Internship at Linde India Ltd. – Sudipto from Nirma University
It is said that there is enough time for you to sleep when you are dead so you must work when you are alive. Make this life count and don’t hold yourself back. Break away all the barriers that come in the way of your success. Sudipto during his internship went under a great transformation and is greatly inspired by his mentor.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” – Neale Donald Walsch
The successful people are those who take the extra steps in their lives, who embrace changes, which is much beyond the comfort zone. The same goes on with me. I was in my comfort zone until I got the opportunity to do the Summer Internship at Linde India Limited. Shortlisted and then getting selected to work for Linde India Limited itself was a big achievement for me, but I was very much determined to prove my mettle in these 2 months. I didn’t want it to be just for the sake of doing Internship and getting the certificate at the end of the day.
Before starting my Internship Story, I would like you all to know about Linde India Limited in brief. Linde India Limited is a part of the Linde Group. The Linde Group is a world-leading supplier of industrial, process and speciality gases and is one of the most profitable engineering companies. The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 17.047 Bn, making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 65,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The various departments of Linde India Limited were Industrial Gases, Engineering and Healthcare. I was supposed to be working for the Healthcare Department, as per the mail sent to me.
My internship was scheduled to start from 13th April 2015. The fact that for the next two months I will be staying close to my family in Kolkata really exhilarated me. I reached home on 10th, and two days of ‘mom-made food’ was enough to rejuvenate me for a new beginning. And eventually the day came. I reached the Linde India Head Office well before time. At around 10:30 AM I was greeted by Mr. Anirban Sen, National Sales Manager, Healthcare. This man was heading the National Sales Team with 15 years of experience in the same company, but his humbleness was something to be noticed and it really gratified me. He wanted to know about me, my likings, hobbies, about my college, about my family etc. He then introduced me to his colleagues and also to the senior managers of the Healthcare Department. All these eased me a lot and helped in breaking the early shackles.
He gave me an overall idea about the Linde Group’s business model and more specifically about the Healthcare Department. He made it clear to me that the first 10-15 days will be pure induction where I need to be well acquainted with the Healthcare’s business model. He also assigned me a mentor, Mr. Chiranjit Dutta (Deputy Manager, Healthcare), who will guide me for the next 2 months. He introduced me to Mr. Dutta, who took over from there.
Now talking about the Head Office, it was 5-floored building, named Oxygen House. The whole building was supported by Biometric system; each floor had two wings (East & West).There were TT Tables, Carom Boards, Rest Rooms and Café Coffee Day Vending machines in each wing.
Linde India’s Healthcare Sector has a strong hold over the market. As a Marketing Intern, marketing roles are mainly that of Strategic Marketing. Advertisements, promotional activities (other than occasional Seminars and Exhibitions) are inconsequential. If 4 Ps of marketing is considered then Product and Price are considered the main factors of Strategic Marketing in their case. A Marketing person’s main role is to find out various combinations/ variations in product and price of gases according to the need of the customers to make the business most profitable and sustainable.
On the very 2nd day, I was sent to a Medical Gas packaging unit (Decantation Plant) which is located around 10 km away from the head-office. As an Instrumentation Engineer graduated only 9 months back I really enjoyed being in a plant in which maximum processes involved Instrumentation Engineering. Now that I am almost familiar with the company’s overall business model after 1st week’s induction, my mentor gave me a mini-virtual project. I was given 2 full days though I was able to complete it well before time.
I was made to visit the plant once again. This time the purpose was to have a thorough idea about Medical Oxygen and Nitrous Oxide Testing. Testing is done in batches before they are being sent to various hospitals (customers). One particular day, I accompanied the Healthcare Sales Team to a big private Hospital, where we were supposed to give training to a group of 50 nurses of that Hospital. It was more of a seminar, and we made them aware about various safety precautions which they need to be aware of while handling various Medical Gases and cylinders.
After some discussion with Mr. Chiranjit Dutta (my assigned mentor) and Mr. Sagnik Bose (Regional Sales Manager, Eastern Region), my project was finalised. The title of my project is- “Feasibility Study of Entering the market of Medium and Lower-End Healthcare in Kolkata”. The basic objectives were set, and accordingly the plan of action was also decided. For this project, I had to conduct a market research of around 30 Healthcare across Kolkata. The list was provided to me. I needed to set out appointments with different professionals from this healthcare and conduct a face to face interview. On the basis of the information gathered, I did a quantitative analysis followed by some qualitative inferences. Visiting this healthcare, one after another during peak summer days in Kolkata was a challenging task.
The last few days I had to work for long hours preparing reports and presentation slides. On the final day, i.e. on 12th June, I gave a presentation in front of the Healthcare Team. I was well appreciated by them for the kind of work that I have done during the course of the internship. This really boosted my confidence level. This was more motivating than the pay cheque that I received as a stipend at the end of the Internship.
Last but not the least, I would like to mention and acknowledge my mentor for his unflagging guidance. I was lucky to have him by my side during these days, and would definitely like to be someone like him in future. I learnt a lot from him, the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, the simple way he looks at so many complicated things. It was indeed a great learning experience.
If Sudipto’s experience motivates you, you can check the latest internships in Kolkata and Marketing internships.
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