The international section is a fixed part of the KION Management Trainee Program. For five months, our trainees travel to one of our international locations and actively work on projects on site. This is the second part of our series in which four trainees talk about what they have learned about the KION culture and way of working.
2024-12-04
Lauriane spent her international section in two different international locations. First she was based in Xiamen, China, supporting the Sustainability team. After three months she moved to Luzzara, Italy, where she worked with the Supply Chain Sustainability team.
How are you supporting local colleagues?
In Italy, one of my projects was the mapping of our n-tier suppliers, meaning the suppliers that exist beyond our contracted suppliers. By conducting Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks analysis of our materials we were retracing our value chain as far as possible to be compliant with different recent and upcoming legislations. In Xiamen I was supporting the ITS APAC Sustainability team, mainly with the Linde China EcoVadis rating. It is a sustainability assessment based on four key categories: environmental impact, labor and human rights standards, ethics and sustainable procurement.
Did you have a moment where you thought to yourself "oh, that's why it's like that in that country"?
Before going to China, I knew cash payments were not so common. Even the street food vendors were requesting payments via Alipay and WeChat over cash. I realized that with such a huge population the focus on efficiency, speed and convenience had made cashless payment a way of life and the country a global leader in the technology industry.
A thought I had on several occasions in Italy was how deeply history and culture are embedded in the daily life. Traces of the past are everywhere, not only where you would expect it, like in museums for example, but also inside restaurants, shops, and even people’s homes. It is clear that culture and history do not just belong in the past but are deeply integrated into how people live.
How has your international experience affected your approach to your work?
Both my experiences reinforced my conviction that cooperation is not just valuable but essential. To navigate the challenges, we face it is critical to build mutual understanding and to be open to diverse cultures, ways of thinking and of working. Sustainability depends on people and communities coming together, sharing ideas, and trying new ways of doing things. Collaboration is not just a value that looks nice on a sticky note: it is key to build a more resilient and united future, and this mindset has made me more adaptable.
What do you think of the opportunity to spend part of your traineeship abroad?
I knew it was going to be a milestone in my traineeship, I just didn’t know to which extend. The opportunity to meet people I would have probably never met otherwise, the possibility to gain insights and see places I would have probably never been able to go to; it all had an impact on how I now approach everything.
Can you sum up your international experience in one sentence?
Do you mind if I do it again?
Laurianes favorite experience in China was visiting the different plants (Xiamen, Jinan and Jingjiang) which gave her an important deeper understanding of our activities there. In Italy she enjoys travelling. “I must say the historical and cultural visits I got to do were the highlights of my free time here (as well as the food, it goes without saying)”, she says.
For her international rotation Karina was based at Dematic in Heusenstamm, Germany. There she was leading the efforts to create a Spare Parts team in the Shared Service Center in Cracow, Poland that would provide support across Europe. During her rotation she kickstarted the collaboration between team in Poland and the teams in Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
What has been your favorite experience, both at work and in your host country?
One of my biggest highlights was onboarding the team in Poland. It is incredibly gratifying to share the knowledge I have acquired and witness the team's success as a result.
Did you have a moment where you thought to yourself "oh, that's why it's like that in that country"?
The connectivity between European countries facilitates frequent travel and cultural exchange, which makes the local employees highly receptive to foreign cultures. I also leveraged this connectivity to broaden my own knowledge, understanding and ability to integrate with our diverse workforce.
How has your international experience affected your approach to your work?
My experience in Germany reminded me how we can incorporate a continuous improvement mentally in everything that we do. Its not just about getting a task done, its about listening to what the team members need, knowing how our processes are interconnected and establishing processes that make us work faster and more accurately now and down the chain. All while keeping in mind our Project First strategy that helps us deliver exceptional value to our customers.
What do you think of the opportunity to spend part of your traineeship abroad?
