I’m currently going into my super senior year because I chose to take a year off and work at two different companies to gain experience in my field and explore what I want to do after graduation.  On this trip, Xinli was able to use his contacts to get us tours with Changan Ford and Exxon Mobil which were both eye opening experiences for me to see different businesses that I haven’t had the opportunity to work in yet.

When I heard we were going to visit Changan Ford, I was a little bit skeptical at first.  I’m a chemical engineering major, and I didn’t think this experience was going to be particularly significant to me since I’m not into cars nor the manufacturing process that they go through to make it.  I honestly thought that a lot of the material that was going to be covered would go right over my head, and I would be lost the entire presentation.  We arrived at the Ford plant early, and I was already impressed at the size of the campus.  Changan Ford is a joint venture between the Changan Company (Chinese motor company) and the Ford Motor Company (American).  What was even more impressive was that just a few years ago, the land that the factory was on was just farmland.  Also, within the last few years Ford has become a major competitor in the Chinese car market moving from number 12 to number 5 in the last 4-5 years which is a huge jump.  I was interested in learning how Changan Ford has altered their American designs to better cater its Chinese consumers.  I worked on an international team with Unilever on Dove Japan Body Wash and the formulation for that product had to be changed drastically to be marketable.  I am not sure how far I can go into detail because of intellectual property so I am choosing to air on the side of caution and not reveal anything in this blog post.  I’ve been in a few manufacturing plants before, but this one of the most impressive.  The operators perform their job quickly while being accurate and precise.  The process was incredible to watch since there are so many intricate details that go into building the cars.

I was extremely excited to visit Exxon Mobil.  I was hopeful that I could learn more about the business to see if it could be a potential candidate for my job search in the next few months.  It was interesting to learn about lubricants especially since my background in that is minimal, but I also didn’t know that the company has research in other areas such as polymers.  The labs were state of the art and extremely efficient with some equipment being similar to ones that I’ve used in the past.  We were able to ask Jay Rogers, a former student of Xinili’s, questions about his move and experiences with both the company and the transition to working in another country.  Listening to his presentation and hearing him talk is making me more open to taking an international role in my future.