in agriculture and environment, the German government has taken different approaches. On the one hand “good agricultural practice” legislation (in the fields of fertilizers, pesticides, soil protection, GMOs, nature conservation) plays an important role. For example, according to fertilizer legislation farmers are obliged to apply fertilizers in a way so that surpluses are avoided and in particular the application of slurry and manure from animal husbandry is limited. At present, Germany

While one farmer could feed only four people in 1900 he is able to feed almost 150 people today.

These developments and the fact that more than 50% of the land in Germany is farmed, are very important for the relationship between agriculture and the environment.

Over the centuries farming has contributed to creating a unique countryside and habitats for wildlife, which are in many cases maintained by extensive (i.e. nonindustrial) agricultural practices. On the other hand, certain habitats are threatened by intensification or fragmentation. High livestock densities and fertilization using pesticides causes pollution of soil, water as well as air and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

One main cause of pollution is an immense surplus of nutrients, in particular nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most

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important plant nutrient but an excessive input causes contamination of drinking water, eutrophication and generation of greenhouse gases. While the German Sustainability Strategy states a target of 80 kg/ha of agricultural land, Germany is far away from reaching this goal as the respective indicator shows 98 kg/ha in 2012.

The main reason for nitrogen surpluses are regions with an extremely high density of animal husbandry (mainly pigs in the northwest of Germany and cows in the south of Bavaria). Fertilizer management and the fact that cows and other ruminants are “natural biogas factories” contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. However, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture have shown a positive trend, which means that with a decline of 23% from 1990 to 2012 they only account for 8.1 % of total emissions.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

is in the process of amending the fertilizer legislation with a view to reduce especially water pollution with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous. This regulatory approach often involves EU-legislation, a transposition into German law and an enforcement by the German states.

The second approach is the integration of sustainability and environmental Goals into the public support schemes for agriculture also known as the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (CAP), which also includes different ways of farming, such as organic farming. This path seemed very promising because for instance in Germany the average farm obtained 54% of farm income from public support.

The CAP is a history of reforms from the beginning.

The beginning of the CAP after World War II focused on increasing agricultural production and was very successful in this. However this surplus production caused by fixed commodity prices above world market level, state intervention and export refunds led to budgetary problems and began to be a huge burden.

This was met by a fundamental reform which focused on direct payments to farmers as income support.

Fixed prices, interventions and export refunds were abandoned or phased out. Since then CAP takes place in 2 pillars, pillar 1 being income support, and pillar 2 being rural development with targeted and voluntary programs, which require co-financing from member states’ budgets. For the current finance period of 2014 through 2020, another major reform was decided in 2013 - the “Greening of the CAP”. This states that farmers wishing to obtain direct payments must comply with greening requirements, such as protection of permanent grassland (no ploughing up old grassland), crop diversification (no monocultures) and providing at least 5% ecological focus areas. It means that, in addition to the continued income support, farmers are now paid for delivering the public good “sustainable management of natural resources”. As the new system has only been introduced in Germany in 2015 it is too early to assess the impacts of the new CAP and its contribution to the reduction of environmental problems arising from agriculture in Germany.

Apart from other programs in the context of AgriEnvironment Measures as part of pillar 2 (rural development), a broad support is given to farms which turn to organic farming or continue to comply with its rules. Organic farming tries to come close to very traditional ways of farming in achieving a closed nutrient cycle on the farm based on own feed

and nutrients. It bans synthetic fertilisers and uses organically fixed nitrogen mainly in the form of manure or manure compost (green manuring with nitrogenfixing plants) instead. It also bans synthetic pesticides and prescribes the cultivation of lesser susceptible varieties and mechanical weed control measures instead. Furthermore, diverse and long crop rotations with many crop rotation links as well as intermediate crops and a limited, strictly land related stocking density (max. 2 cows/ha) are part of the requirements. Organic farming is seen as a particularly environmentally friendly way of farming, but it does not solve all problems.

One example is that it does not include a total ban of pesticides, but uses certain „traditional” pesticides including the heavy metal copper.

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As consumers are ready to pay more for “biological”/”organic”/”ecological” products, prices organic farmers can achieve are 25% to 75% higher than conventional product prices. Organic farmers spend up to 40% more on labour but have almost no costs for pesticides and very low costs for fertilizers. The main profit reducing factor are the much lower yields. For example in wheat conventional farms in Germany can achieve an average yield that is more than double the average yield of organic farms (7.3 tons/ha versus 3.3 tons/ha). Even though public subsidies for organic farms are much higher than those for conventional farms, in 2012 conventional farms overtook organic farms in terms of profit per labour unit.

With 805 million people lacking food worldwide, a growing demand for other uses of biomass in developing countries, a projection of 9 billion people in 2050, which requires an increase in agricultural production of 60%, the amount of challenges and solutions are yet to come. ■

How should we cope with parts of the Civil Society in developed Countries, who say they are „fed up“ with conventional agriculture and its high yields an mass production which leads to Pollution and non-sustainable use of natural resources?

Can organic farming with its low yield levels take over as a world wide standard?

How can organic farming which is based on a combination of animal production and crop production (closed nutrient cycle) cope with growing amount of “Vegan”Consumers, can it be based only on crop production?

Can traditional plant breeding develop new plants with higher yields and resilience to the challenges of climate change without using biotechnology?

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Product Portfolio Management – A Product Management perspective

SCENE

Long term, sustainable financial success is a common business target for companies, but how well is their profit creation analysed and managed?

Do companies know the products that are both strategic and profitable?

Product Management should be responsible of all products in companies and they should also be responsible in creating, introducing, maintaining and killing the products.

The motivation for the new Product Portfolio Management education and research

Arto Tolonen

University of Oulu, Finland

Head of Education in Mechanical Engineering

Harri Haapsalo

University of Oulu, Finland

Head of IEM

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Although product portfolio management has been a familiar topic in marketing related literature for ages, it has, however, concentrated on introducing products on markets. Maintaining and killing the products has had very little interest in literature. The industry has also been asking for systematic product portfolio management (PPM) practices. Growing product portfolios by innovation and product development initiatives in addition to mergers and acquisitions have typically exploded the product portfolios - more new products have been introduced than older products

have been killed. This phenomenon is seen a challenge especially in the infrastructure type of businesses.

Growing product portfolios as a number of product families, product configurations, product sales items including all technical structures and materials such as subassemblies and components increase the total costs of the company. Once the un-healthy product portfolio growth takes place with mature business or even within declining sales revenues, the profitability of the company is not only in risk but it will go down.

The majority of products will be unprofitable with decreasing sales revenue, growing costs and resource needs (figure 1).

Figure 1: The explosion of the product portfolio.

New Product Portfolio Management Education course and APPM project “Product Management Excellence (PxM) research team was taking their first steps in IEM Oulu few years ago.

On January 2013, a new “Active Product Portfolio Management project” (APPM) was started aiming for a new education and research area, Product Portfolio Management (PPM). The new PPM education and research theme was opened as a 5 ECTS course for master degree students in IEM in parallel with APPM project. IEM students have participated to the current state analysis of ten case companies and they have done already several course project works, bachelor and master thesis in PPM for the industry. Along research, a new international Master Degree Programme in Product Management was also launched in 2013.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

The APPM project creates the Product Portfolio Management Hand Book for the use of industry in addition to academic conference papers, journal articles, master thesis, doctor thesis and new education courses. APPM project was established as a joint PPM development project with six case companies but added by four additional case companies soon due their high interest for the PPM. Their interest was raised by three very fundamental questions: 1) What is the fundamental business target of the company?

■ “Long term sustainability and financial success” 2) From where the long term financial success comes?

■ “From products and services” 3) Which products and services are profitable?

■ “We do not know”

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This is an opportunity for IEM students to learn the PPM theory and practices already during the master degree studies and to consider if PPM related master thesis will open the doors to industry as a first position in career.

The first two questions were taken easily by case companies having a thought why to even ask these kind of very obvious questions. They might think if university researchers have lost in the basics of the business rationale. The third question opened the motive for the earlier two questions. The result of the current state analysis was dramatic: only one case company was able to report the product level profitability, nine case companies were able to report the sales revenue a higher sales entity level such as a business unit or product line only.

Product Portfolio Management - The missing Business Process – The opportunity for IEM Students In case companies the business processes such as Product Development, Marketing and Sales, Demand/ Supply Chain and even Service and Care processes are well organised as functions and described as process charts including the process targets and metrics.

However, none of the case companies have described and organised the product portfolio management in similar ways such as setting targets, key performance

indicators, tasks and responsibilities of the organisation and management.

The current state analysis of the case companies resulted to fundamental further questions in business process management. Why to run product development, marketing and sales, deliver and care processes without knowing which products are profitable? Unprofitable products might be even sold and delivered in high volumes assuming them to be the most important products for the company. The more unprofitable products are delivered, the more money is lost. If the long term sustainable profitability is the core target of their business, should the product portfolio management be executed and managed as systematically as any other business processes?

According to our study, the lack of product portfolio management practices is unfortunately a typical situation in the studied case companies (figure 2). On the other hand, this is an opportunity for IEM students to learn the PPM theory and practices already during the master degree studies and to consider if PPM related master thesis will open the doors to industry as a first position in career.

Figure 2: The missing Business Processes, Product Portfolio Management

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SCENE Product Portfolio Management over product life cycle phases and product structure levels The current state analysis, both in PPM literature review and case company analysis, focused on the PPM over product life cycle phases and product structure levels to enable the product portfolio renewal and to avoid the product portfolio explosion. The product portfolio analysis over a product life cycle can be seen as horizontal view and the product structure analysis as a vertical view of the product portfolio analysis.

Horizontally, the existing literature focuses on PPM only in New Product Development (NPD) phase. There are a lot of studies and related articles about the analysis and decision making in NPD phase as PPM targets, key performance indicators and processes. The later phases of the life cycle such as active sales and deliver life cycle, warranty and spare part life cycle and final product data archive life cycle are not covered. Vertically, analysing product structure levels, the “products” are discussed as generic objects without specifying them in more detail. The current literature in PPM does not cover the “product” as items and objects on the layers of the product structure well enough. The product

portfolio should be described and analysed from the highest level solutions to the lowest level of technical sub-assemblies and components. In modern business, services are taking bigger and bigger role, however, it is typical that these “products” are abandoned on their own. Services should not be different than products in systems sense (see also figure 2).

The horizontal dimension (figure 3) is required for the product portfolio renewal over product life cycle. The renewal should happen not only by introducing the new products into the portfolio but by moving the older products forward on their life cycle until the last step as product removal. The old products should be replaced by the new products and they should be sold only as spares. This creates the space for new products to reach the planned sales and delivery volumes. If the older products are left open simultaneously with new products the cannibalisation of the market shares can happen between the new and old products. The old product can stay even more dominant and the new product will never reach the planned sales revenues and business case.

Figure 3. Horizontal view of the product portfolio The vertical dimension (figure 4) analyses the product portfolio on each level of the product structure. The product portfolio challenges might be on the sellable levels of the items, on the side of commercial product structure or technical product structure. The sales

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recognition happens by the items on the commercial product structure such as solutions, product families, product configurations and product sales items. The cost of the product is generated by all product structure levels, both on commercial and technical structures.

The renewal should happen not only by introducing the new products in to portfolio but by moving the older products forward on their life cycle until the last step as product removal even as a data.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

SCENE

Figure 4. Vertical view of the product portfolio

PPM as a new Business Process As any other business processes the Product Portfolio Management concept requires certain preconditions until the activity can be managed as a process. The APPM project has created seven steps for the PPM development and implementation in case companies or any other industry. The seven steps are 1. Identification of current challenges and preconditions in PPM 2. Creation of strategic PPM targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) 3. Creation of product portfolio and sub-portfolios 4. Creation of PPM ownership and governance models 5. Creation of PPM processes and tools 6. Creation of data availability and PPM reporting capability 7. Implementation of the dynamic PPM and its connection to other business processes

The targets of the PPM are Strategic Fit and Value Maximisation of the products, and the Portfolio Balance.

The targets will be created according to the company strategy. The product portfolio and sub portfolio definitions need to be clear and consistent including nominated portfolio owners and governance model.

The PPM process and tools are then trained for PPM Management Board members, PPM Management Team members and for involved operative organisation. The last preparation activity is to get the right data for PPM analysis and decision making. The required data should be gathered via centralised product data management system which is integrated into product design tools, ERP, sales and care applications. After the completion of the preconditions, the dynamic and fact based PPM process can be taken in use. ■

Arto Tolonen Arto Tolonen received his MSc in engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland in 1992. He has over 20 years of experience in development of business processes and operative management of Design For Excellence product design principles and product data management in global companies. Today he acts as researcher, project manager and lecturer at IEM, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu Finland. His research interest is Product Management including Product Portfolio Management and Product Data Management over life cycle. His doctor thesis, “Product Portfolio Management Over Life Cycle”, will be finalised this year. In addition to IEM tasks, he acts as Head of Education in Mechanical Engineering.

Haarri Haapsalo Professor Harri Haapasalo is the Head of IEM in Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu. He has over 300 scientific publications in the field of IEM. He has supervised more than 300 Master’s thesis and 25 doctoral theses. He has been pre-examiner or opponent for doctoral thesis for other universities roughly 30 times. Currently he is supervising 20 doctoral candidates. He has research interests in Product Management including innovation management, product development, technology commercialisation and LEAN management in construction business.

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Disassembly for Remanufacturing: The Path to Sustainable Production

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From an Industrial Engineering or Management point of view, a great deal of effort and research goes into how to mass manufacture products.

Studied topics include design, production planning, scheduling, assembly line balancing, etc. The ever-increasing entrance rate of new products into the market and our desire to own these new products, leads all into a much shorter life span of manufactured products.

Mahmut Ali Gökçe

İzmir University of Economics

İzmir, Turkey

Our current manufacturing approaches are solely based on economical sustainability. The classical way of manufacturing is to use new (virgin) parts and material to make a new product. Estimates based on current rate of usage and recycling state that, we will run out of iron ore for processing within a century [1-3]. Similarly, copper is expected to run out just before 2050. The current growth-rates show that the global population will have doubled by 2072 [4], with a tenfold increase in resource consumption and waste generation [5]. It is the manufacturing industry that contributes greatly to both this consumption and waste generation.

