V-ZUG Inspirations Magazine - Magazine - Page 55
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EXPLORERS
ETH Zurich students Bodo
Grünenfelder and Shuting Mi
brainstorm inside their workshop
located on V-ZUG’s premises. The
former is a mechanical engineer
investigating manufacturing technologies, whilst she specialises
in data science, computer vision,
and machine learning.
CARINA HEUBERGER
A former ETH Zurich student,
Carina Heuberger now oversees
the Exploration Lab for V-ZUG.
As Head of Supply Planning at the
company, she hopes the research
projects emerging from the
program will contribute to making
production more efficient.
is by nature oriented to efficiency. “Normally, as an intern in a
company, your boss assigns you a task and you just deliver it.
The first thing we do, instead, is ask why. At first, some people
are surprised, but they become super happy when they realise
we are helping them discover a path to success.”
The Exploration Lab collaborates with a wide array of Swiss
industries, from logistics and infrastructure to semiconductors,
electronics and design. One of its closest partners is V-ZUG.
Each year, a team of students from ETH Zurich spends six
months at the company’s headquarters in Zug, tackling realworld challenges faced by different departments. Tobias Iten, a
Technology & Economics student currently in the program, is
working on automating quality checks using a camera system
designed to replicate the human eye. “The biggest challenge
is getting rid of reflections,” he explains. “If the image has
reflections, then the machine might oversee scratches. It is
really coming up with ideas as a team and testing them. Trial
and error.” Instead of remaining behind their desks, Tobias and
two other students are encouraged to spend time on the factory
floor–asking questions, observing processes, and exchanging
ideas with workers.
“It’s really cool to bring students into production and see
how impressed they are. In Switzerland it is very easy to
forget that production exists,” says Carina Heuberger, Head
of Supply Planning and Operational Purchasing at V-ZUG.
“What’s exciting is witnessing the solutions they come up
with. They’re surprising, and faster than originally expected.
On the other hand, students get a completely different angle
on how to prioritise information. I think the Exploration Lab
is a very valuable project.” The vision is integrating the Lab
into V-ZUG’s innovation strategy and using it as a pilot for
the Learning Factory, an initiative designed to foster innovation across hierarchies and among companies based in Zug.
Some students who go through the Exploration Lab might be
offered an internship and eventually be hired by the company.
While this is surely a desirable outcome, it is not the primary
objective of the program.
“The main focus at ETH is pushing the boundaries of knowledge, so our task is providing the students with the tools and
skills necessary to push those boundaries,” Fox continues.
“And then we have a duty to help translate this knowledge into
economical success for Switzerland.” Some projects emerging from the Exploration Lab have been implemented at an
industrial scale. Others have not. But Fox values them both.
“There is no sample solution. You have to understand it yourself,” he concludes. “The greatest joy for me is seeing the light
go on in the eyes of a student that has understood a certain
problem. When I see that spark, I know I am looking at an
innovation engineer.” ●
WHERE IDEAS FLY HIGH
