We are Gianmarco and Tommaso, we’re two students finishing up our last year of Management Engineering’s master degree and we wanted to tell you about our experience in a company.

First we want to start by saying that we had other plans in mind: starting the project in March, finishing it in July along with  exams and then leave for Sydney to write our thesis.

When it all seemed set, Covid disrupted our program. We couldn’t take that thesis anymore and the project was postponed to July. We had to face a choice: either start a theoretical project from home or take the opportunity to go to a company in Nogara (VR), called Hinowa, a manufacturing company that produces aerial platforms, automatic carioles and under carriers. On the one hand we had an easy choice, which would save us time and energy: work from home and finish quickly. On the other hand, working in the company would have required us to move to a small village lost among the Venetian rice paddies for three months, putting at risk the possibility of a thesis abroad.

Looking at facts we decided to “risk it” with the project in Nogara: the job seemed interesting, we wanted to get working experience in a company and Covid made it difficult to make predictions about a possible thesis abroad.

The experience at Nogara was very intense, the  loadwork required was a lot and there were strong expectations on us. At first we were a little disorientated: after studying a lot of theoretical things, when you are facing real people with real problems it seems that you cannot make a contribution. However, in the two and a half months we stayed there we saw that our work had value, our ideas were realized and, although with difficulty, we were helping out.

The other interesting aspect of this job was seeing people at work. We learned a lot from our boss; other than her technical knowledge and her way of organizing projects the greatest outcome of this experience was to see her way of dealing with difficulties at work and of relating herself to colleagues and operators. For example, when at the end of the project we presented the solution that we wanted to implement to the warehouse workers many of the operators were against it and it was very nice to see how she handled it. She did not impose herself, but she had a constructive discussion with everyone, saying that the solution was either taken together or would not be brought up to the board.

In a decisive but respectful way we spoke with the most skeptical employees, managing to reach a common point. Similarly, in order to meet their needs, we decided together who should be assigned to different roles.