Recess week at NUS is always an eventful time for our E-Scholars, packed with industrial visits and student events. Many had been looking forward to the first industrial visit for the semester: to Boeing!
The long-awaited visit kicked off with an introduction, and the E-Scholars were given an overview of the Boeing’s various business arms and extensive global operations. With Singapore as Boeing’s regional hub for Southeast Asia, varied operations are carried out here, including training for maintenance crew and pilots, services support, and product research and incubation. It was fascinating to learn about the wide-ranging initiatives that the organization was engaged in. After the introduction, the group broke off for tea-break, and students were given a chance to mingle with Boeing staff over refreshments to network and learn more about their individual experiences.
After tea-break, there was a leadership talk by Dr Marc Launer, Director of Advanced Research & Product Concepts. Marc discussed his leadership journey and underlined the importance of going above and beyond school work and grades. For one, he pointed out that organizations are people; a good part of business life is about building social networks, learning to negotiate with others, and knowing how to push things forward. This shows the importance of having good people skills. In addition, Marc highlighted the value of being entrepreneurial even in a large enterprise, by taking responsibility for your own work, and being involved and taking action if you notice something which can be improved. Finally, he encouraged the scholars to keep learning, creating, and taking on new opportunities.
The final segment was the campus tour. E-Scholars got to visit different areas such as the composite lab, the aircraft maintenance training classrooms, and even the flight simulators!
Overall, it was a meaningful session and gave the scholars a good overview of Boeing’s business and the aircraft manufacturing industry.
