Transport industry internship supports business experience

December 7, 2020

Rahul Balagopal during his internship at Emmerson Transport Limited.

Gaining essential knowledge and skills for the workplace are integral to the EIT student experience as demonstrated by Napier business student Rahul Balagopal during his final presentation. Rahul is completing a Graduate Diploma in Business and presented the findings from his Business Project for which he completed an internship at Emmerson Transport Limited in Hawke’s Bay.

Established in 1977, Emmerson Transport Limited is a family owned and operated business. The company has expanded and diversified over time to become one of the largest independent operators in the New Zealand transport industry. Emmerson Transport has evolved through innovation including specialist services for line-haul, bulk freight, managed warehousing, and refrigerated and meat industry product cartage.

With EIT’s strong connections to industry, Business School lecturer Regan Cotter was able to introduce Rahul to Emmerson Transport in his capacity as Work Integrated Learning Coordinator. At the beginning of his internship Rahul set clear objectives, starting with gathering the information which would enable him to create a detailed process map. This would involve observing the day-to-day processing of the loading and transit areas. This proved tricky initially as he realised that his working day did not start early enough. Rahul decided to start work a couple of hours earlier at 6am so that he was onsite when the trucks were loaded.

Over time, Rahul gained a detailed understanding of the business from the moment a job is created to the point when freight is delivered. This enabled him to present a 3,000 word report to Emmerson Transport at the end of his project including some innovative thinking around general process flow, load planning and driver allocation.

As part of his internship, Rahul maintained a daily journal and weekly timing plan, checking in regularly with Emmerson Transport Business Transformation Manager, Donna Roughan.

“Rahul integrated seamlessly into our team and his assignment provided us with a deeper understanding of the processes our team follow,” says Donna.

Reflecting on his New Zealand work experience, Rahul said that people are very open and friendly. They are willing to talk and share their observations. One of the highlights of his internship was spending time with the truck drivers. “I gained a lot of respect for the truck drivers, they are up so early in the morning and work non-stop,” says Rahul.

Rahul really enjoyed his experience at Emmerson Transport and is currently in discussions with them about future career opportunities.

 


Find out more about EIT’s business programmes:

Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Digital Business
Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Applied Management
Graduate Diploma in Business
Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting
Bachelor of Business Studies
NZ Diploma in Business