Therefore, always using new parts and material seems practically unsustainable from an environmental perspective. A shift from traditional manufacturing approaches towards more high value-added sustainable manufacturing approaches is required. Inevitably, more and more attention is given to the fate of products at the end of their lives, known as “End-of-Life” (EOL) management and recovery options.

With the increase in public awareness towards environmental issues, new and stricter government regulations now make manufacturers fully accountable for End-of-Life (EoL) products that are sold in the market. The problem has become more serious with an increase in taxes and restriction on the landfill of solid waste.[6] Germany and the United States have already enacted new regulations on automotive and electronics manufacturers to be responsible for their products at the end of their life cycle [7]. These issues and regulations have forced many manufacturers to establish specific facilities for remanufacturing

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operations. Being the most environment-friendly and profitable product recovery option, remanufacturing has many advantages over other recovery options such as recycling, repairing or refurbishing [8].

Remanufacturing is an industrial process involving the conversion of used products into like-new condition [8]. It is one of the most important recovery options available for EOL items, as it turns out firms can turn these Mahmut Ali Gökçe Mahmut Ali Gökçe is a professor of Industrial Engineer at Izmir University of Economics. He holds BSc in IE from Bilkent University in Ankara, MSc in IE/OR and PhD from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC (USA). Prof. Gökçe has worked for apparel and automotive industry and has been working for Ford Motor Company before joining faculty at Izmir University of Economics. His research interests include disassembly systems, transient analysis of manufacturing systems and disaster operations management.

processes into an economical advantage [9]. Some of the best examples include Philips Healthcare’s medical imaging equipment and Caterpillar’s construction equipment for remanufacturing operations.

Because the aim of remanufacturing is to obtain as many recovered parts as possible, the disassembly system is one of the most important phases of remanufacturing systems (see figure). In disassembly systems, EOL products are systematically separated into their constituent parts, components, subassemblies

or other groupings to be used in remanufacturing, to recover broken parts or to dispose of environmentally threatening parts.

In disassembly systems, there are two main decisions that need to be made. The first one is determining the sequence of disassembly operations, which is called disassembly planning. Disassembly planning is a one-time decision and deals with the problem of determining the best sequence of disassembling a product into its parts.

If an effective disassembly sequence can be determined for a product, the disassembly tasks can be performed with minimum amount of resources (equipment, money, and time). Moreover, the quality of materials recovered and automation level of the disassembly process are increased [10].

Generally, an assembly that consists of many components can be decomposed via a multitude of sequences, which makes the selection of an optimum sequence a crucial topic in this field. The work on disassembly sequences has traditionally been performed for a variety of purposes. But, more recently, emerged emphasis on environmental performance of products during their complete life-cycle also induced applications of disassembly sequencing in (1) design and optimization of disassembly lines and (2) optimum product design regarding the product’s end-of-life phase.

The second decision in disassembly systems is to determine the quantity of items that will be disassembled with timing arrangements, which is referred as disassembly scheduling. Disassembly scheduling deals with the timing and ordering of disassembly of EOL products to satisfy the demand for parts over a planning horizon. Unlike disassembly planning, disassembly scheduling decisions have to be made for each planning horizon, based on demand, availability, capacity and other constraints. Disassembly sequence plan is one of the inputs of the disassembly scheduling.

Disassembly scheduling looks a lot like planning and scheduling for a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) system. In an MRP system, an advanced planning and scheduling solution (APS module), would determine when to order/manufacture parts and subassemblies, how many of which part to hold in inventory in order to minimise some cost. While in MRP, multiple part/ subassemblies are assembled to form a single end item, in disassembly, an end item is disassembled to obtain multiple parts with a certain demand. Having multiple end items, is called as divergence property of a disassembly scheduling problem.

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One other important difference is the issue of surplus inventory. Inevitable surplus inventory results from the situation where two or more different parts in disassembly structure are obtained by disassembling same parent item. Hence, this situation may lead to

a significant amount of inventory. Surplus inventory can be held to satisfy demand of future periods or, depending on the situation, it may be more profitable to dispose of the items for now and re-acquire more in the future, depending on the environmental and disassembly related costs. These possibilities and the divergent property of disassembling an item add more decision points and shows that disassembly scheduling problem characteristics are different from classical inventory/scheduling problems. For large scale disassembly and remanufacturing operations to be economically viable, better models and accompanying solution methods are needed.

The challenges involving disassembly systems are not limited to disassembly planning and scheduling.

Disassembly operations can be performed at a single workstation, in a disassembly cell or on a disassembly line. Although a single workstation is more flexible, a well-balanced disassembly line offers much higher productivity and is best-suited for automation. The disassembly line setting is most suitable for disassembly of large products or small products in large quantities.

Different from assembly line balancing, serious surplus inventory problems, a high degree of uncertainty in the

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SCENE

structure (number of a specific part in incoming items) and the quality of the products, much more complicated flow process and uncertainty factors associated with the reliability of the workstations make disassembly line balancing a uniquely challenging problem.

Finally, it is important to remember that the decisions you make early in the design process can ultimately affect how easily the designed products can be disassembled and recycled or reused. Design for Disassembly (DfD) is the process of designing products so that they can

easily, cost-effectively and rapidly taken apart at the end of the product’s life so that components can be reused and/or recycled. Some principles of DfD that can be incorporated include; using pure materials, accessible standardised fasteners, fewer parts, batteries and other electrical components that are easy to remove and using part labels. These improvements that designers make for the ease of disassembling a product often considers and even improve how that product is assembled in the first place. ■

1. Jorgenson JD: Mineral commodity summaries. 2011. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2011/mcs2011. pdf (2011). Accessed 02 February 2014.

2. World Steel Association: World steel in figures. 2011. http://www.worldsteel. org/media-centre/pressreleases/2011/wsif.html (2011). Accessed 02 February 2014.

3. Bureau of Internal Recycling: World steel recycling in figures 2006–2010: steel scrap - a raw material for steelmaking. http://www.bir.org/assets/ Documents/publications/brochures/aFerrousReportFinal2006-2010.pdf (2010).

Accessed 02 February 2014.

4. The World Bank: World development indicators. 2011. http://data.worldbank. org/data-catalog/worlddevelopment-indicators/wdi-2011 (2011). Accessed 02 February 2014.

5. Kumar V, Bee D, Tumkor S, Shirodkar P, Bettig B, Sutherland J: Towards sustainable “product and material flow” cycles: identifying barriers to achieving product multi-use and zero waste. In ASME 2005 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. Orlando, Florida:; 2005 6. Asif F.M.A., Bianchi C., Rashid A., Nicolescu C.M., (2012), Performance analysis of closed loop supply chain, Journal of Remanufacturing, 2012 2:4 7. Pnueli, Y. And Zussman, E., (1997) Evaluating the end-of-life value of a product and improving it by redesign, International Journal of Production Research, 35, (921-942) 8. Ilgin, M.A. and Gupta, S.M., “Remanufacturing Modeling and Analysis”, CRC Press / Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.A., 2012, ISBN 10: 1439863075, ISBN 13: 9781439863077, 9. De Brito, M. P. And Dekker, R., (2004) A framework for reverse logistics. In Dekker, R., Fleishmann, M., Inderfuth, K., and van Wassenhove, L. N., editors, Reverse Logistics: Quantitative Models for Closed-Loop Supply Chains, pages 3-27, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

10. Güngör A., Gupta S.M., Disassembly sequence plan generation using a branch-and-bound algorithm, International Journal of Production Research, V: 39: 3 Pages: 481-509

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Industrial Engineering and Management Students as the Leaders and Innovators of 2015 and Beyond

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Industrial engineering and management students are entering their field of at an exciting time. It is less common for the terms “engineer” and “manager” to be separated. Rather, the terms are being used together more and more.

As students, you are entering the field of industrial engineering and management at an exciting time. It is less common for the terms “engineer” and “manager” to be separated. Rather, the terms are being married together more and more. Large corporations realise the value of what societies like ESTIEM and the Society of Engineering and Management Systems (SEMS-IIE) offer: that the technological breakthroughs of engineers have to be considered in combination with the managerial prowess of business school graduates. This realisation is evident in many arenas.

Education: A recent New York Times blog1 discussed the need for a closer connection between management and engineering/technology, particularly in colleges and universities. Prestigious universities like Cornell and Israel Institute of Technology are partnering to create interdisciplinary educational programs that will leverage the best of what technology and business can offer.

And in the U.S., more colleges are starting engineering management programs targeted at engineering graduates who lack a managerial background.

In the Boardroom: Getting a degree in industrial engineering and management does not limit one to middle management positions. Chief executives of major corporations like Verizon and Microsoft have engineering backgrounds. The Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) recently interviewed Mark Wallace2, an industrial engineering graduate that is now the About the society The Society for Engineering and

Management

Systems

(SEMS) is the society within the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) that particularly supports IIE members as they seek to advance the state of engineering management practice and research. Besides advanced engineering skills, SEMS stimulates discussion and knowledge exchange related to management domains that are critical to advance your career, whether as an academic or a practitioner.

President of Global Logistics and Distribution at UPS, the largest shipment and logistics company in the world.

Mr. Wallace stated that “Over the years that I’ve been with UPS, and it’s been quite a few… I’ve actually been able to use my degree throughout my career.”

Disruptively Innovating: No longer is industrial engineering synonymous with incremental improvement. In another IIE article3, industrial engineer and professor Dr. Geoff Fernie was profiled for his leadership in the development of breakthrough About Wiljeana Jackson Wiljeana Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Technology, Operations, and Information Management. She currently teaches technology and operations management to undergraduate students. Prof. Glover studies healthcare and non-profit organizations to understand how continuous improvement approaches, coordination practices, service innovation, and complexity influence service delivery. She is also currently President-Elect of the Society of Engineering and Management Systems (SEMS) within the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). low-cost technology at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. The Institute develops these products and then creates startup businesses to get the product to people overcoming the challenges of disabling injury, illness or aging. The Institute also has a “Research Day” where a hundred one-minute presentations are given to showcase the innovations being created.

Creating Social Change: Manufacturing, management, and generosity combine for trendy One for One modeled companies. For example, shoe and eyewear company TOMS4 donates a new pair of shoes for a child in need for every pair purchased. Professors are also combining engineering and management principles to address societal issues. In my own classroom5, I teach management students to use hands-on learning and the Toyota Production System to improve nonprofit organisations, such as the Greater Boston Food Bank.

I hope these examples motivate you about our field.

Leverage your industrial engineering and management skills to realise your leadership aspirations and innovative ideas today! ■

[1] Steve Lohr (2014). “Management in a Digital Economy” New York Times. Published December 25, 2014.

[2] Monica Elliot and Mark Wallace (2014). “ Industrial Engineer WEB EXCLUSIVE: The best job ever.”

[3] David Brant (2015). “Let your inner engineer come out to help.” Industrial Engineer. Vol. 47 Issue 1.

[4] TOMS (2015). “One for One” [5] Rebecca Knight (2014). “A carmaker’s tricks oils non-profit wheels.” Financial Times. 28 September 2014.

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On the Advantages of Spending your Summer Abroad

ADVERTORIAL

Studying abroad can be a life-changing experience for many people, opening their eyes to new ways of life, promoting understanding and tolerance among different cultures, and appreciating what it’s like to move out of the comfort zone.

Cristina Santos Echevarría

Director of Development for Master Programs

IE Business School

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In today’s global society, there is an ever-increasing need to have that cross-cultural understanding in order to succeed in the workplace. While many undergraduates spend their summers away from their textbooks working at summer jobs back home to earn some extra money, it’s becoming increasingly popular to take some time out to study at Summer Schools abroad because of the opportunity to learn new skills and experience living in a foreign land, even for a short space of time.

Let’s look at the top 5 reasons why opting to take part in a Summer School abroad can get you ahead when it comes to graduating and starting your career.

1- LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF AND STRENGTHEN ADAPTABILITY, COMMUNICATIONS AND TEAM-BUILDING SKILLS One of the major benefits of leaving the comforts of your home and challenging yourself in a new environment is the chance to find out more about yourself and what type of person you really are. You will learn what you’re capable of, and you’ll be surprise at the strength of character you have to succeed in a foreign country. One of the major advantages of going to Summer School abroad is the chance to improve valuable life skills such as team building, communications and adaptability. At IE’s Summer School program, the first week will focus on these core skills needed wherever you end up and whatever professional path you decide to follow.

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2- LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE The ability to speak a second language is invaluable in the workplace these days. With so much transnational business taking place, the need to communicate with colleagues or clients based in all four corners of the globe is essential. English is the language of business, but Spanish, for example, is the third most spoken language worldwide and opens doors to work and travel in places that may never have crossed your mind before.

3- EXPAND YOUR WORLDVIEW Study abroad opportunities and have a profound impact on how students see the world. Not only will you be studying alongside people from different cultures and appreciating new ways of learning, but you’ll have your eyes opening to different ways of seeing the world overall – something that can have a positive impact on society as a whole as barriers are broken down and other points of view considered.

4- MAKE YOUR CV STAND OUT AND ENHANCE YOUR CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Employers today don’t just look at your grades when it comes to considering you for a job. They’ll ask themselves “How does this person deal with a challenge? Is this person adaptable? Can this person communicate with a variety of people?” While your friends back home may be having a blast by the pool or perhaps slogging away earning extra cash, you can keep one step ahead when it comes to longer-term

ADVERTORIAL

“

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

career planning. Choose an area of specialization on your Summer School program and get a deeper insight into the career path you’d like to consider. At IE, you can choose to specialize in International Business Law, International Relations or Entrepreneurship.

5- MAKE NEW FRIENDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD The Summer School environment is like no other.

