Argo Kenk
I am a student at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. My field of area is mechanical and production engineering. I attended both NordERP courses in Karelia and Tartu. It is a very good opportunity to see how ERP is implemented and also teached outside of Estonia. For example you can get knowledge and experience of gamification and simulation usage in learning ERP, operational management and LEAN production. During company visits I saw how manufacturing is operated and what were the real life uses of ERP systems. I liked meeting and working with professional organizers and fellow students from different countries like Finland and Norway.
Siim Ansberg
First of all I strongly recommend to go and discover the world. Even if it’s related to your studies. I went to Finland to understand a little bit more about ERP and LEAN philosophy. But most of all it was about networking. Now it’s more than a year from it and my memories are awesome – many new friends (and business partners) from other fields of studies and countries. A lot of studying (games, practice, great lectors) and partying was also a part of intensive course of course!
Bruno Marques
In the trip me and my group were granted access to work with a Laser Cutting machine and therefore improve our skills with this kind of machine and software. Using the laser cutter, we produced a prototype has requested for this week of programme and tried to have it done by Friday but do to short time, some lack of experience (and short ideas) and some lack of material we finished one piece short of the final product. We needed the help of Tonu, that was the person in charge of the workshop and the person responsible for us the entire week. On the social point I was so surprise because I Portuguese the differences were notable. We were able to spend time together with the other people from Finland and Estonia (locals). We ate different kind of food from Estonian to finnish and even Sri Lanka food which was amazing and spectacular experience. We worked from Monday to Friday during some periods of the day and in this point I want to remark the great work of Tonu in planning this week for us from the day one. I was able to learn a lot about Estonia and it´s history and culture, especially about Tartu because of the excursion around the city and the visit to the Estonian National Museum. I was able to participate in the university regular classes and to try several machines and met a new country, so I’m very thankful to the people in charge for giving me this opportunity
This workshop was really a great opportunity for us to open horizons for the future allowing me to think about finish my studies and, who knows, possible working abroad. The time schedule was very well calculated and the staff, from students to professors to university workers, were very kind with us and if we needed something they were there for us. The programme was well balanced between social stuff and engineering. The fact that the programme is open to students from many areas of studies it´s an A+ point in my feedback because it´s represents more the real world that many time is not possible to show in the universities. About the courses just to make a point that the responsible Tonu made a great and successful effort in trying to make the content accessible to everyone and that the language barrier wasn´t a problem.
Leah Ruales
This is with regard to the NORDERP Intensive Program Week in Joensuu, Finland dated 15-22 April, 2018. The week was full of fun and learnings. It is about managing operations specifically in a manufacturing firm. That week, many games and lectures happened and what struck me most was the gamification style using lego blocks. It helps us instill what was in the theory and applying it to practice is quite challenging and mind blowing. That you need to brainstorm also to make it happen in a smooth manner. Lean management in the game was applied. Somehow, lean management in production is played the biggest part. In the lego game, we had played the visualization. Where in this game, the abstract of the product design and the process in each assembly line are printed out and the steps are being pointed out. What made it easy was whenever the order comes, each person assigned are preparing the things needed and get ready to assemble their assigned task. We tried to make the process in accordance to lean which was to reduce waste so what we did was noting the time in each process or procedure and see how much time needed each process. In this game, they tried to let us foresee how visualization helps in the process and how it will help to speed up the production reducing the waste or without waste at all. It was fun and a great experienced I had. It helps a lot to students specially those who doesn’t have experience yet and just wondering how the theory happen in actual practice. This is the only comments I can give, I hope this would help a bit.
Luis Uresti
What I learned the most in the trip was that working in a CNC machine was not as easy as it looks like. We tried to make a shot of metal out of metal with the CNC machining with simple coordinates to have the product done by Friday but the setting up was the most difficult thing to do. We needed the help of Tonu, that was the person in charge of the workshop.
As well we spend time together with the other guys that where from Finland and locals (Estonia). They were so much different than us. I mean, I was the only latin American in the group, so our humour is so different, so it took like one day to get along but at the end everyone was able to talk to each other.
We ate different kind of food: Estonian and finnish food which was amazing and delicious.
We worked from Monday to Friday in our workpiece and as well at night Tonu was in charge of the excursion to know the city which was a very good thing instead of being in the hostel.
I learned so many thing: in terms of social and engineering stuff. I met a new country, so I’m very happy. I live in the other side of the world, so for me doing this trips are amazing for me and even more if I go with one purpose.
Yaseen was a very good person with us. He is very polite and was a very good adviser during the trip, so I’m very grateful he came with us.
I loved this workshop. I wish I stayed more time to go to another one, but anyways, it was amazing and cold.
Everything was calculated on time and the staff were very kind with us and if we needed something they were for us. The programme was well balanced between social stuff and engineering. One of the things I liked most was that some people were not even engineers and it didn’t matter because everyone were open to new knowledge. And in the courses Tonu was concerned about that and tried to make it as simple as possible.