Edward Colclough

Napier Turbochargers Profitability Analysis Project

Summary of Learning

Executive Summary

During my time at Napier Turbochargers, I learned many useful skills to propel myself forward

into the business world, both in terms of how to conduct oneself in the workplace, and how to

present work for a finance team within a company. Initially, I was integrated into the company by

the finance team, taken on a full tour through the factory (2 days) and given an introduction to

the company wide software. It was at this point where Tony Franklin (FD) and I discussed what

exactly the internship project would look like. Following the meeting, we established a report

analysing the profitability of Napier’s largest customer, Wartsila, would be the course of action to

take.

I then researched into the original equipment and aftermarket care of Napier, including

that of Wartsila. I underwent Excel spreadsheet training from budgeting controller Christine, in

how to format the data collected on orders from customers. Further to this Excel training, I then

gathered data regarding OE, SST and AM sales figures from a large order database into a

spreadsheet. Tony Franklin and I discussed the Project Deliverable in more detail, and agreed

the final format, leading to a number of free hand drafts of analysis charts drawn up. Once all of

the data collection had taken place, I used Excel to create of all the analysis charts to be

entered into the final deliverable. Further meetings with the department director where

competed to ensure all graphs were accurate and in accordance with what the data was

predicted to show.

In terms of the day-to-day work of my internship, I assisted in archiving previous years’

orders, enjoyed the classic task of making coffee for everyone each morning and input new

orders into the finance team’s database as they came through during my time there. One thing

that I found pressure with was the input of data on OEM and AM products for the 2014-2018

period, to which there were masses of data, that I didn’t know how to go through in ample time. I

therefore had to find tools and shortcuts to help me get through this stage. Data slicing tools

and PivotTables helped massively here.

In the last week, a final report was written up, including the data capture process,

chart/graph analysis from the pooled data, and observations. There was then a meeting with

Jaidip Sen (Md)t to determine the usefulness and accuracy of the report (leading to changes

made before end of the week)I then made final adjustments to the deliverable and handed it in

at the end of the final field work week.

Summary of Key Learning

Project Plan

The Original – My first iteration of my internship plan laid out 4 weeks of work, in a rather

straight forward fashion. Week 1 was designed to allow me time to get my bearings at the

organization, in terms of doing a bit of grunt work (archiving) and forming good working

relationships with the finance team members. Week 2 set out my data collection process and its

input into a master spreadsheet ready for analysis. Week 3 entailed my computation of the

collected data into charts and graphs regarding the OEM, AM and SST products. Week 4 was

planned to be the week that I would tie everything together into the final deliverable and

subsequent report ready to be delivered to my internship host. All academic work was

scheduled to fit this fieldwork timeline, in that

The Adjustments – For my project plan, I did not need to adjust many aspects of the goals

I laid out. Content-wise, there were no changes needed. The only adjustment made with the

fieldwork section was the scheduling of the final week being pushed back a single day.

Explanation – I pushed back the schedule one day to allow for more time to be put into the

final deliverable completion. This proved to be the right move, as it allowed me to make

necessary changes to my final deliverable that otherwise may have been overlooked.

Accomplishments for the Organization

Deliverable Achievements

- I was able to effectively manage masses of data regarding product types, and sort

those orders into important categories.

- I analysed this data to produce charts and graphs that broke down the profitability of

each product type, as well as annual sales progression, monthly sales information and

the percentages each product type played in the total sales to Wartsila.

- This was tied together into an accurate and useful report detailing Napier’s profitability

with regard to their largest customer Wartsila, which I am pleased to say was utilised

by management, not just the finance department.

Additional Achievements

- I established a good working relationship with all the members of the finance team, as

well as other individuals at Napier, and feel that this experience has given me

communication skills that I did not previously have, in particular, the willingness to ask

more questions when I am struggling with some form of work.

Improvements

- I feel that my deliverable achievements were all that I set out for, however, the one

thing I wish I had achieved but fell short of, was providing my own recommendations

for what course of action Napier could have taken in the future to increase the sales

hotspots and any patterns that may have been utilised to boost total sales.

Strengths

- In my journal entries, I mentioned that one of my strengths was that I have a keen

mind for sifting through masses of information, which was aided by the excel skills I

picked up in week 1. Where I believe I do well in this, is my ability to see the key

information in an order type quickly. In the future, I want to use this strength to build

my own company, and recognise which product orders are successful/why.