Students from across the world come together in one

place to live and learn for a few weeks together. It’s not all about the studying though. There’s plenty of downtime to socialize, get to know the city you are living in, and most importantly of all, make new friends for life from across the world. In last year’s edition of the IE Summer School we welcomed students from 11 different nationalities that had the chance to enjoy Madrid’s night life and culture while studying in a top ranked international school, experiencing a lifechanging academic and personal experience. ■

For more information on the IE Summer School program check out the website www.ie.edu/graduate-summer-school or contact us iesummer.school@ie.edu.

“

My experience in IE Summer School started thanks to ESTIEM, as I was elected for a scholarship because they valued my work in this organization. The multicultural participants, skilled professors and interesting cultural activities were key to a fruitful experience where I met diverse people and learned from the best experts. I even had the chance to learn chinese! The two weeks I spent there changed the way I see the world, and even influenced my student life afterwards, as I chose to pursue some of the topics I discovered last summer. All in all, it was an outstanding experience that perfectly complements what ESTIEM offers us.

Francisco Galán González. ESTIEM Local Group Madrid IE Summer School 2014 student

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INSIDE ESTIEM

Introducing Board 2015 An interview by Board 2014 Teemu Metsola, ESTIEM Presidentt Interviewed by Nuno Carneiro, ESTIEM President 2014

One can hear the name “Teemu” all around Europe as a synonym for Thumbs Up… Please elaborate :) Last year during a name game I was prompted to do a movement that starts with the same letter as my first name. I went for the only thing that came to my mind, which was thumbs up. Immediately after me Timo Scholz went for the next best option, which was thumbs down. Due to our names apparently sounding similar these movements were then used throughout the event to identify us and to say if people agreed or disagreed. Surprisingly enough it spread like wildfire... even the receptionist at our hotel in Council Meeting Istanbul-Bogazici knows it!

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Tell us about your first ESTIEM event?

Ah, I should have seen this question coming. My first ESTIEM event was Europe3D Portugal in 2012, which was hosted by Local Groups Porto and Coimbra. During the event I had the pleasure of meeting a relatively new ESTIEMer called Nuno Carneiro. The event included many unforgettable things, such as port wine tasting (and the trip there). To this day the event is still the most memorable event I have attended.

What do you want to learn during this year in the ESTIEM Board? How do you see the Teemu in one year?

That is a tough question... Aside from being one year older, I’ll highlight the following: to have learned to deal with the high responsibility when leading others, to become more efficient whilst working, and to discover more about myself. Minor goals include polishing up my Bachata dancing skills with Marios and picking up a couple of useful Serbian phrases.

INSIDE ESTIEM

Lassi Uusitalo, Vice President of Activities Interviewed by Rade Pantelić, Vice President of Activities 2014

If you were a drink what drink would you be?

Probably an Irish Coffee. Coffee for energy and whiskey for a great companion for sophisticated discussions.

After this year what would you personally like to be remembered for?

I would like to be remembered as a person who strives for excellence in everything he is involved in, is not afraid to make hard decisions and inspires others to do the same. I would like to be remembered as someone who was always there for others whether it was about self-development, someone to have a drink with or just to offer a shoulder to lean on and listen to what is in the person’s mind. Simply put as a guy who you can rely on both on professional and personal level.

What is the most important item in your backpack?

My laptop. I would probably manage to do my emails with just my smartphone but if my laptop was stolen all of my other work would slow down tremendously.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Intercontinental consultant who specialises in advising European companies on how to expand their businesses to South American markets..

Felix Limper, Vice President of Education Interviewed by Esin Korel, Vice President of Education 2014

Tell us a bit about the moment when you really felt you belong in ESTIEM The first moment when I felt that I belong in ESTIEM happened a long time ago, in 2012. I was in the Council Meeting in Zlatibor, organised by LG Belgrade and before that I also participated in the Pre-CM in Budapest and Novi-Sad. 12 mind-blowing days for the ESTIEM-newbie Felix. At the last breakfast of that CM I was pondering for a while about the travel and the great experience. I guess in that very moment I realised that I belong here - in ESTIEM. How would describe your board in three words?

Diverse, open, hands-on.

If you were to be remembered as an ESTIEM board member for one thing only, what would that be?

I would like to be remembered as a friend. Just an ESTIEMer who you can approach any time whenever you have questions or a problem, or simply feel uncomfortable with anything.

As the 5th Vice President of Education of ESTIEM, how do you see ESTIEM’s role in shaping the future of IEM education and your role in positively affecting ESTIEM’s professional and academic profile?

As the biggest student network for IEM students in the world we have the opportunity to contribute to the development of IEM education. Our partners really appreciate our input in their projects and want to listen to our opinion. Also the other way around, it is great to count on the help of professors when shaping professional ESTIEM events. My position allows to focus on this and thus I can definitely say that there is a positive impact on ESTIEM´s professional and academic profile.

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INSIDE ESTIEM

Louise Berglund, Vice President of Administration Interviewed by Tibor Weigel, Vice President of Administration 2014

How do you see ESTIEM in 5 Years?

I see ESTIEM as a great network that is pushing and challenging students to reach their full potential both personally and professionally, creating everlasting friendships across Europe, giving students memories for life, working even harder and of course playing even harder and by spreading the ESTIEM spirit around the world we can be a role model for the rest of the world.

Who is the most Nordic within your Board?

Hmm, good question.... I would say that no one is really your typical Nordic person, we are quite international. But we all have our Nordic moments, even the non-Nordics!

Stefan Krstevski, Vice President of Finance Interviewed by Marija Turanjanin, Vice President of Finance 2014

It’s the second year that there is a boardie from the Balkans, let’s assume it becomes a trend. How do you see the above having an influence on the situations in the peninsula?

The Balkan Peninsula survived many bad happenings in the past century. Some of us witnessed awful wars of which we can still feel the consequences. These happenings influenced the self-confidence of the countries’ youth in a negative way. Still, young people without enthusiasm, full of disappointment manage to take an active role in their societies. If this becomes a trend, I strongly believe that we can encourage our friends that everything is possible, that if we really work hard, we can achieve anything!

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You were having an Erasmus exchange in the federal state of Bavaria.

Can you now tell the difference between Bavarians and the rest of the Germans (Preißn)?

Well I have visited many parts of Germany and I really like the country as a whole, but Bavaria, or Munich, is of course my favourite part of Germany. Not only do they have the best football team in Germany and have the best beer but an amazing culture and atmosphere that I really enjoy. There is nothing like a coffee or weißbier at café Vorhoelzer on a sunny day!

What do you like to do in your free time, after working for ESTIEM? Well, ESTIEM does take up most of my time these days, and when I am not doing some school assignments I enjoy spending time with my friends, go for a fika, watch TV series, go for a walk in the park to get my mind of things and do some cooking. At the moment I do not really have time for hobbies but after this year I think it is time to find something to replace ESTIEM, at least time wise.

If you had unlimited resources for one day, what would you do?

Since the beginning of this year I’ve had the chance to visit many countries and cities, I experienced beautiful landscapes and breathtaking views. I am truly happy and thankful for these opportunities. However the injustice in our times is still something that saddens me a lot, homeless people, sick kids, wars etc. That’s why, If I had unlimited resources for one day, I would travel as quickly as possible from one place to another, donating money to the people that really need it.

What is the most significant dream you had as a child?

Haha...The delegates from Council meeting Budapest may remember what I said during my presentation: I had a dream to represent my country at the Junior Eurovision. Guess what, the dream became reality, this is a perfect example that shows us that with hard work and zeal we can even accomplish our wildest dreams!

INSIDE ESTIEM

Marios Kiriakidis, Vice President of Public Relations Interviewed by Sorana Ioniță, Vice President of Public Relations 2014

Image consistency, my initial reaction is usually something between the lines “Oh boy...” However, this phase usually doesn’t last long.

The following actions aim to fix the situations. Conclusion: You’ll make me very happy by reading the Corporate Image Guidelines before publishing your next file!

Tell ESTIEMers a little bit about yourself and your German background.

How did it influence you positively?

Well, I was born and raised in Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia.

I lived there for 13 years until the first year of middle school, after that my family and I moved back to Greece. It’s not a misconception that Central Europe located countries are, to a greater extent more rational and discipline oriented than Southern Europe countries in which people tend to take things emotionally. For me it’s inarguable that empathy is just as important as structure and discipline for both our Social and Professional lives. I feel very lucky for having witnessed and inherited both cultural mindsets.

Why do you like mushrooms? Tell us the story about branding yourself and the PRC with Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros elements.

This goes way back. It all started probably due to the similarity between my name and Nintendo’s hero, Super Mario. Now, specifically regarding the mushrooms as you may know, the Mario series take place in the Mushroom Kingdom (How cool is that?), where all sort of Mushrooms grow while each of them has a unique effect. Which basically brings us to the Public Relations Committee’s Coordination Meeting of last spring. During one session we were thinking of a concept for stickers, we came up with all sorts of catchphrases and ideas. In the end we had to choose between the Red Mushroom (Increases the size of Mario) which could represent growth/development or the Green Mushroom (Get a life) which you would gain by joining the Committee! “smiles” Not to mention, they are delicious! ■

How often do you encounter the misuse of the ESTIEM logo and other corporate image elements and what is your reaction to it?

Sadly, too frequently. Since I am very fond of ESTIEM’s Brand/

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Local Group Cambridge’s recent progress

INSIDE ESTIEM

LOCAL GROUP CAMBRIDGE

Keno Mario

Local Group Cambridge

Local Group Cambridge was created as one of the early local groups of ESTIEM, its members and faculty have played a key role in the wider ESTIEM Network.

Especially Dr Jim Platts who is a patron and supporter of ESTIEM, as well as one of the founding member of EPIEM (European Professors of Industrial Engineering and Management). Based in the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) in West Cambridge, members of LG Cambridge study a mixture of technical and management modules such as Industrial Systems, Manufacturing, Automation, Operations Management, Finance, Strategy, Marketing and Policy. The syllabus is fast paced and students are taught through a combination of lectures, workshops as well as industrial projects.

Cambridge is most widely known as the home of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 and consistently ranked one of the top five universities in the world. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King’s College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library.

Today, Cambridge is at the heart of the hightechnology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city. Its economic strengths lie in industries such as software and bioscience, many start-up companies having been spun out of the university. Over 40% of the workforce have a higher education qualification, more than twice the national average. Cambridge is also home to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the largest biomedical research clusters in the world.

THINKING DIFFERENTLY In January 2015, ESTIEM LG Cambridge welcomed 25 students from across Europe to the IfM for an event entitled “Thinking Differently”. Through a program of lectures, discussions, workshops and excursions our visitors were able to discover how people and companies in Cambridge are changing the world through Thinking Differently.

THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE The city of Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia, on the River Cam, about 80 kilometres north of London. It has a population of 123,867 (including 24,488 students).

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There were lectures from companies such as ARM who have revolutionised the semiconductor industry through their partnership ecosystem, Azuri Technology who have brought affordable solar power to some of the poorest people in Africa through their technology and pay-as-you-go model, Vitsoe with their alternative approach to furniture and CUER with their

INSIDE ESTIEM

revolutionary solar car design. There were also talks from Cambridge academics including the IfM’s Jim Platts, Tim Minshall and Bill O’Neill.

A tour of the city, punting and visits to the renowned colleges, pubs and restaurants of Cambridge were a fitting finale to a week together.

A series of more hands-on group based workshops such as the Marshmallow Challenge and The Production Game enabled our guests to start applying some the Thinking Differently principles in a more competitive environment. Testing their teamwork and creativity, we were able to see novel solutions and approaches developed for the challenges with the winning teams more often than not being those with more unconventional strategies.

FUTURE PLANS

Apart from sharing in educational experiences and approaches, it was also important for our guests to sample some of the Cambridge traditions and culture.

Our future plans are to continue growing the interest and activity of our local group, which has grown from two interested members in July 2014 to 16 actively interested members at present. We are also aiming to increase the number of members travelling to meet other LGs and attending events.

Aiming to take part in TIMES next year and if possible, depending on the availability and funding of next year’s team, potentially host another event in Cambridge.

This will be decided by the new team when they take over. ■

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Forum 20-80 visits the Council Meeting in Budapest

INSIDE ESTIEM

Many ESTIEMers are waiting for the Council Meeting every half a year to meet up with their friends from abroad, share their activities and above all, have FUN! At every CM there are some guests, joining the council and having a different point of view on the CM. Four months before the Council Meeting, Ori Loval, one of the five founders of Forum 20-80 and the Vice President of Public Relations, was trying to find similar organisations outside Israel, thinking there might be a big potential in working with international students.

While he was searching, he found ESTIEM, which Josh Cohen

Forum 20-80 Co-Founder

sounded like only a buzz word to him. During the next leaders meeting of Forum 20-80, he raised up the topic by saying: “Hi guys, look I’ve found a very interesting organisation which is pretty similar to ours, it is called E-S-T-I-E-M. As much as I know, it sounds like they coordinate all IEM students in Europe and I find it very relevant for us to cooperate with them. Firstly, I believe we can learn a lot from their experience and secondly I see great future potential in us having joint activities”. That sounded pretty cool for the audience, so Ori took his initiative one step further contacting Nuno Carneiro, the president of ESTIEM in 2014, who invited Forum 20-80 representatives to join the Council Meeting in Budapest in November 2014.

About Forum 20-80 Forum 20-80 is the Industrial Engineering and Management student forum of Ben Gurion University in Negrev, Israel. It was founded in 2013 and is managed by the Forum committee: Yotam Tzuker, Ori Loval, Shai Yehezkel and Shuki Cohen. Created as a nonprofit volunteer organization, the 20-80 Forum is staffed by students and serves the student population. Some of the Forum’s activities include organizing field trips, discussions and other events. The Forum puts an emphasis on building a career and connection to the businessindustry world, as well as firsthand experience as a supplement for academics.

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Forum 20-80 is a student organisation, established by a couple of initiators about one year ago at the BenGurion University in the city of Beer Sheva, Israel. They thought there was something missing in their studies, other than lectures and exercises. They were willing to find the relations and connections between the academic theory and the industry – the “real world” – all with great appreciation to the IEM profession.

The Forum’s vision is to enrich Ben-Gurion University IEM students with creating a community, develop academy-industry relations and giving added value.