The opportunity to collaborate with international teams is essential to the success of a multinational corporation. Our extensive network, spanning from the sources of our raw materials to our diverse customer base, is vast. Early exposure to various facets of this network has significantly enhanced my understanding, ambitions, and potential.
“The international rotation was an amazing opportunity to test my leadership skills, expand my network, gain deeper insights into our business, and recognize the importance of leveraging everyone’s expertise to achieve excellence”, Karina says.
Elisa is currently based in Cernusco sul Naviglio, Italy, at Dematic EMEA. In her role, she supports the Customer Service Controlling team with month-end closing activities and ad-hoc analyses. One of her responsibilities has been reconciling financial data from before the Business Transformation with the new system data post-Go-Live. She has also had the chance to join leadership meetings, which have given her valuable insights into tackling challenging problems and understanding how decisions are made.
What has been your favorite experience, both at work and in your host country?
Coming from the HQ, I am used to having a high-level overview. My rotation in Italy has given me the opportunity to delve deeper into the numbers, understanding the various business processes and the people behind them. It was particularly fascinating to trace the journey of these numbers from their origin in the business process, making their way through Dematic EMEA, and finally to the HQ. What I enjoyed most was seeing the close collaboration between people and entities to make this happen.
How has your international experience affected your approach to your work?
My international experience has clearly shown me the importance of considering the culture of the people I work with. Coming from Germany, I noticed that values in Italy are quite different. By consciously taking these differences into account, I have improved working relationships, fostering collaboration and trust.
What do you think of the opportunity to spend part of your traineeship abroad?
The opportunity to spend part of my traineeship abroad was both enriching and unique. I had the chance to deep dive into Dematic’s business model, examining it from both a local perspective within the Italian market and a broader EMEA viewpoint. This experience has been invaluable, as it allowed me to understand different perspectives when addressing challenges.
Can you sum up your international experience in one sentence?
My international experience has been fantastic, with very welcoming colleagues, a great spirit, lots of enthusiasm, and, of course, good food.
During her stay, Elisa noticed that there is a strong bond among colleagues, even across different teams. “A part of it comes from the emphasis on getting to know each other and spending time together, such as during longer lunch breaks. Initially, this was quite different from what I was used to, but I soon realized that this promotes strong collaboration within and across teams, and this in turn, helps solve problems swiftly”, she says.
Jan is currently based in Xiamen, China. Apart from several other projects, he is supporting the local process optimization team. Together, they analyzed for inefficiency reported processes, elaborated possible improvements, and even managed to implement some of them.
What has been your favorite experience, both at work and in your host country?
My favorite experience at work would be my trip to the Jinan-plant. Together with two colleagues, we were analyzing a process and had to check if there was a difference between the two locations.
Did you have a moment where you thought to yourself "oh, that's why it's like that in that country"?
While talking to our Chinese colleagues in English, I realized that they would often mix up “He” and “She” when speaking about others. Upon learning a little bit more about the language, I realized that this was because in their spoken language there is no difference (both are pronounced tā). There is only a difference in writing.
How has your international experience affected your approach to your work?
I would say it has affected me on two levels. First, the cultural learnings really helped me understand why people are the way they are and act the way they do. This had a big impact on how I approach colleagues here and collaborate with them. Secondly, I learned a lot about the differences in the development of our products, which helped me get a more holistic view and thus a much better understanding of the company.
What do you think of the opportunity to spend part of your traineeship abroad?
Without the international section the traineeship simply would not be the same. To be able to compare the experiences of other sections to a foreign location with different people, working culture, and processes truly brings the learnings on another level.
Can you sum up your international experience in one sentence?
The last five months really have been a time of growth and I am very thankful for all the experiences I had.
Besides work, Jan got to spend a lot of time with his two companions and learned a lot about Chinese culture and their way of life. In general, his favorite experience would be playing Mahjong with his colleagues. Besides the different rules (in the West it is played more like Memory), he could also learn a lot about the language, the culture, and the way of life outside of work while having many laughs together.
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