Akshay’s internship has taught him that- “Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt”

“I never focus on the journey but the destination”, says Akshay Amber with a lot of clarity. This PGDM student from KIAMS has just finished his Summer Internship with Big Bazaar and is clearly buzzing with confidence. Big Bazaar, Patna was the destination for this English Literature graduate and he definitely left his mark during his internship.

Akshay had set himself a goal for the SIP – to get a Branding and Promotions project. And that’s just what his internship profile was, for the catchment area analysis and promotion of Big Bazaar. Buoyed by the initial excitement, he immersed himself in the internship and managed to muster a long list of achievements in a short span of time.

“I have been part of several promotional activities for Big Bazaar, from Fare Deal to Bihar Utsav Mela, and from Super Sunday (Sunday Bazaar) to Winter Haat. The Red Carpet counter and corporate invitation strategies that I suggested were implemented and that got us foot-falls during the Public Holiday Sale,” Akshay recalls proudly.

He has every reason to be proud since many of his promotional strategies were well received and even sent to the head office. Akshay clearly created ripples in the organisation and won the Certificate of Excellence for his work on Profit Club Membership as a department manager during the Public Holiday Sale. But for Akshay, the words of the HR manager will always remain special. As Akshay recounts the appreciation he received, he remembers the manager saying, “I have seen hundreds of SIP trainees over the years, but you are in the top three and have set a benchmark for trainees at Big Bazaar.”

But that’s not all; Akshay’s exemplary work during the internship also brought him some job offers, though he is awaiting official confirmation on them. And although he got a handsome stipend for the internship, he wisely adds, “The SIP is a process for learning, not earning. The stipend is a bonus but what you get to learn about the corporate environment is priceless. It is a stepping stone to success, as there’s a good chance of you getting a pre-placement offer.”

Akshay believes that his success during the SIP is due to his hard work and single-minded dedication. “I was a bit nervous initially, but with responsibility came power and confidence. I realised that no decision of yours is right till you go out there and prove it. And that’s what I set out to do with a right strategy in place.”

He might be brimming with confidence, as is seen in his words, but he also remains grounded and grateful to those who guided him through his SIP. “Mr. Samarjeet Sinha supported and encouraged me throughout my project. I am also grateful to Dr. V.S. Pai and Prof. Arvind Nath Sinha from KIAMS, who remained available to me and gave me enough time in spite of their busy schedules”, says Akshay.

He also remains well aware of the contribution the institute has made to his life so far. “I joined KIAMS because of its reputation and the competitive environment it offers. I am glad I took that decision because the institute has literally built me up from scratch,” says Akshay. And if his initial success and confidence is anything to go by, he will definitely be going places.

Bharat Sharma says that exchanging daily notes with his faculty mentor at KIAMS was the key to a successful summer internship at Kalyani- Lemmerz Ltd.

When Bharat Sharma was selected for a Summer Internship at Kalyani-Lemmerz Ltd. in Pune, he knew it was going to be an acid test of the management skills acquired at KIAMS. Kalyani-Lemmerz is a JV between the Kalyani Group and Hayes Lemmerz, Germany – the world leader in wheel rim technology, supplying to automotive manufacturers like Daimler Benz, General Motors, Ford and Volvo, among others. The KLL management had outlined a very clear-cut Operations project for him – how to reduce the cycles time of the machines on the shop floor. A B.Tech in Electronics and Communication, Bharat knew well that his Engineering background was going to be of little use in the KLL manufacturing unit in Khed, Pune. The success or failure of his SIP would depend entirely on the ‘KIAMS effect’. When he embarked on his journey from Harihar to join KLL, Pune, there were many doubts in his mind, but if there was one thing he was absolutely sure about, it was that the KIAMS family would stand by him, come what may.

“The one thing that I absolutely love about KIAMS is its diversity of students and faculty. And yet, it always feels like you are part of one big family. Coming from the extremes of Noida and Jaipur, the moderate climate and greenery at KIAMS have been a welcome change. But if there is one thing that is a hallmark of my first year at KIAMS, it has to be the vast amount of experiential learning that came my way. Probably because of the formidable Kirloskar brand, KIAMS actually presents a small sample of corporate life to its students. In hindsight, all this was great preparation for the SIP at Kalyani-Lemmerz.”

Everyday for the next two months, Bharat Sharma was on the KLL shop floor at 8:30 AM Sharp, moving from one machine to the other, noting the cycle time and observing the process. At all these times, he also keeps a sharp eye out for any area where time could be reduced by applying the Operations Management concepts taught at KIAMS. There were huge challenges he faced in order to do this. He was required to conduct motion studies on machine operators, but a motion study is done on a single operator on a daily basis, while operators on the shop floor were not fixed, but worked on a contractual basis. This meant that the operator that was his subject for motion study on a given day may not have been present the day after that. The other big challenge was that quite a few of the activities that were time consuming and contributed to cycle time were safety measures for the operators. Challenging these measures without due thought could have proved hazardous.

“The Production Manager was very supportive, and guided me well at the conceptual level. The Line Supervisor was also of help at the hands-on level. But for all practical purposes, I don’t think I would’ve been able to get far without the always-at-hand support of my faculty mentor, Prof. E. Anand, and my alumni mentor, Dill Saphal. Almost on a daily basis, I would be involved in detailed discussions on the challenges I faced, and my mentors and faculty members at KIAMS would be sharing focused reading material with me, which was invaluable.”

It was an altogether different high for Bharat Sharma when, after just two months of  internship, three of his recommendations for reducing cycle time were accepted and implemented by the management on the shop floor of Kalyani-Lemmerz Ltd.  At the end of his SIP, Bharat was appreciated by the Plant Head as well as the VP, HR, for doing a “great job”.

“Right from scheduling my interview at Kalyani-Lemmerz (by Ms. Shruti Das of the Placement Cell), to getting the right mentors, KIAMS played the supporting role to perfection. It is for this reason that I would like to advise my juniors to always be in touch with their faculty guides and mentors at KIAMS as they have seen their students closely not just in the classes, but also through the SIPs . They are the best guides and advisors that they are likely to have.”

Bharat Sharma is now absolutely certain that the best attitude to carry to the corporate world is ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’. He credits KIAMS with showing him that in today’s world it is no longer the fittest who will survive, but the ones who are capable of adapting to given circumstances.