The entrepreneurs aimed pretty high and have made it by far: Last year they launched seven IEM-oriented company visits at industries factories such as Coca Cola, Unilever and Intel, having informal meetings with Senior managers, organising an annual conference with a very respected professional panel and an audience of 250 students, which is 30 percent of all students at the IEM department of the university, and many more. The forum is conducted of functional teams . Each team has its own projects and tries to involve as many students as possible.

As mentioned before, Forum 20-80 is activating at the Ben Gurion University which is in Beer Sheva city located in the Negev desert of Israel. Israel is a little country (as the size of Crete) in the Middle East, well known for being an innovative place which hosts the R&D facilities of IBM, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Yahoo and the list can go on. It is a very attractive place for the most technological companies in the world, and therefore, it is called “The Start-Up Nation”. In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest amount of start-up companies in the world.

“

Council Meeting was an inspirational and life changing experience!

INSIDE ESTIEM

One can study IEM in Israel at thirteen institutions, and four of them are universities with approximately 10,000 students. Ben Gurion University is the best place in Israel to drink, party and study and Beer Sheva has the best college atmosphere and is known for its nightlife.

When Yotam Tzuker and Joshua Cohen came to the CM in Budapest in November, they did not have many expectations, which made their experience a great surprise. On the first day they joined an update meeting and the first feel they had was shock. The very well organised council meeting and the perfect order the council ran made a big impression. It began with the very nice welcome kit with everything needed to survive the CM nicely, the chairperson managing time table with zero lateness, very professional presentations and speakers. Even the stopwatch running on the screen during the breaks surprised them.

The second big surprise Josh and Yotam discovered was the ESTIEM spirit. They could feel the energy in the air! The songs, dances, stickers, Europe3D sunglasses, common language and of course the ESTIEM anthem reminded them of the good and active days when they were kids at a youth movement. The spirit was definitely the best part being at the CM, and it made

a good impression on them about ESTIEMers as being the cool European students who are not willing to give up on their social life while studying.

During the Council Meeting, the Israeli guys thought to their selves “Wow! What an amazing thing these European students have in their hands! An organisation that is giving them many opportunities to meet and hang out with international students, learning from each other to be a better IEM engineer, many lowcost activities, all of it without forgetting to have great fun with each other. We should definitely learn from them, cooperate and keep in touch with these amazing people!”.

On the last day, they presented Forum 20-80 to the respectful audience after they had been advised by professionals and had some rehearsals. They shared their story as the initiators of Forum 2080 and proposed some joint opportunities such as hosting a Business Booster event and Israeli students participating in an Academic days.

A Forum 20-80 group meeting was held one week after they returned to Israel. Josh and Yotam were telling their stories from abroad, talking about it as if it was a dream. When Forum’s members asked them how was it, they answered “Inspirational and a life changing!” with a big smile on their faces. No doubt, Yotam and Josh will remember the CM for a long time, and ESTIEMers will remember them as the two Israelis who came to explore and show them how lucky they are to be ESTIEMers. ■

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

37

Reconstructing ESTIEM’s History piece by piece

INSIDE ESTIEM

Jonas Frimmer

ESTIEM Book Project Leader

Local Group Karlsruhe, Budapest

After a long and difficult road behind us, the ESTIEM Book Project is close to come to an end. The work of two and a half years is slowly coming together, and I am caught between euphoria and last minute panic.

Following and pushing such an idea for two and a half years is a very exhausting task, but at the same time very satisfying. I had the privilege to learn many small and big things about ESTIEM, especially about the spirit in which it was created, about the transformation it took over time, and also about the ideas and values that have always remained the same. I also learned a lot about myself, especially about my weaknesses both in leading a team and in working for myself. At this point, even though work is not yet done by far, I will still allow myself to take a look back to see how the Book itself developed and what I learned about ESTIEM and its history. It is a small peek behind the work of gathering all the stories and trying to giving them the proverbial red threat.

These days, the content is safely stored in around ten different places just to make absolutely sure that no disaster happens just before the end, statistics and images are being created and sorted, and the design is also advancing step by step. When you get to read this, you should also be already able to hold an ESTIEM Book in your hands. That was our promise from the beginning, our goal and our deadline.

Whether we make this deadline or not is nowadays more questionable than ever before, not because we wouldn’t get the Book done in time but because of the printing questions, which I have pushed too far away, assuming a quicker supply time. If we won’t manage to supply CM Baltics with Books yet, I would like to issue my sincerest apologies for this delay. On a more positive note, we managed to assemble a great pool of information, fun facts and stories about ESTIEM, and I think we can say we put together a holistic and accurate picture of ESTIEM and its development over the years, as well as about its current state.

Gathering the data was not an easy task though. The most exciting, and the most time consuming task, was certainly the history work: in an initial study already in 2012, we contacted all the former Board members and asked for their willingness to contribute by writing an article about their year. The responsiveness surprised me in a positive way, a few month later we had established contact to more than 80% of the former Boards and they all were positive about the idea and about helping out. This foundation also encouraged us to apply for making the ESTIEM Book a Project, thus committing to the execution. When we then tried to collect the stories, things took a turn to the worse.

Only very few Boards answered our mails any more, and stories didn’t come in at all for quite a long time.

We responded to this with a two-pillar strategy: first

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

get alumni to contact alumni. A lot of them succeeded in which we miserably failed: in encouraging the former Board members to actually get together and write their ESTIEM story. At this point, we need to especially thank Martin Schönbeck, former ESTIEM Alumni president, who helped us getting the story from an entire ESTIEM generation.

The second pillar was writing by ourselves: going through all the old magazines, all the old CM minutes, and all the old annual reports in order to gain enough knowledge to write the articles ourselves. First, of course, we needed to identify those things. For example, during the Council Meeting Eindhoven we sat down for four hours or more, scanning old CM minutes and old newsletters. Another time, Jonas Enlund and I went to Berlin, where we, together with the LG, went through their archive, looking for relevant old documents. Once this was done, we sat down and read and wrote. In many cases, the stories were already there themselves: wonderful articles in the magazine, filled with fun anecdotes and interesting insights into the life of an ESTIEMer at that time: for example the “Via Baltica”, an adventure road trip by LG Helsinki through the Baltic states in 1992, which at that point had just gained their independence from the former Soviet Union. Or how Frank Wunderlich got left behind at a highway parking lot somewhere in Eastern Europe in 1994 on a Vision study tour, without passport, money or even his jacket, and how he nevertheless managed to get to Vienna on his own. There were also stories about the development of central ESTIEM, the hunt for the first head sponsor, ESTIEM’s pioneering work in studying abroad, the foundation of Vision and TIMES (the first semi-final in Stockholm that had a budget five times as high as ESTIEM’s annual budget of that year), and the first Summer Academy. For some years around the turn of the centuries, it was however very difficult to find material. No former Board member responded through any channel, magazines, CM minutes, and even the annual reports were lost. Those were the dark

INSIDE ESTIEM

years of ESTIEM, the undocumented, secret time. It is also a very little known fact that this is already the second ESTIEM Book: in 1995 two Finnish ESTIEMer were convinced to create a booklet about the first five years and the development of the organisation. This was not only an extremely informative source, but also a great read, written in a funny, direct language, with the right mixture of factual information and side anecdotes.

This booklet became in many ways, except for the size, a role model for the Book we were creating.

Sometimes the writing on our own also went bad, for example when I sent a former Board the article I wrote about the year before their reign. I received a somewhat irritated email, stating that some of the points mentioned were not objectively represented and that the Board that wrote this had a one-sided view. Of course we adjusted these misinterpretations that simply happen when you base the article on your interpretation of a limited amount of sources given.

By now, we are however positive that our quality management system found and eliminated all major mistakes and faults in the Book.

One of the most interesting realisations was how some things remained the same over those 25 years, despite the rapid turnover of actives in ESTIEM. Even though the organisation is now working in a completely different way than it was 20 years ago, some issues, some discussions, some visions have always stayed the same: for example the question about what an IEM curriculum is and where the border is to be drawn. This issue has sparked drama from the formation of ESTIEM on, through the 90s up until the 49th Council Meeting last autumn in Budapest. Another eternal issue is the balance of work hard and play hard. The focus seems to have shifted over time, also always subject to the interpretation of the Board, but it was always agreed that ESTIEM should offer something for everyone – whether it is parties, IEM education, soft skills and team work, or maybe hooking up – also an eternal element of ESTIEM events resulting in several ESTIEM couples already being married with children. The first secondgeneration ESTIEMer is yet to join, according to our knowledge. That could mark the beginning of ESTIEM dynasties.

With all the talk about the history of ESTIEM, it should also not be forgotten what we did about ESTIEM today and what broad support we encountered over those years. Both Local Responsibles and Project, Committee, and Initiative Leaders were overall very generous in investing time to write a high quality, interesting article.

They almost never made it in time for the first deadline though, but – with very few exceptions – all the people answered and provided us with a good article. Another interesting task was to find a line between harmonising

those articles to a common writing style and leaving room for the different writing style to represent the diversity of ESTIEM. We went for an approach in which we gave almost unlimited possibilities for the Locals Groups to present themselves in an interesting way, while we standardised the P/C/I-articles much more to a common writing style and structure. The proofreading and fact checking were the last layer on the texts. Now it is only left to put them into the prefabricated design templates for the Book, sort them in the already agreed order and, as mentioned, figure out the printing solution.

Looking back at this time, I learned a lot of things for myself. First of all, I personally realised that 2 ½ years for leading an ESTIEM Project are simply too long. There is a very good reason why we hand over our responsibilities after one year, and I don’t want to exclude the possibility that the Book work would have gone smoother, and maybe better, if I had handed the lead over to someone else in 2014. On the other side, for me personally, the long commitment was a very interesting experience, especially about myself and how I interpreted my role over the time and how I reacted to challenges. I found a lot of weaknesses on myself, but not by just doing it, but by actively reflecting about what I could have done better and what I learned from each task. I experienced the bad conscience and panic of being inactive, just as the satisfaction of getting work done, the fun of creating and advancing, just like the frustration of waiting for email-answers, waiting for articles several days after the third deadline extension. I am grateful for the many, many mistakes I was allowed to make here, for the many things I could screw up. And I am happy I could be in the centre of ESTIEM for 2 years, and work with four different Board Responsibles. Which quite likely could also be my very own little record in ESTIEM. ■ 2012

Idea

2013

2014

L. CM

CM Eindhoven

Teambuilding Identifying sources Evaluating sources

XLVIII. CM

Approaching Alumni

Collecting pictures Collecting stories First Structure Master Design Business Case

Proofreading Final structure Design of the Book Print + buffer

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

39

IFISO Meeting

INSIDE ESTIEM

Nuno Carneiro

ESTIEM President 2014

Local Group Porto

The IFISO network has been very important for ESTIEM

these meetings a special atmosphere. Having attended

over the years as the contact point with a lot of other

the last two meetings representing the ESTIEM Board

student organisations. Because of its informal nature,

2014, I can say they were among the most fun events

the form and function of IFISO has been different over

I took part in, due to the other interesting students I

the years and it is hard to get to know its history.

have met there.

IFISO’s roots go back to the nineties, as most student

IFISO also has a small Management Team which I am

organisations were created in the wake of the end of the

a part of during this semester. This team is elected

cold war. However, the current format of IFISO started

at every meeting to take over the responsibility of

around 2005 when European student organisations

coordinating the next meeting and facilitating the

gathered efforts to ensure more support from the

communication channels during the following months.

European Union. The activities of this network consist

As myself, many other ESTIEM Boardies have been

of the facilitation of communication between student

members of the IFISO Management Team, a reminder

NGOs through email lists and live meetings with the

of the importance that ESTIEM has been having for

main aim of sharing best practices, fostering common

IFISO over the years.

projects and also very important: pure networking.

The future of the IFISO network will definitely be linked The IFISO meetings take place twice a year for three

to the future of its member student organisations and

to four days and gather about 20 different NGO

to the collaborative projects they will develop together.

representatives. The attendants are usually in the

But one thing seems to be sure: ESTIEM will continue to

board of the respective organisations, being very

play a leading role to ensure the sustainability of IFISO.

energetic and motivated youth leaders, which grants

Bogdan Rakic

IFISO Meeting Project Leader

Local Group Belgrade

Could you imagine ESTIEM’s Leaders’ Coordination

many things are familiar, this three-day action-packed

Meeting, but instead of P/C/I leaders, the participants

event does have a special atmosphere, that is hard to

are the leaders of international student organisations?

put in words. Unique people with unique backgrounds

If you can, it can give you a slight impression about

and various experience but the same goal – to share

what IFISO Meeting is. Informal Forum of International

knowledge and foster networking. Even though the

Student

initiative

areas of activity of all organisations are different, the

that gathers more than 25 international student

Organisations

is

an

amazing

challenges they face are the same – how to recruit

organisations to mutually share their best practices,

effectively, alumni management, fundraising, knowledge

experiences and collaboration opportunities. As well as

management, etc. And those meetings allow them to

ESTIEM facilitates networking of IEM students Europe-

teach each other how to face those challenges better.

wide, IFISO tends to connect students on a global scale,

The only bad thing about being the organiser is that

regardless of their field of study.

you know that there will not be another opportunity to experience IFISO in the same way. It was an honor

Thanks to the engagement of our former president,

to host the most engaged international students and to

Csaba Hartmann, the organisation of Autumn IFISO

contribute to the development of the concept of IFISO

Meeting 2014 was allocated to ESTIEM and LG

– an opportunity I am very grateful for. Nuno Carneiro,

Belgrade. As an active ESTIEMer, I had quite some

as a member of IFISO Management Team will have the

opportunities to organise international events and get

chance to bring IFISO even further. I wish a lot of luck

addicted to their energy. But being the organiser of the

and I have no doubt it will be a success! ■

IFISO Meeting is indeed something special. Although 40

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

Do you know what did ESTIEM get for Christmas? A brand new Ambassador!

