Hi, I am Benjamin,

My name is Benjamin Mahir, I am 24 years old, and I will graduate from INSA Lyon at the end of August. I specialized in industrial engineering. Currently, I am doing my final internship at Accelleron in Baden, Switzerland. My internship involves programming a decision support tool for pallet storage within the Baden site. Specifically, it involves extracting data on various materials, the stock status of different warehouses, and the movements of these materials between warehouses from SAP, characterizing these materials according to different criteria defined in collaboration with warehouse managers, conducting a complete data analysis, assigning priority warehouses to these materials, and helping warehouse managers make decisions regarding pallet storage.

What attracted you to apply to the UNITECH programme?

Developing soft skills, which are very useful in the business world, meeting international students from all over Europe, building an important network, and my desire to work in Switzerland given that many partner companies are based there.

Tell us more about your Academic Exchange? Where was your academic exchange? What did you enjoy the most? Which subjects were the most challenging or interesting?

I did my exchange at Trinity College Dublin. I particularly enjoyed my exchange because it truly allowed me to improve my English, build connections with the UNITECHers who were with me on the exchange, and work on our project for the company Wella, which was a real pleasure. I also liked the way Trinity College operates, which is very different from INSA. There, the number of class hours is much lower than at INSA, but the amount of personal work is greater. Being someone who prefers personal work over attending in-person classes, it was a great match with the university. For me, the most interesting subject I studied there was Deep Learning because the courses are both practical and theoretical with all the labs and projects to submit, as well as the lectures. I find the researcher-professor very interesting, and the teaching is truly up-to-date. Indeed, deep learning is a rapidly developing and very powerful tool.

Where was your internship? Were there any challenges that you faced? How did you overcome them?

I completed my internship at Accelleron in Baden, Switzerland. The challenges were numerous, but for me, the main challenge was understanding how the company's intralogistics functioned, what the stakes were behind it, and translating this into code that would provide solid decision-making support. To achieve this, it required extensive communication with my colleagues, especially with the warehouse managers, to truly understand their needs, where money was being lost, etc. I realized that communication is crucial within a company and that it is impossible to successfully complete a project on your own.

What are some of the biggest trends you see in your industry, and how are you preparing for them?

For my part, having worked in the company's digitalization department, I observed how crucial it is to digitalize industrial activities. This is essential in every aspect, particularly for maintaining a very precise track of what is happening on the shop floor, analyzing activities, and being able to make the right decisions, thereby saving a significant amount of money. Something I find essential is to harmonize data collection and analysis tools to avoid having to copy and paste data or modify the same data multiple times across different tools. This is necessary to prevent errors on the shop floor.
This internship was a highly relevant way for me to develop skills in programming and data analysis, which I'm sure will be very useful for the rest of my career.
It was also a way to strengthen my industrial engineering skills acquired during my studies, given that warehouse management is fully part of this sector.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?