“I was curious about all the details involved when a load of potatoes is transported.”
During her internship, Lieke Schrauwen (20) helped support the Bulk Logistics Customer Service department. She is currently studying Management at the Associate degrees Academy in Roosendaal. Her study programme requires her to complete an internship and three assignments. What did Lieke think of her internship? Lieke describes her experiences: “It was an educational and enjoyable time. I learned something new every day, and the atmosphere in the department was good.”
There were a number of reasons why the Management programme appealed to her: “I am a member of the KPJ (an agricultural youth organisation) where I organise many events. I really enjoy organising these events and that's how I ended up choosing Management.” Lieke explains how she found out about Farm Trans: “My school organised a business fair, and that's where I came across Farm Trans. I had a good discussion with them and provided my contact information. Then I received an e-mail asking if I wanted to do an internship at Farm Trans. I live on a farm where potatoes are harvested and picked up. I didn't know where the potatoes went and how it all worked. “I was curious about all the details involved when a load of potatoes is transported. Farm Trans also comes to our farm, so I already knew the company.”
She enjoyed the daily work at the Customer Service department most. Whether it involved implementing customer orders, finalising orders or carrying out GMP+ certification checks, she did it all. Lieke continues: “I started my internship without knowing anything about it, with a blank slate. I was surprised by how much they do at the department in terms of the number of small tasks. You begin your day by updating the cancelled shipments, and then you inspect the documents and check whether any rates are missing in the system. You keep an eye on email throughout the day and sometimes, you need to check the CMR documents.”
In short: full days of work and plenty of new things to learn. Working alongside the staff was one of Lieke's internship assignments. Her other assignments consisted of an evaluation and completing a project. Lieke: “For the second assignment, I was required to evaluate something in the department: I choose to do this for the GMP+ certificate. For my project, I decided to develop an improvement plan. The improvement plan focuses on the errors that occur most often during seedling season. I created an overview of the most frequent errors. Based on this overview, I was able to write an improvement proposal for the years to come.”
With a passion for organisation, Lieke finished her informative internship with three successfully completed assignments! And, did Lieke achieve her goal during this internship? Lieke explains: “It was my goal to get something out of my internship, like being asked to stay at Farm Trans, for example. And I succeeded: I get to stay and now work part time at Farm Trans!”