INSIDE ESTIEM

A new strategic position in ESTIEM

Alina Afanasjeva ESTIEM Ambassador Local Group Saint Petersburg

Every December has its magic. Imagine yourself, waking up on Christmas morning, having only one thought in mind. The thought of something warm, sparkling, beautifully wrapped waiting for you underneath the Christmas tree. Think about the excitement when opening the colourful boxes you finally find something you were dreaming to get! Unforgettable, right? But did you know, that ESTIEM also received its present in December by the board 2014?

In the end of last year ESTIEM president 2014 Nuno Carneiro, Local Group Porto, made the idea of implementing the position of ESTIEM Ambassador come true. This initiative was launched with the goal of establishing and fostering relationships between ESTIEM and other student NGOs in Europe and the rest of the world in order to enrich personal and professional development of the fellow members.

The core tasks of ESTIEM Ambassador include: ■

Maintaining the ongoing collaborations of ESTIEM with other student NGOs;

■

Developing new sustainable and mutually beneficial collaborations between ESTIEM and

other student NGOs;

■

Monitoring and encouraging the collaborations between ESTIEM C/P/Is and partnering NGOs;

■

Creation and regularly updating all the relevant framework documents;

Thus, the open call sent found its applicant and soon I, Alina Afanasjeva, Local Group Saint-Petersburg, was honoured to become ESTIEM’s very first Ambassador.

“

The start was very dynamic, many things were done in January, however there are many more things to accomplish through the year. For example, an ESTIEM collaboration matrix has to be created, analysed and used. Secondly, many more chats and joint project initiatives will be facilitated by the Ambassador through this year. Thirdly, some people will be sent to represent ESTIEM at external events. To do this right, an ESTIEM Delegate brochure will be created and handed out to them.

I believe this position is very important for ESTIEM and can be seen as Christmas magic

The first month of my work was accompanied by multiple handover chats with the board 2014 and the new board 2015. It was followed by a row of introductory chats with ESTIEM partnering NGOs, such as BEST and EESTEC. The basic framework documents and folders were sorted out and created and are now easily accessible to every ESTIEMer. Some new projects, such as “Innovation in Healthcare: ORCHID Project” and “Science goes to school” were launched by our new European partners with an active participation by ESTIEM. Last but not least, the Ambassador goals for the year were set.

I believe this position is very important for ESTIEM and can be seen as Christmas magic. Judge for yourself. The biggest gift for self-development and personal growth is new experience. This experience can be gained through meeting various people, being different from us and having unlike views, thoughts, and backgrounds.

All this can be shared with ESTIEMers by other student NGOs, by our partners and friends. The ESTIEM Ambassador is, in fact, bringing these two elements together granting every ESTIEM kid its long awaited Christmas gift! ■

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

41

Young and successful

INSIDE ESTIEM

No doubt it’s a tough life being an entrepreneur. A lot of problems and obstacles can appear on the way to realising your dream. What is most difficult? Who will support you? And how do you combine the “working hard” regime with normal life?

Julia Mukhamedzianova

Local Group Saint Petersburg

On these and some other questions I was trying to find an answer with a good friend of mine, Xavier Iyke Padre-Pio, young and ambitious man who never gives up on his goals. I am absolutely sure that a bright future awaits him. Despite the fact that he is just 24 years old, he is currently participating as a shareholder in 5 different companies. We first met with the help of ESTIEM during the Europe 3D project in Russia, since then I cannot stop being surprised by his achievements.

So Xavier, can you tell us more about yourself ? Some memorable childhood moments?

I was born in Lagos, Nigeria but grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. My academic life is such of a long story but in short, I have 2 Bachelor degrees and a Masters degree and I am currently busy with a PhD focusing on Enhancing Sustainable Development in Africa. My childhood most memorable moment would be when I got accepted into the military high school for smart individuals.

Tell more about what are you doing now? How you decided to open your own business?

Currently, I am busy with my PhD and as an entrepreneur I am participating in various companies. I decided to start up my own company after my masters.

I was on a trip to Japan and I thought about the so many problems low-socioeconomic groups and individuals go through in Africa. Living in the Netherlands, I believed I was in the perfect position to bring positive change and jobs to people in Africa as it can be difficult to visualise a problem when you don’t experience what so many Africans are going through at the moment.

Can you tell a bit more about your companies?

The first is a consulting company in the Netherlands that assists Dutch and EU companies to find their way in Africa and obtain larger ROI as most of these companies obtain negative and irrelevant information over the internet that affect their decisions to invest in a fast growing continent.

The second one is a sustainable innovation company focused on assisting African entrepreneurs and their products to make it in the main stream from process of idea generation to product development and market penetration. What this company does is very important because it takes into account the low socioeconomic groups so that they can be able to afford products that are sustainable.

As I know, you are studying in the Netherlands. Why have you chosen exactly this country?

I was looking for a cold, rainy country to move to and I was accepted to numerous universities for my masters.

However, the University of Twente in the Netherlands was most appealing to me.

I have to ask you: how did you learn about ESTIEM? Which was your first event?

During my Bachelor study in Cyprus, I saw an ESTIEM poster in my department and I sent a message to the e-mail address written on the ad and the rest is history.

My first event was in 2011 in Novi Sad, Serbia. It was an amazing event where I made my first ESTIEM friendships. The funny situation about this event was the fact that I have never actually went to a festival. I was so in love with the city so I decided to mainly spend my time exploring it.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

The third is an energy company in Nigeria focused on the implementation of renewable energy and creating awareness as not so many Africans are knowledgeable in this area.

The fourth is also a company focused on monetising waste and creating social entrepreneurs to clean and protect their communities and the fifth and last one is the development company in Cape Town, South Africa.

What is your main dream/ goal and which steps you are making towards it?

I would love to someday lead my country to a better path and my involvement in all these projects and companies are a clear path towards the realisation of that goal.

INSIDE ESTIEM

I assume it is hard to keep on working, which obstacles appear on your way?

I know that you do not have much free time, but what do you prefer to do when you find some?

There are numerous obstacles. It is even harder if you don’t have experience. However, I believe that experience can be gained through hard work, dedication and enthusiasm. The most difficult obstacle I went through was associating myself with people who seem motivated at the beginning but when it gets tough, they are nowhere to be found. Also the Dutch rules for entrepreneurs from outside the EU/EEA region can be very frustrating. However, we never give up as time does not wait for me.

It is always nice to discuss ideas and business with my friends. I also love playing basketball.

Is it easier to work with friends or people whom you didn’t know before?

I would say this definitely depends on the situation.

However, if I am to start a new business I will select someone I don’t know. As when complications arise with a friend, that could damage the relationship and that is something that shouldn’t come between friends.

Of course there are people who are by your side and help you to achieve your goals, who supports you the most except for your family?

Well, my professors also assist me in my company work when I need their help. I have a couple of friends who assist me and provide advice when I need it. I am grateful to Max Steinmetz for all the connections and to my friend from Bulgaria Pavel Cholakov for all the support.

Do you have some advices for our readers according to your experience?

Do whatever you want to do, and you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even if it leads you off the well-worn path and that will make all the difference. Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Don’t be trapped by dogma: which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice.

You have got to find what you love and that is true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle.

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. ■

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

43

We do it better

INSIDE ESTIEM

There had always been a recurring joke whenever I would meet one of the ESTIEM oldies. A question of sorts. One I never really wanted to discuss, but just got it out there in the open and waited for it to unfold itself, invoking good memories, infamous stories and jests of old.

“Is there life after ESTIEM?” we’d often ask. For those of us who had passed that threshold, the answer is finally clear.

Milan Djordjevic

ESTIEM Alumnus

Local Group Belgrade

A NEW CHAPTER

ESTIEM VS. THE OFFICE

Finishing my studies was one of the best things that happened to me. There, I said it. But don’t get fooled by this relief. The four university years (five years if you count the Master studies), boring as they might have been at times, were the years of self-discovery and selfacknowledgment. It is just that I am glad all the future learning in my life will not include mandatory literature, papers due and classes.

I got a job a few months after graduating from my Bachelor studies (hadn’t called quits on ESTIEM just yet). These are some important points that made me question if I had really gotten a job, or I had been in some kind of a parallel universe where I had still been a part of ESTIEM.

Getting a degree is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, those previously mentioned scholar activities are no more, but on the other, there are no more rules, no schedules, no clearly defined points such as not failing your exam, finishing the junior year and quoting the sources in the right format. And that can get unnerving.

Luckily for me (and for the most of you who have read the ESTIEM Magazine as some point of your lives), there was one trick others didn’t have – for entering this new corporate chapter of adulthood you had to work hard and play hard. And it was something I had already mastered.

■ Infobip Academy – Before getting to the office, I was sent with 15 future colleagues from all around the world (all of similar age) to a small coastal town in Croatia. We were to be there for one month under a mentoring programme, going through the company’s organisation and processes, singing in the evenings and enjoying the local wines. One of the colleagues was Han from LG Karlsruhe. The programme’s name was Infobip Academy. The only thing missing was the right season – it was in January instead of summer. We did good.

■ Life in the office – There are teams, spreadsheets, Skype calls and chats, team buildings and feedbacks, e-mails and more e-mails. No surprises there.

■ Education and trainings – There were no Working Groups, but I did my fair share of educating new employees on the company and the projects. They often asked me whether I had lived abroad and if I had previous experience. I mostly smiled and said ‘ESTIEM’.

Milan and his brother Jovan

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

■ Human diversity – People don’t really change that much once they grow up. They just adapt to one another, learn how to listen, ignore, or simply co-exist.

Student archetypes became office archetypes - the nervous ones are still nervous, patient ones still patient, loud ones loud, lazy ones even lazier.

■ Deadlines and challenges - The way we face deadlines, changes and crisis is something that stays the same no matter if we talk about Vision’s new topic, Magazine’s newest distribution challenges, coordinating an IT project, not reaching your sales target, or getting calls from angry customers. The sooner we face the obstacles, the sooner we learn how to deal with them.

I have seen many people face the crisis situations in the office for the first time and fail - if they only had one Coordination Meeting organisation experience behind them, the epilogues would be quite different.

There are a lot of AIESEC, BEST and EESTEC members in the company as well. Our mutual understanding is much better than what you could imagine based on the positive rivalry during the university years. We know the game, we remember the hard work, we

transfer knowledge gained on past mistakes. Those are the arguments we all give to colleagues who never experienced the adventures of logistics, budget finesses, international nights, long GAs, cold calling, team leaderships, exotic English accents, long train rides. They tend to compare our student organisations to secret clubs, fraternities and sororities seen in cheesy Hollywood films. We tend to compare them to the best years of our lives.

INSIDE ESTIEM

BONDS FOR LIFE Coming back to the “Is there life after ESTIEM?” question, the answer is remarkably full of ambiguity.

There certainly is a lot of life, but it much resembles to all of the adventures we had during the projects, local board years, events, Council Meetings. We still have the spirit, we share it, it grows together with us. We still face challenges, stubborn people, celebrate success, motivate, educate. We just do them better than others.

If we were to look away from the corporate world ESTIEM prepared us for, there is a whole world of friends, partners, drinking buddies, places and stories that stay with us forever. They are worth every essay, exam, hour in the library. ■

“

There is life after ESTIEM. And it is great!

Milan with his colleagues

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

45

Instructive Trainings, international connections and a lot of fun

INSIDE ESTIEM

Five days of VWI-ESTIEM BrainTrainer in Ansbach.

Carmen Braun

VWI-Hochschulgruppe Ansbach

Sad but true – the BrainTrainer Event 2014 in Ansbach is over. We conclude that it was an amazing experience, the days between the 03.12.14 – 07.03.2014 were a great accomplishment.

We were supremely proud to present the VWI-ESTIEM BrainTrainer at our University of Applied Sciences in Ansbach, a town with a population of 40.000 in Franconia, Bavaria.

Fifteen international ESTIEM-participants and eleven German VWI-participants took part at the Brain Trainer event.

Finally, on Wednesday the 3rd of December we got extremely excited when the participants arrived. They arrived from all over Europe: Greece, Portugal, Spain, Poland, France, Hungary, Turkey and various cities in Germany. Everything went well and we were glad that everyone arrived in Ansbach without complications. In the evening after the official greeting it was time to get to know each other.

The next day started very early in the morning with trainings. They had different topics such as “Intercultural communication”, “Lead with personality”, “Teamwork” and “Discover your Presentational skills in leader – fundraising background”. During the evening we had a common dinner and played some fun-games.

Afterwards we all went to the “MuKolaus-Party”, a Student party which was organised by some fellow students from our university.

BrainTrainer Ansbach participants

At the beginning we were a bit afraid to organise an event which nobody from VWI had done before, but we receive a lot of help from ESTIEMers. After some chats with the BrainTrainer coordinators we got more and more into it and developed an action plan.

Two of us went to the BrainTrainer CoM in Graz where we met the last organisers and brought useful information back to Germany. The closer the event

46

came, the more difficult it got, but in the end we were still able to manage everything,

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

The lack of sleep didn’t have any effect on the motivation levels of the participants, that’s how the next day started. It was the day with teambuildingactivities. We played a team-game called “Hans im Glück”, in English: Hans in luck. A short explanation: A team of 3-4 people started with an apple and had to go to the shopping Centre, through the city or to the Christmas market and exchange the apple for another, more precious item. The group with the best and most expensive item would win. One team, even received a skateboard! The rest of this day was free-time and in the evening we got together again to have dinner. This was a special dinner, we called it: “International evening meets Franconia”. We prepared some typical Bavarian or Franconian dishes, as well as typical German Beer.

Also some of the participants brought various typical things from their country such as sweets and drinks. It was a great dinner, we had a lot of fun!

On Saturday a new Training-day started. The topics were “Communication in Project Management”, “New challenges in modern Leadership” and “Strategic Leadership”. During lunch we prepared our Bavarian “Weißwurstfrühstück”, which means white Bavarian sausages which you can eat with sweet mustard and pretzel. In the evening we had the final dinner at an Italian restaurant. After that we went back to the

INSIDE ESTIEM university and had an official goodbye party, we played some games and celebrated our last evening together.

In conclusion we want to thank all the lovely participants who came to Ansbach and enjoyed one week with us.

