AEB SE
AEB in Stuttgart, was our first stop. For over 40 years AEB is known as a software developer and leading provider of global IT solutions and services. Today, AEB is a global company with sixteen locations in ten countries. Dr. Torsten Mallée (Director International Business Development) and Stephan Urbanski (Cloud* at AEB) explained to us their enriching journey so far, and how they're going all digital through cloud transformation. Helping clients from numerous sectors like automotive, pharmaceuticals, etc. to improve their logistics’ processes and efficiency, streamline their invoicing and manage international trade and customs, has been their strength. And they want to continue delivering that with a digital touch. With the help of standardization and their next generation software approach, coupled with the mentality to embrace change throughout the organization, they are targeting to deliver a holistic experience to their clients.

Aesculap AG - part of the B. Braun Group
Our next stop was the fascinating Aesculap company as part of the B. Braun Group in Tuttlingen. During Anna Faedda’s factory tour we learnt the art of how the company manufactures precision surgical instruments for knee, brain and bone surgeries. We were mesmerized to see the robots and machines at work in sync and how they help to achieve a high production efficiency and avoid bottlenecks. For some of us it was also the first encounter with a fully automated assembly line, and that blew our minds. The presentation of Christian Nufer (Product Manager Sterile Technology) on ‘Ecological advantages of sterile containers’ was equally fascinating. We dove deep into how Aesculap is managing the energy consumption, waste and supply chain for their Rigid Sterile Container (RSC) in order to lower the economic and social costs and enable the reuse, recycling, refurbishing, repurposing ideas to build a more circular economy. It was astonishing to see the savings that got generated per container due to this approach. Eda Bösche (Talent Acquisition Specialist) then gave us a sneak-peak into the career opportunities at Aesculap and encouraged us to stay motivated.

SAP
SAP, here we come! What a warm welcome we had from Andrea Tvarusko (SAP Next-Gen Walldorf Innovation Tours Lead) and Margit Herrler (SAP Campus Strategy & Engagement Lead DACH) at their Walldorf campus. They explained to us about the employee journey and life at SAP and it certainly seemed very engaging and enriching. With a talk titled ‘From Punching Cards to Artificial Intelligence’ we were taken on a ride through the SAP history. We learned how four friends came up with a start-up idea and founded SAP, turning it into a multinational company through their state-of-the-art products like Financial Accounting System, R/3 Next Generation Software and SAP HANA series. It’s all about understanding the market disruptors and responding quickly to the change, to give clients an upper edge. Over the years, SAP did that by building software that interacts with real-time data, is internet-friendly, speeds up performance, is cloud-enabled, open source and now coupled with Artificial Intelligence (Joule). We then headed for a team lunch and met Adriana Rotaru, an alumna of our MBA program and now Product Lead at SAP Signavio, for a quick catch-up and a lovely conversation.

This evening, we visited the beautiful city of Speyer, that once was Germany’s capital. Through a guided tour along with Professor Schwaab and our well-informed city guide Thomas Leisen, we got a lot of information on its beautiful churches, the Judenbad (Mikwe), the Altpörtel and other attractions and took home a lot of insights about the city´s history. We concluded the evening with delicious Spanish food and some enjoyable conversations.

Lidl
Katja Lontke (Talent Acquisition Expert), an alumna of Hochschule Pforzheim, welcomed us and explained to us the opportunities to be a part of the Lidl family. She gave us a comprehensive idea of the huge Schwarz Group, its values, its evolution and the expansion of its business lines. Lidl is excellent at marketing and they do that by carefully analyzing customer preferences and their patterns. The department Data Science then gave us a comprehensive idea of how they collect, analyse and interpret the data they receive from customers in order to make statistically well-informed decisions on branding, promotion management, cost management, inventory management. We were super-intrigued to see the amount of data that was collected through the various touchpoints and realized again, the value that Data Science and Analytics adds to the decision-making prowess of an organization.

Like always, this Excursion left us more connected as a group. We also had a wonderful opportunity to network and interact with some very well-informed and experienced industry professionals and get a sneak-peak into their organizational culture. Thank you to AEB, Aesculap AG - part of the B. Braun Group, SAP and Lidl, for being so welcoming and sharing your valuable knowledge with us. 

text and photos: Aditya Yardi, MBA Class of 2025