Just the Beginning of an Awesome Experience
It has been roughly three and a half months since arriving in Germany and starting my internship at BMW and I’m incredibly grateful and fortunate to partake in this once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve been very excited and looking forward to this internship for a long time and it has not disappointed; it’s been an awesome experience so far.
Munich is a beautiful city with a rich history and has been wonderful to explore. I will admit, getting used to the weather, culture and lifestyle here was something that took some time as it’s a stark contrast to Brisbane. What I love most about Munich, apart from being a hub for cutting-edge technology and design, is its vibrant and unique culture. A great perk about this internship is being able to explore Europe in your downtime and now that spring has arrived, I’m excited to see the landscape change.
The internship had a slow start which I appreciated as it allowed me to find my feet before diving into any major projects. I am thankful my colleagues are friendly and were very welcoming, including me in their usual office activities like playing foosball during our lunch break. The view on your walk through the BMW plant is very nice, if you’re a car enthusiast that is. Seeing a small carpark’s worth of colourful M3s fresh off the assembly line every morning is not something I’ll get tired of any time soon.
The most interesting and exciting experience I’ve had so far at BMW was touring the assembly line at the plant. Being fortunate enough to see the process of how various BMW cars are constructed and assembled was awesome. Seeing a floor full of robot arms welding car chassis then literally walking on the assembly conveyor to see various procedures take place, from wiring to quality control checking, gave so much insight on just how complex it is to produce a BMW car.
At this stage in the internship my main project is rebranding the Logistics Innovation & Robotics department. Alongside this, I’m currently doing some other minor design work with some Omniverse projects on the horizon. It’s great being surrounded by people working on the company’s latest and most exciting projects. I’m constantly learning by engaging with my colleagues, discussing their work and contributing ideas to help solve problems. Through this, I’m getting hands-on experience that is invaluable to me as an industrial designer.
What I have learnt most so far is how to operate professionally within a large corporate company, gaining insight into appropriate procedures and processes like internal communication, meeting scheduling, and data sharing. I am keen and eager to continue my journey here at BMW and make the most of this opportunity to know, think, and do better as an industrial designer.
Until next time!
Damian Noviello
BMW Group Intern (Logistics Innovation & Robotics) 2023