It was a great experience to organise a joint ESTIEMVWI event with so many international people, because events of VWI are just for German people and you can’t experience such an intercultural communication like we did. All participants talked to each other and we were one big group of young students, no matter from which country we were or which language we spoke.

“

We also want to thank all our volunteers. Without them we wouldn’t have managed to organise an event like this. It was an unforgettable week. We got to experience various intercultural traditions from other countries and a bit of their way of living and it was a lot easier to manage than from what we initially thought.

Everything went according to our complete satisfaction and we hope that all the participants share the same opinion! ■

It was a great experience to organise a joint ESTIEMVWI event with so many international people, because events of VWI are just for German people and you can’t experience such an intercultural communication like we did

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

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Discovering ESTIEM

INSIDE ESTIEM

It was nothing more than a simple Local Group board meeting on a seemingly common day. Nobody in the room knew of the concept that would be created, everything started from that point. This is how we set off to our journey to the amazing event week.

Sebastian Bob Hummel

Local Group Eindhoven

All ESTIEMers have been there; looking at the events page, trying to find that one event which is perfect for them. It is not an easy task, given that all projects look so interesting and each event has a convincing promotional campaign. As to ESTIEM 360, it is designed to introduce ESTIEMers to every dimension of ESTIEM in a single event.

Every day in this unique event presents the participants some of ESTIEM’s finest projects, giving them a shortened version of the programme and a taste of each different project. In this way, participants get an opportunity to weigh their options, and see what type of event suits their preferences best. The first edition of ESTIEM 360 was held by LG Eindhoven. A team of 6 highly motivated ESTIEMers was carefully selected, then the preparations began around May 2014 and continued until the event dates in December.

After a lot of organisational work and creative problemsolving, the event dates finally arrived and so did the

participants. As organisers of the event, we could only hope for a lively and enthusiastic group of participants.

All we can say in hindsight is that we were very lucky to have such an amazing community to join the pilot version of ESTIEM 360.

We established a multifaceted programme which contained three interesting lectures for businessbooster, a case solving training and a practice case for T.I.M.E.S., a Unilever company visit for Vision, Kuehne Nagel company visit, Dutch Parliament visit and a cantus for Europe 3D, wrapping it up with morning and afternoon trainings for BrainTrainer. All of these activities turned out to make it a very busy week, but it was definitely worth all the effort.

Check out the experiences of two of the participants: Amelie Sjöberg from LG Lund and Riccardo Reginato from LG Milan.

“ All we can say in hindsight is that we lucked out to have such an amazing community to join the pilot version of ESTIEM 360.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

INSIDE ESTIEM

Amelie Sjöberg Local Group Lund

“

I had an amazing experience in Eindhoven during the 360 project. I had some idea of what to expect since it wasn’t my first ESTIEM event, yet every day was a surprise. For instance I’ve never thought that I would end up in the middle of a Dutch parliament crisis or I would be giving an ice skating lesson to a Portuguese. I really liked the way that the event was organised; there were so many different elements which gave everyone a chance to show off their skillset. For example, even though you might not have been the sharpest at case solving, you had the chance to excel on the dance floor.

The main reason I went to this event was to do some research on what type of events would be fitting for my LG to organise. ESTIEM 360 definitely helped me with that. I also picked up on some of the general aspects of organising an event, which will be helpful in the future.

Obviously, there is a space for improvement, for instance to serve less bread in the following editions, but overall I’m very pleased with my ESTIEM 360 experience.

Riccardo Reginato Local Group Milan

“

When I was asked to write this small piece about the first ESTIEM 360 event, I accepted immediately, because it has been such an amazing experience for me. Thanks to the flawless organisation team that stood behind the event, we saw with our own eyes the most important projects of ESTIEM in just five days. All the daily sections were divided into two parts: At first, we were introduced to the specific project’s concept and then we challenged ourselves to take part in it as normal participants. It’s clear that the activities that we did were an adapted version of the real events but they gave us a bright idea of the core objectives and frameworks. The atmosphere during the event was always super-friendly and I was really impressed by two facts: 1. The incredible fulfilment of the schedule: We did so many things in five days, and they were all interesting and exciting.

2. The great party organisation of LG Eindhoven: Aside from the International Night which is a classic, all the nights were special and typically Dutch, like Cantus, the perfect example.

After my experience, I can recommend to all new members to apply for a 360 event, because it’s a great opportunity to discover deeper the amazing world of ESTIEM and get further involved.

360° About a year before these and many more experiences that we had, the 19th candidate board of LG Eindhoven (Interactie) was brainstorming ideas for the Lustrum week that it wanted to organise. After some discussion, they still couldn’t really agree on anything, until somebody suddenly said: “Why don’t we organise all ESTIEM Projects at the same time?” Later it was decided that this concept was not suitable for a Lustrum event; it should have stood on its own, and that’s exactly what happened.

This is not only the story of how a dedicated team organised a week full of diverse activities and twenty five European citizens came together geographically and spiritually. This is the story of how a vision became reality. That is what ESTIEM represents to us. ■

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

49

Impressions of ESTIEM, viewed from the outside

INSIDE ESTIEM

Timothy Byrne

Executive Director of the

Intitute of Industrial Engineers Ireland

As executive director of IIE Ireland, I have had the privilege of meeting and working with ESTIEM and both its present and past members over the past few years. I have been involved in industrial engineering for close on 40 years and it has taken me until now to find an organisation that is truly international and committed to industrial engineering and management.

My first introduction to ESTIEM was meeting Marc Hedler, ESTIEM’s Vice President of Education 2012, in Florida at an IIE US conference. The meeting may have lasted only 2 minutes, but it set the seed for what was to follow.

I had no preconceived ideas and was not sure what to expect. My next meeting was in Cambridge at an EPIEM meeting and I was introduced to Jim Platts. This meeting was a real eye opener, not just because I had met likeminded people in the professors group, but also that ESTIEM were responsible for bringing everybody to the table.

My first meeting with the ESTIEM family was in Serbia and I was very impressed with the way the organisation organised such a large and diverse event, because I know many companies and organisations who would struggle to organise such an event. This also was my first introduction to the ESTIEM Spirit and the idea of “Work hard, Play hard”. I left Zlatibor and Serbia after a few hectic days with a belief in my heart that I had meet an organisation that was “fit for purpose”, not something you can say about many organisations. It felt like I had come home. I had discovered a new family.

Since that General Assembly, I have attended a number of project meetings, EPIEM meetings and several GA’s.

Nothing I have encountered has changed my first impression, not even “International Night.”

One of the most impressive things about ESTIEM is its people. The members of ESTIEM come from many

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

different countries and backgrounds but it is clear that they share only one ethos, the ethos of ESTIEM. The strength of any organisation is its people. The ESTIEMers that I have met are all totally committed to the goals and objectives of ESTIEM. They are passionate about the organisation and what it stands for and passion transfers into everything they do. As a visitor, the passion is perceptible and is inspiring.

ESTIEMers will go to the ends of the world and back again to attend a meeting, workshop or GA. Since my first contact to today, I have seen this passion increase and there seems to be no end to it. Passion is one element but when accompanied by hard work, it is an unbeatable combination. With members who have so much passion for their organisation and what it stands for and who are not afraid of hard work, there is a bright and secure future for ESTIEM. ESTIEM organises a very large number of events each and every year. These range from Local Group events to trans-European multi locational events. The range of organisational skills displayed in the effective running of these events is incredible. I know of no other organisation which is peopled by volunteers who organise such a multitude of events. These events have multiplied over the last years. This last summer we saw an increase in the number of Summer Academies.

TIMES seems to be growing from strength to strength with an increasing number of participants. Each year Vision seems to be attracting greater interest. I have mentioned just a few of the activities undertaken but when you take into account businessbooster, Europe3D, BrainTrainer and Academic Days – we are looking at a portfolio of events which are both daunting and impressive.

The Magazine that ESTIEM currently produced twice a year is a key public facing publication which is used to promote ESTIEM and its goals. From the first publication that I saw in Serbia, it has improved beyond recognition. Its content is now of interest to more than just the student, but resonates with the alumni group, EPIEM and the business world. The challenge going forward is to enlarge its readership and scope of interest without losing its original ethos to cater for the members.

I first encountered the ESTIEM Alumni in Serbia. This group is a key driver in the future development and support of ESTIEM. One of the most import and significant improvements I have seen is the introduction of the Mentoring Programme which seems to be going from strength to strength. I would consider it extremely important for both ESTIEM as an organisation and for the individual members who finish their education and enter the world of work to get involved in the alumni group. The transfer of knowledge and experience that these alumni have is of a key importance for the upcoming members. It shows the way and what is possible. The work and commitment that this group has shown increasingly over the last few years bodes well for the future.

In the past years, EPIEM has been going from strength to strength and at the last meeting in Graz it was important to see the number of professors involved.

ESTIEM has a role to play in informing these same professors of the ideas from its members which will shape the IEM education of the future professionals.

The recent idea of the IEM Foundation is a very positive step for all concerned and is a welcome development. I look forward to evolving shape of this foundation.

INSIDE ESTIEM

While all seems very positive for ESTIEM, I have some minor concerns. These relate to finance and strategy.

I am truly amazed at how much ESTIEM achieves on such a small central budget. The lack of budget imposes restriction on the achievement of the goals and aims of the organisation. It also imposes inefficiencies, which cannot be avoided, on the central board as regards travelling. The increasing of this central budget needs to be a key priority for the Board. In my mind, ESTIEM is everything that the EU and the UN proposes to be.

I think a concerted approach needs to be made to the EU to secure some level of funding for central ESTIEM. I had concerns about the continuity of strategy for the organisation with the change of the Board every year. This concern has been alleviated over recent times. A clearly defined strategy for the organisation is of importance to its future development and sustainability. It will be a road map for the future. With the recent College in Porto which focused on first steps in developing a strategy, I consider a major step has been taken in the right direction.

Since my first involvement with ESTIEM, I have seen the organisation go from strength to strength. With the commitment and involvement of all stakeholders, there is a positive and bright future for ESTIEM. For IEMs of my generation, we are the past but you, the ESTIEM members, are the present and the future. â–

“

ESTIEMers, there will be many mountains to climb but it is a challenge you are well capable of accomplishing!

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

51

INSIDE ESTIEM

Project, Committee and Initiative updates Academic Days Since Council Meeting Budapest the Academic Days team has been working on the outcomes from the last event in Porto, which are now available on the portal.

Apart from that, a toolkit which aims to help Local Groups to organise future high quality Academic Days events has been prepared. Another focus area of the team was to keep, develop and carefully communicate the concept of Academic Days. Currently new ways of implementing these concepts are being examined; pilot events should follow in 2015. Not long after the Council Meeting Baltics, two Academic Days events will take place in Germany: Industry 4.0 Days in Paderborn and Wind Energy Days in Bremen. The quantitative goal of the team is to have a total of 4 Academic Days events in 2015, two of which are still to be announced.

Corporate Relations Committee The past 6 months after Council Meeting in Budapest were really busy for Corporate Relations Committee.

We had one extraordinary Corporate Relations Coordination Meeting in Paderborn where we have rebuilt all the committee structure from scratch and set goals for upcoming 3 years. CRC CoM in Paderborn hosted a lot of productive discussions which led us to implement many new concepts and ideas into the ESTIEM Network, we even established a new Initiative called Junior Consultancy Initiative where ESTIEMers will get the chance to experience consulting business life in ESTIE​M​by solving real cases provided by companies​exactly like a consultancy company!

Apart from our newly-established initiative, we also set our action plans for creating a real Career Center on portal, where we can find job offers/master opportunities to shape your career. Also, we will have

Europe3D

an education section on Career Center where you

Since the last Council Meeting, the Europe3D Family has

can have nice articles to help you out with CV writing,

covered multiple areas. Europe3D Lisbon implemented

career planning, and so on. The Corporate Relations

changes in the event concept with a Mini Case Study

Committee has also taken an active role in supporting

Solving on the country’s issues and a reflection session,

ESTIEM Local Groups & Projects in CR related issues.

where the participants shared their gained knowledge

Therefore, we have created support.crc@estiem.org

and experience. With these activities and the work of

e-mailing address that you can contact anytime when

the different Task Groups under the Events Team, the

you have any problem or need any advice from CRC!

Project is aiming to give an added value to the events.

Other than that, Corporate Relations Committee

Regarding the PR Team, an Instagram account has been

updated ESTIEM Company Brochure, several CR

created: europe3dpanda, and the rest of the Social

BPDs, templates, revised all the cooperation packages

Networks are having a high level of activity. Besides,

and created separate Academic Brochures for Europe

a new t-shirt has been designed and the webpage is

and Overseas. We, as CRC Family, have done a lot

being redesigned. When it comes to the CR Team, it

together in this short 6-month term; but we still have a

is currently focusing in doing a proper follow up to the

lot to succeed together for the future of ESTIEM!

partnership with Koç University and setting the basis for approaching other institutions and applying for grants.

Language Program Initiative Our team has been growing more and more and that helped us to widen our services and our flow of new

52

Training Committee

ideas. We have been following-up on the collaborations

The Training Committee is responsible for creating

we had, especially on CoffeeStrap and Shenyang

opportunities for all ESTIEMers to follow or deliver

University ones. We created a motivated team which

trainings. Personal development is what TC is all about.

is actively working and approaching all ESTIEM events

Recently, new members have joined the team, ensuring

for the language activities implementation; for sure our

a very bright future for the Committee. We have also

success rate will be increased this time. Also, we have

been working on grants, trying to receive EU support

renamed one of the teams into External and Educational

in order to make new projects possible.

Task Group. This means we are also working already in

This year we will have the first editions of the Regional

a learning resources platform/database where anyone

Benchmark Forum, a new regional event designed to

would find information and help whenever they decide

train Local Groups boards. Stay tuned for that event this

to learn a new language. We will be discussing and

year. The other TC projects are also fully in progress

fixing the new intensive language course event idea and

currently, TC has some very exciting times ahead.

we hope it will be performed this summer!

