On Monday the 9th of March a group of International Business and Mechanical Engineering students gathered to the festival hall on Raastuvankatu Campus to begin their workshop week together. The aim of the Workshop in International Projects - Distributed Energy was to learn to work in an international group with students from different fields. The introduction of the week and the division into groups had happened a couple weeks before.
The task was to export Nordautomations product Ekohell to one of each group member’s home country. This task included the customer segmentation, doing the pestle analysis, choose a good entry strategy, and to discuss cultural differences etc.
We were happy to have guest lecturers during the whole week. We had Director Dolores Sanchez-Bengoa from Spain, Professor Hans Hans-Rudiger Kaufmann from Nicosia University in Cyprus, and as company representatives Vice President Jan Tapanainen from PrimaPower and Project Manager Petri Polvilampi from Wärtsilä.
Project Manager Petri Polvilampi from Wärtsilä gave a lecture on customer value.
Skills for the Future
On Friday morning the project were done and it was time to present the results for the whole class, our guest lecturers and to Nordautomation´s product manager Kalevi Alanen. After the presentation we were served cake and the top three groups were rewarded.
The week was intensive and a very rewarding experience. It gave the students a chance to collaborate and share their knowledge in a common project. It was very interesting to see how cultural differences can impact the work within a team.
As a conclusion of this week we could say that it was a very good experience that we will find useful in the future. Thank you to the teachers and guest lecturers who organized this project and guided us during the week. 
The winning team got feedback on extensive content, active team work, and the marketing material that they had designed. In the middle Principal Lecturer Satu Lautamäki and on the right Principal Lecturer Adebayo Agbejule, who were involved in planning and organizing the workshop. Principal Lecturer Lotta Saarikoski is missing from the picture.
Two excursions were included in the workshop. Kalevi Alanen from Nordautomation explained the automation of the Ekohell-equipment for the mechanical engineering students in Ylimarkku.
Hannu Erkkilä from VEO gave lectures on distributed energy production and was a guide in the wind power station in Vähäkyrö.
Text: Students Josefin Strandberg ja Sandra Duverney
Photos: Principal Lecturer Lotta Saarikoski