Mechanical engineering students from Aalen University take 1st and 3rd place in international business competitionTop ranking in the "net turnover" and "net revenue" categories
Total success: Prof. Dr. Harro Heilmann (4th from right) with his competition team. Photo: Aalen University | Gaby Keil
With around twelve million Euros in net sales "Mechanical Engineering / Industrial Engineering and Management" students won first place in this category in Pearson/Praxar's international European University Business Simulation Competition. In this simulation, the seventh-year students successfully managed a Canadian Kayak start-up and prevailed against international competitors. With a net income of 1.1 million euros, they took third place. "Management skills in the profession are very important for engineers," says Prof. Dr. Harro Heilmann, head of the degree program, pleased with the success of his "protégés".
In the international competition, the ten-member student team managed a start-up that manufactures kayaks and sells them in Canada, the USA and Mexico. They had to develop a strategy to expand markets and increase production capacity. In doing so, they supervised a team of four managers with expertise in marketing, production, human resources and finance over a five-year period. Each competition day corresponded to one financial year. The impact of their decisions on the company's share price was re-evaluated every evening and before the start of the next day (year). The students from Aalen competed with international universities from Paris, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Valencia, Madrid and Zurich, to name a few.
"Due to their excellent strategy and operational performance, they have the best net sales, 3rd place in net income and 7th place in share value," says the Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Harro Heilmann, pleased with the award-worthy performance of his students and emphasizes how important management knowledge is for mechanical engineering students - the future engineers. In addition to a "super solid basic technology education", students in the Mechanical Engineering / Industrial Engineering and Management program get additional training in economics, management and operations. "This is how we make the difference. It is fundamental to learn the basics of business administration, accounting and, very importantly, value management in the first semester," Heilmann emphasizes.
Further information on the degree programs
Prospective students can find more information on the Instagram channel maschinenbau.hsaalen, on the website hs-aalen.de/maschinenbau or on WhatsApp in the Mechanical Engineering Student Advisory Service at 0152 27 14 93 14.