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

INSIDE ESTIEM Social and Environmental Responsible Initiative During the last months a new team structure has been established, we have 4 newly defined teams in SERI: SEA team (Social and Environmental Advisory Team), SERI Event team, PR team and SERI 4 Seasons team. SERI 4 Seasons project was initiated by Local Group Xanthi’s blood donation action. Our goal is to activate as many Local groups as possible and to spread humanitarian spirit within ESTIEM and ESTIEMers. Our PR team is responsible for communicating this towards our stakeholders. The concept of the SERI Event has been defined and the SEA team has been actively contacting organisers in order to provide them with tips for their events. We’re looking into a possible collaboration with the IEM Foundation, which is willing to help us create a real Social and Environmental climate in ESTIEM. The team will continue working hard, bringing SERI eventually to the highest level.

Vision A whole season has passed and many goals were achieved. During the past six months 9 events happened in Brussels, Moscow, Grenoble, Lyon, Karlsruhe, Trondheim, Helsinki, Tampere, Istanbul Yildiz, Ankara METU, Xanthi and Hamburg. The feedback so far was very rewarding for the team and the organisers. The only two events missing are ‘More than Energy’ in Seville and the Vision Final Conference in Istanbul ITU. Two of the events were in cooperation with businessbooster which, from the feedback that was received, was a very fruitful partnership. The AdVision system has proven to be a very enriching experience for the organisers but there is still a long way to go. The promotion strategy has shown to be very effective and gathered a lot of attention to the project and its events. The communication flow was kept in the same standards as before with monthly family chats, monthly organisers’ chats and team chats. The road is not finished yet, academic reports are being build in the hope of finishing an academic booklet by CM Austria.

Summer Academy During 2015’s warm and shiny Summer, 3 Summer Academy events are going to be led. Chronologically speaking, they are the following: Gregory’s SAC in Helsinki, Saskia’s SAC in Marmaris, and Dietrich’s SAC in Porto. Beside deciding upon these locations, the SAC Project also created a new strucure for the team. It has now four teams: PR, CR, Approaching and Feedback.

All of these teams are new and led by motivated ESTIEMers who are inspired to develop SAC further.

New Professors are joining or getting in touch with the Project. Furthermore, a new PR strategy has been developed and Company Relations were improved significantly.

Knowledge Management Committee The first few months of the year have been filled with recruitment and training of new, enthusiastic people to fill in the boots of the past Task Group Leaders. The new structure of the Committee, adding the positions of academic, local and central knowledge coordinators, is taking its form. The strategic goals of the KMC were introduced in the first chat of the year. Strong emphasis will be put on sharing knowledge, both on local and central level. This will include sharing of Best Practice Documents within regions, strengthening the connection to Local Groups and observing event quality

Grants Committee The ESTIEM Grants Committee successfully submitted two grants applications to the Erasmus+ programme – one for the LR Forum in Porto and another for the IEM initiative’s project “Redesigning the University”.

We also prepared two applications for the European funding of the Trainers on Tour and the SET project of businessbooster which are going to be submitted by the 30th of April. The grants team acquired a new Research Responsible – Margarida from LG Lisbon, Her responsibility is to improve and find new potential public funding opportunities. The main goal of the

in cooperation with Members Committee, among others. Another focus point will be raising awareness of the KMC’s tasks and knowledge management as a whole within ESTIEM. Together with pushing for new initiatives and pursuing additional value out of the Committee’s work, many fruitful ideas of last year will continue their run. ‘Event of the Season’ awards will promote the work of hard-working event organisers and all events will be covered by Feedback System to raise the bar even further. Last but not least, the phrase ‘KMC knows’ lives on and reaches ESTIEMers in every corner of Europe. Long live knowledge!

Grants Committee is to submit at least 5 applications for the next deadline of the Erasmus+ programme and to have them all granted.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

53

INSIDE ESTIEM

BrainTrainer

Public Relations Committee

BrainTrainer had a great kick-off in 2015. After

The beginning of 2015 has been a fresh and productive

Council Meeting Budapest quite a few motivated

start for the Public Relations Committee. Since

members joined the team, but also that in 2015 we

January, three new Team Leaders for Online PR,

will celebrate BrainTrainers 5th Anniversary. In the

Design and Media Relations were selected. Moreover,

beginnig of the year we sent out an open call for

new highly motivated PR enthusiasts joined the ever-

organising 2 out of 5 BrainTrainer events in 2015.

growing PRC family. The Design Team has been very

After multiple discussions, Local Groups Porto and

busy with preparing T-shirts and posters that will be

Gdansk were selected as destinations to host these

distributed at Council Meeting Baltics. In addition to

events. In the end of February Local Group Skopje

the CM preparations, the team has also been assisting

organised an outstanding event focused on leadership

Projects, Committees and Initiatives. Finalisation

skills. in May another event will be organised by Local

of the design process of the ESTIEM Book was one

Group Ilmenau. Besides having four great events all

of the most important tasks that the team had. The

over Europe we also started planing the Project’s 5th

Online PR Team is keeping up with the work that

Anniversary. Stay tuned, it’s going to be big, special,

has been accomplished last year. The Official ESTIEM

historical and memorable.

Facebook page is being used very actively by posting relevant content at least once a day. The team is also

businessbooster

working on a system that would integrate the Projects

After the success of the Summer Entrepreneurship

and events with LinkedIn on a visible level. Overall, the

Training in 2014, the interest in businessbooster has been

team is confident to continue improving the reputation

growing rapidly. Both ESTIEMers and non-ESTIEMers

and image of ESTIEM to a much higher level.

are becoming more aware of the entrepreneurial opportunities that businessbooster can offer. All of this leading to having our first applicant for SET 2015,

Members Committee

which will be happening from 17.08 until 06.09 in the

After Council Meeting Budapest the Members

cities Istanbul, Warsaw and Madrid, in December 2014.

Committee started to work with a new leader and

The Competition has been taking steps by developing

eight new Regional Coordinators and Task Group

its concept more by adding an entrepreneurial fair

Leaders. A Local Group Support Task Group has

to the final, taking place in Ankara-Bilkent, which in

been established and regular communication between

the future will provide ESTIEM with more potential

the team has been ensured. The Spring Coordination

cooperation opportunities. Furthermore, the project is

meeting took place in Local Group Kiev, motivated

expanding its services to meet the interest and increase

participants came together in order to discuss current

awareness about entrepreneurship among all kind of

activities and improve all areas of the Members

ESTIEMers. The first Vision & businessbooster joint

Committee. New universities are being approached

events in Karlsruhe and Ankara-Metu & Istanbul-Yildiz

and members engaged. ■

have been great examples of events that promote entrepreneurial spirit.

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ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

LG MADrid, a story of continuous growth

INSIDE ESTIEM

Some might think we have been here for ever, but actually LG Madrid was founded 4 years ago. Our beginning shares common aspects with most of the newcomers: exciting discovery of the ESTIEM network and its opportunities, personal eagerness to travel and to build an international profile and a group of friends ready to accept the challenge of starting a new venture.

Laura Curieses

From the inside, there is a deeper ‘secret’ that holds this growing path. And it is all about the human group that has made this possible. Starting from the charismatic founder, Jaime Lopez, who along with establishing the legal structure and deep roots for the upcoming years, he showed us the importance of empowering the

members of the Local Group by giving responsibilities to the newbies and freedom to develop the tasks. He treated everyone as equal and made members feel important and included. The second board, led by Ana Cabrera, left a mark by showing the courage to take a step forward and to accept ‘impossible’ challenges.

Applying for big events and some financial crisis tested our strength, but the group answered compensating the lack of resources with extra motivation, and it left a selfconfidence feeling within the Local Group: everything was possible! The third board, led by Laura Curieses, performed a breaking point where people started getting more active at central level and having more interest in organising bigger events, such as the 25th event of Europe 3D, and they all truly worked together at ease as a great team. And finally, Javier Casco and his fourth board made that growth sustainable. LG Madrid collected the greatest successes at both local and central level, with higher professionalism at events and stronger relationships with partners and university.

Now, at this crucial point, we remain humble, enjoying the awesome moment and being aware at the same time of the need to keep learning from one another, to trust new generations. The Fifth board is about to get started, with new people and fresh ideas. What has not changed from the very beginning of our days is that despite of the growth, LG Madrid still is a group of friends. Sometimes we organise events, sometimes we just hang out and we always welcome ESTIEMers in our MAD and beloved city. ■

Local Group Madrid

What is special about us then?

From the outside, the rapidness of the escalation process. We look backwards to see a bunch of local nuts who met every week at the personal conference room of the university headmaster - we did not have our own room but surprisingly the university lent us such a professional space. And now figures show a considerably high number of people active at central ESTIEM (we are starting to build our own ghetto at Council Meetings!) and a crowd of local actives filling our weekly meetings and travelling around Europe.

ESTIEM Local Group Madrid members ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

55

The ESTIEM Education Initiative

INSIDE ESTIEM

Working on several academic projects within ESTIEM

Jelle Dikker

ESTIEM Education Initiative Leader

Local Group Groningen

How it all started Education has been a hot topic ever since I was around in ESTIEM, and most likely way before my time in ESTIEM. ESTIEMers have always discussed the role of ESTIEM on education and many great ideas and partnerships have evolved over the years. But it wasn’t until last summer that I personally got involved in this as well.

As part of the cooperation between BEST and ESTIEM I had the opportunity to visit a BEST event on Education, an event where participants developed soft-skills by working on the topic of education. Participants had the opportunity to enjoy contributions by guest speakers and lecturers who introduce them to the topic and later worked in groups on their own ideas and projects.

I had a great week there and it opened my eyes about the opportunities ESTIEM has when it comes to education.

Bringing IEM students and teachers together to discuss IEM education from different perspectives can provide very valuable insights into our education. It was then decided to take the opportunity and start working on a new event: the Summer Education Forum.

At the same time Bram Vercammen (LG Eindhoven) was working on another idea: the idea of organising a competition on academic theses within ESTIEM. The European Master Thesis Award competition was born and during one of our first meetings we decided to bring both together under one flag: the IEM Education Initiative.

Progress made so far Currently the preparations for the Summer Education Forum are well underway. During the event participants will compare different educational systems from their respective countries and work on their own projects for a week, in order to improve education by giving valuable advice to teachers, professors and policy makers. Furthermore, the initiative is maintaining

“ 56

several partnerships with other student and academic networks and a team of facilitators will be chosen for the first edition of the event. Together with these partners, our team will deliver the first edition of the Summer Education Forum this summer.

The preparations for the European Master Thesis Award (EMTA) are in full swing as well. Currently negotiations with our main partner are closing, so very exciting news are coming up! Moreover, a team of experts is being approached to take part as jury members, so you can expect a great first edition of the competition.

What will the future bring?

By adding these events to ESTIEM’s curriculum, there will be a more diverse offer of ESTIEM events.

By fostering academic collaboration amongst Local Groups and their universities, ESTIEM’s Local Groups as well as other IEM students in Europe will benefit.

Furthermore, the successful organisation of these new events will encourage ESTIEMers to develop their own ideas within the network as well and showcase the importance of innovation within ESTIEM. What’s in it for you?

You have the chance to participate in the European Master Thesis Award competition and to compete for best Master thesis of the year. Big prizes will be announced shortly.

Furthermore, you have the opportunity to be a part of the first Summer Education Forum this summer.

You can become part of it either as a participant or a facilitator. The level of involvement is up to you!

Lastly, you have the opportunity to become a part of the Initiative team. Nothing is more exciting than being able to develop new ideas and work on great concepts in a dynamic student organisation such as ESTIEM! ■

I had a great week there and it opened my eyes about the opportunities ESTIEM has when it comes to education.

ESTIEM Magazine | 48th issue - Food from Soil to Shelf

Let’s go Porto!

EXPLORE EUROPE

All ESTIEMers know how interesting it is to go abroad and socialise with foreign students. New cultures and countries are found when you visit a Local Group far away from your own.

Benjamin Rensen

Local Group Eindhoven

Everyone who felt the urge to pick up this magazine and read it, knows the need to leave one’s hometown and explore the world. However, most ESTIEMers returned home after a week, but not Pekka Huhtala from Finland and Özge Kadıoğlu from Turkey. They stayed in Porto, Portugal, for a whole semester.

Now I understand why someone would travel within Europe, without using the ESTIEM network. What if you want to stay for longer than about seven days?

Then you should turn to Erasmus. Erasmus is a programme, especially created to make it easier to study abroad within the European Union. And that is exactly where this type of exchange differs from your average ESTIEM trips: ESTIEM enables you to connect with different Industrial Engineering students within the network, whereas Erasmus helps you to study for a longer period at another university of your choice.

But how does one choose which university to go to?

Pekka and Özge both had a good reason, but their arguments could not be more different than this. Özge: “Porto is ‘meu amor!’ I always wanted to go to Portugal, especially Porto. Not just to travel, but to live there for a while, which I did.” Pekka wanted to study as far away from Finland as possible, yet he wanted to stay within Europe. Regarding this, Erasmus and Porto were the most logical choices.

But what were their motivations to leave their own university for half a year? Pekka: “It has always been on my mind to go on an exchange semester. When I got the possibility to go, I took it immediately. I wanted to get to know another culture than the Finnish one, preferably in a non-English speaking country.” Özge told me that she was motivated by a motto she likes to live by: “Once you get out of your comfort

zone, you’ll see the life and your limits. Studying abroad is the perfect way to get to know yourself and to learn how to deal with multiple challenges in life. It’s an adventure to start a new life in another country!”

However, Erasmus Programme was created for students to follow some form of education abroad. So does it actually help you with regard to academic skills? Özge says it does: “Spending a semester in Porto was a fruitful period for me. Professors were always open to help and they were really successful in their fields. If I had stayed at my university, I would have passed just 4 courses more and would not have taken any courses in a different education system.”

According to Pekka, however, the semester mainly taught him about the cultural differences between Portugal and Finland. “The courses were kind of the same as in Finland, but the different culture was fascinating”, he said.

The main difference Pekka experienced was how warm the Portuguese people were: “The people in Porto were very helpful. It was remarkable. Finnish people are a bit more individualistic; they warm up a bit slower.” Özge had the same experiences about the Portuguese people after a group of boys started to serenade her.

“It was fado: a traditional local kind of music. The boys were wearing traje, traditional academic clothes in Portugal. I was so lucky that night to see them on the street.”

Now, one important question remains: would you recommend an Erasmus semester abroad to your fellow students at your own university? Well, their answers were the same: Yes, they would. Özge said: “Studying abroad changes the way you see the life and at the end of that experience you will see that every single person you met on this journey and everything you got over on your own added something to your personality. It is always possible to travel around anywhere you want. But living somewhere you want for a while is totally different.”

Pekka adds that living in another country helps you to understand differences between cultures. However he has a warning: “When you have adapted to the foreign culture, it will be hard to live by your home country’s culture again.” ■

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5 Myths about travelling alone New ESTIEMers often face a tough dilemma: ‘I want to apply for this event by myself, but I am afraid to go alone’. Indeed, going on your own to an unknown country can be a daunting endeavour. Yet there is no reason to worry! Read these 5 myths about travelling alone.

Bart van Eijden

Local Group Eindhoven

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After having travelled solo around the world twice myself, and having met numerous of people on the road, I can safely say that the first person to regret going alone is still to be found. While it indeed brings some disadvantages, many people agree that the pros far outweigh the cons. For this reason, I believe everyone should at least once try to travel alone. Whether you are going a couple of days earlier to an ESTIEM event or just taking a short break from university, these are 5 things you will find out not to be true: 1. YOU WILL BE ALONE The first myth about solo travel is that it means you will have to spend a period of solitude and isolation.

None of that is true; it is quite frankly the opposite.

Since their appearance, global online communities such as Internet, Facebook or Couchsurfing have made it impossible that you will ever have to feel alone, no matter where you are. Today’s world is a different one from perhaps twenty years ago. We are the freedom generation, and we are able to connect across borders more than any other generation ever did before. Why would anyone ever feel alone?

Apart from those online communities, I have experienced that for some reason people have more sympathy for people travelling alone than for those travelling in a group. This way you are more likely to be invited to someone’s house, invited to attend one’s wedding or join in for a nice family meal. You will realise more than in any other way that there are loving and warm-hearted people all around the globe.

On top, when being alone, it also becomes more natural to team up with other travellers and travel together for a few days or weeks. After buying my own car in Australia, I decided to take on a few backpackers to split up the costs for petrol. Going up the coast, we met several other travellers driving their car. In the end, we spent a few weeks driving up the coast together, sleeping in our cars every night in beautiful remote places. But after a couple of weeks, when we decided to continue on our own paths I was also happy to be alone for once.

Closer to home, I often go on trips alone to discover parts of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Turkey. With the great hospitality of many families

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and students welcoming me, I was able to meet really awesome people. With many of them I still keep in contact, maybe one day we will meet again…

2. IT’S MORE DIFFICULT Rather look at it another way: it’s not always easy to travel in a group. The more people involved, the harder it becomes to satisfy each individual’s wishes, preferences and interests. Aligning all these elements is more time-consuming and will inevitably lead to people having to make concessions. I think everyone has experienced how city tours with a group are not always the most efficient way to get to see a city (even though it still is a lot of fun!).

When alone, logistics become much more simple and faster. No need to book multiple train tickets when there are only a few seats left, no need to wait one extra day, and no need to plan how to visit all those places that everybody else wants to see. Without a companion, it gets easier to just go with the flow and decide as you go. There is no need to discuss it first.

3. IT’S BORING What is more boring than not chasing your dreams, just because no one else wanted to join you for a trip? Last January I randomly went to Bosnia alone, spending a few nights Couchsurfing and staying in a hostel in the beautiful city of Sarajevo. One morning I thought about going for a short walk around town exploring the area.

After having walked the entire afternoon, I decided to rest and have a cup of tea in a recommended place.

Looking back, I see I stayed there for four hours and ended up visiting a jazz night bar with a large group of people whom I met at that tea place. That day, I did not feel bored for a single moment.

Okay, perhaps you will find yourself bored at some point. I was once in Georgia for two days, in rainy weather, all alone in the only accommodation around town that seemed to be open off-season. There was no heating, no place to hang out in the evening and the hostel manager did not feel like socialising at all. I am not sure if this would have been different though by having any travel companion. Going off-season indeed means you are less likely to meet other travellers, but on the other hand I knew about this beforehand. I came prepared and used my time to start writing some

stories for my travel blog. For me, going to Georgia was a nice get-away weekend where I could reflect on life while still experiencing a different kind of environment.

4. IT’S MORE EXPENSIVE Getting invited on Couchsurfing tends to be easier when you are on your own. People are just much quicker to offer you a place to stay when they see you’re alone. From a more selfish perspective, I have also noticed that people around you tend to be more generous to ‘lonely’ travellers. I cannot remember how many times people have offered me something without asking something in return. Nevertheless, this should of course never be a reason to go travelling alone, even though doing so will make a significant difference in that matter.

Depending on your style of travel, you can also stay in cheaper accommodation than your travel partner(s) might have accepted. I for example like to challenge myself in finding really cheap accommodation in the most off-beat locations, pushing the limits of my own comfort. In general I never like to book my own room but rather hang out in the largest dormitory available to meet others. Also I usually avoid eating in restaurants when you can also cook a meal from local products yourself, or eat cheaper (and better) street food. Not everybody might agree with my style, but for me it has always saved me a lot of money while on the road. I have experienced that when I travel with others, I focus less on my expenses.

5. IT’S DANGEROUS Living is dangerous, that’s a fact of life. Depending on where you live, going out to university there is always a chance of getting hit while crossing a street or ending up in some other road accident. With travelling this is nothing different, whether you are with a group or alone. Actually, crossing the street with a group can

be more risky than crossing alone since everyone can assume someone else checked for cars while in reality no one did. In general, if you travel with more people, the probability that something will happen to at least one of you also increases.

Apart from this obvious line of defence, there is of course a bit of truth in being more at risk when walking on a street alone, especially at night. You can however not assume that when you are travelling alone you are always walking the streets alone. Chances are that you will not experience being alone too much anyway (see myth 1). If you do find yourself alone, just do not make the mistake of walking around solo in shady alleys at night, especially if you’re a woman. It also pays off to always take the right safety precautions, for example against pickpockets. It’s never wrong to inform yourself about common travel scams and learn how to stay safe abroad.

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TIPS FOR TRAVELLING ALONE Travelling equals freedom, and this freedom multiplies when you’re on your own. If only for this reason, I think everyone should at least try it once. It might be overwhelming in the beginning but as soon as you have overcome your first shock, you will embrace it. You will find you can focus more on the things you want to do, meet more people, and experience the ultimate freedom.

As a tip I suggest you to try explore the possibilities of meeting up with other people by using online communities, or perhaps even through your contacts within ESTIEM. There is a whole world out there of like-minded people, all of whom are willing to connect across borders. So, whenever you see that cheap ticket to one of your dream destinations, even without there being an ESTIEM event, why wait? Grab your backpack and head out. It’s you chasing your dreams, how could that ever make you feel alone? ■

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What is more boring than not chasing your dreams?

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Pasta, pizza, gelato If you are reading this article, you are probably thinking about going on Erasmus soon, or maybe the thought of spending a semester or a year never even crossed your mind. Either way, do it. It doesn’t matter what words come into your mind when you hear Erasmus. As someone who just ended their Erasmus in Milan, the only thing I can relate the word Erasmus to, is this: The best time of my life. And trust me, I had some good times.

Duygu Gunay

Local Group Istanbul ITU

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After spending 5 months in Milan, Italy, the city has a special place in my heart now. Imagine you just got transferred to a new school and it’s your first day. You enter the classroom, scanning everyone and everything as you make quick notes and remarks all along. That care-free looking, very well-dressed, nonchalant boy in the back of the classroom, that’s Milan. He seems distant, even cold at times. You’re instantly convinced that he thinks he is better than anyone there. But once you sit next to him, once you get to experience Milan close up, then it’s a different story. I’ve learnt there’s a warm and benevolent atmosphere in the city and the people, behind that cool and distant welcome Milan offers to most incomers.

events throughout the year in Milan, all over Italy and also Europe where I met unimaginably great people doing their Erasmus all over Europe.

After living in Istanbul and studying at ITU, Milan was a good choice for me, considering its volume, both geographically and demographically. And Politecnico di Milano where I studied is genuinely one of the best technical universities in Europe and the range of majors they offer, along with the quality of them all, is simply put, overwhelming. I guess it’s necessary to point out that some see Erasmus as an opportunity to have fun for months, some see it as a way to form a different perspective on their education and career and some make it a mixture of both. Have it any way you want, it is bound to be an amazing experience if you put the slightest effort into it. Especially with a ready-togo network such as ESN. Even couple of days upon my arrival, it was incredibly easy to realise that ESN Milano (Erasmus Student Network) was one of the most active ones in Italy. ESN Milano organised many

As for the sightseeing, I have to admit, I had trouble finding new touristic places to take my friends and family that were visiting, after two and a half days.

Frankly, if you’re a tourist, two and a half days is the adequate time you need, to feel like you covered everything and you don’t need to visit Milan again. As I mentioned, Milan is a distant city for tourists, but it tells a different story to its inhabitants. For instance, the infamous Duomo Cathedral in the middle of the city is a sight you visit when you’re visiting Milan mostly for half an hour, but for a Milanese (or an Erasmus student in Milan), the real joy of Duomo is simply sitting on its stairs facing Piazza del Duomo or sitting right below the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, only to sit back and watch the people passing by in Duomo Square.

Sometimes appreciating their sense of fashion, sometimes making mean comments about perfectly

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When people ask me how my Erasmus in Milan was I always think of how a friend of mine that was visiting me described Milan: It’s the entire continent of Europe packed into one city, with a touch of Italy. It’s not fully Italy. The food is Italian, the language is Italian, the people are mostly Italian, yet I did not have to speak Italian on occasions I chose not to, because everybody spoke English. I can also assure you that Italian people speak English fluently in North Italy.

good combinations. The “cool boy of the class” Milan is, if you have the courage to seek behind the locked doors around every corner of the city, it shows you incredible things that are impossible to find anywhere else.Oh boy, the food! Spoiler alert for those who think about doing Erasmus in Milan: You eat.

You eat like there is no tomorrow. On many occasions, I found myself still eating despite the fact that I was full at least ten bites ago, because whatever it was, it was just that good. Somehow you always have the necessary motivation to keep eating though, because you just don’t want to look back and say ‘I could’ve eaten that’. But then again, two months into your Erasmus, you might catch yourself staring in the mirror and wondering where those rolls came from. Speaking of food, my favourite thing about Milan is by far the beautiful invention that is ‘Aperativo’. Aperativo is basically Italian for eating and drinking yourself to the point of death. The concept is, you basically pay a certain price for entering an open-buffet bar with any drink on the menu included and unlimited trips to the open-buffet. The magic of it is that you never realise you ate or drank too much, so your mouth is busy either eating, drinking or chatting for a whole night.

And, of all the things I just mentioned above, none matters at the end. The food, the city, the school, the

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Mark my words, if you do an Erasmus, you will get friends for a lifetime.

fashion or the money. What I think of most when I think back to my Erasmus adventure, are the people. Mark my words, if you do an Erasmus, you will get friends for a lifetime. I was lucky enough to get an entire family out of it. It is a different place with different people and different things all around. Yet, what makes anyone’s Erasmus experience so different is none of those things. It’s not the fact that you are doing the same things you do at home at a different place, nor the fact that you’re doing different things at the same places. It’s the people. We’ve all had our little experiences thanks to ESTIEM of course, but throughout my Erasmus adventure, I met people that, the fact that we don’t live in the same country still makes me want to legitimately cry. And quite frankly, it’s in your hands to be part of this group of amazing people and make your Erasmus experience an “Erasmus adventure”, and I can’t think of a better place to do that than Milan. The best way to see if it’s something you could or should do, is to get out there and do it. And, if given the choice hundred times, I would choose Erasmus in Milan ninety-nine times. One I would reserve for Prague, I kind of want to see the Czech Republic too. ■

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Event calendar

See you somewhere in Europe!

April 2015 ■ 22nd-27th Porto visits Berlin & Dresden, Berlin & Dresden ■ 23rd-27th Xanthi visits Warsaw, Warsaw ■ 23rd-27th Green, Greener, ESTIEMer Activity Week, Niš ■ 26th-02nd May Industry 4.0 Days, Paderborn ■ 27th-01st May Ilmenau visits Helsinki, Helsinki ■ 29th-02nd May Bremen visits Groningen, Groningen May 2015 ■ 01st-05th Berlin & Dresden visit Porto, Porto ■ 03rd-08th Belgrade visits Istanbul-Bogaziçi, Istanbul-Bogaziçi ■ 05th-11th Vision More than Energy, Seville ■ 11th-16th Juwenalia Activity Week, Krakow ■ 08th-13th Local Responsible Forum 2015, Porto ■ 10th-16th BrainTrainer “Survival of the Fittest”, Ilmenau ■ 13th-17th Gothenburg visits Chios, Chios ■ 20th-25th Silver Strike Activity Week, Eindhoven ■ 28th-02nd June Vision Final Conference, Istanbul-ITU June 2015 ■ 01st-06th Party Like a Rockstar 2.0, Paderborn ■ 07th-13th Wind Energy Days, Bremen ■ 22nd-28th Europe3D Germany, Karlsruhe ■ 23rd-27th HeArt of Russia is beating for you, Moscow ■ 28th-04th July Summer Academy 2015 Helsinki, Helsinki

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July 2015 ■ 18th-30th Summer Academy 2015 Marmaris, Istanbul-Yildiz August 2015 ■ 01st-15th Summer Academy 2015 Porto, Porto ■ 17th-06st September Summer Entrepreneurship Training, Istanbul, Warsaw and Madrid September 2015 ■ 01st-15th Road Tripping Portugal, Porto, Aveiro and Lisbon ■ 28th-04th October PR-CR School, Budapest October 2015 ■ 05th-10th Helsinki visits Ilmenau, Ilmenau November 2015 ■ 15th-22nd LI Council Meeting, Vienna

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