Areas for Improvement

- I have had a tendency to get chatty with the other employees when a non work

related conversation starts. In future, whilst this hasn’t impacted my work too

negatively, it has the potential to do so, and likely will prevent me from getting

ahead of schedule. My specific plan to address this is to ensure non-work

conversations are kept to a maximum of 5 minutes at a time rather than 10.

Internship Learning Objectives

(a) Expand my knowledge of Excel.

- I achieved this throughout the process, becoming more familiar with excel, particularly

learning Data Slicing and PivotTables.

(b) Learn how to work with the department to analyse finances at the company.

- I feel that this was accomplished quickly, due to being able to meet with the finance

director often and thoroughly. For example, we looked at the process of creating my

project deliverable early on, and set out the format, so that I had a clear picture of what

needed to be done.

(c) Learn to identify potentially unnecessary costs of waste.

- I fell short of this objective to be honest, perhaps because I focused so much on

ensuring I had accurate data, graphs and observations.

(d) Increase my levels of professionalism, both in terms of my character and work.

- I feel that my character has improved in the workplace, through observing others’

behavior and following suit. There is still a lot of room for improvement on my part

when it comes to distractions though. See Areas for Improvement section.

(e) Increase my Business Analysis skills.

- I feel that this has been the most significant objective that I have succeeded with. I

now feel competent and confident in taking data from a large database, splitting it into

meaningful categories and breaking down those figures into multiple forms of analysis

for sales and profitability. Many thanks to Tony Franklin (FD) for helping me with this.

Course Learning Objectives

1. Obtain work experience in an area of interest related to the Management discipline while

connecting fieldwork experiences to academic coursework.

- I accomplished this with the journal entry assignments and completion of my e-

portfolio which holds the collective works of my internship and academic pieces.

2. Develop strategic skills by designing and leading a project that includes a deliverable as well

as procedures and a timeline to meet all project goal(s).

- I have done this with the completion of my profitability report for Napier Turbochargers,

and listed the procedure in my project plan on the internship e-portfolio.

3. Develop tactical skills by taking personal responsibility for organizing and completing tasks

on time throughout the months of the project without reminders from others.

- I have done this to the best of my ability, not missing any deadlines and doing so on

my own watch for the most part.

4. Develop skills in professionalism that will be expected in the workplace (punctuality,

preparedness, professional communication, record-keeping & attention to details, ethical

behavior, collegial attitude, respect for others, perseverance in contracted work stated in

proposal, professional interactions, reflection and correction, responsibility for actions, etc.)

- As mentioned, I believe that my professionalism skills have improved hugely as a

result of working with the Napier finance team. My communication between fellow

workers is in a more comfortable place, my attention to detail when it comes to smartly

presenting work has become refined. I also feel that I have respected myself and

others to a good degree.

5. Develop the lifelong learning skill of critical reflection. (Critical reflection is a reasoning

process to make meaning of an experience and identify what was learned from the

experience.)

- Out of all my work experience, I feel that the combination of this class and my

internship has really shown me the meaning of critical reflection of myself. I see my

strengths and weaknesses more clearly than I did before, and so this experience has

certainly taught me that lesson.

6. Learn how to prepare a professional e-portfolio of internship work and work products.

- Whilst I have completed this with the aid of software provided to me, I am not sure if I

would have known how to complete an e-portfolio from scratch, but still, alongside the

software used, I have a professional e-portfolio, presented neatly and approved of by

my internship sponsor.

7. Improve professional writing skills while reflecting on and reporting the internship experience

in written format.

- My writing skills, I believe, are fairly unchanged from this experience, perhaps as I

have been working so closely with numbers and data, the writing side has been less

apparent within the fieldwork. Nevertheless, I have never had to produce a report for

an organization other than in academia before. So I now have that experience.

8. Improve professional presentation skills while reflecting on and reporting the internship

experience in video format.

- My video was designed to be quite raw, and me talking from the heart, rather than

scripting it to perfection. So I do believe my presenting skills have improved, but in the

sense of conveying my internship experiences in a formal, yet less rehearsed manner.

Most Important Learning

As shown in the internship learning objectives section, I have the strong belief that my

most important skill learned, is the ability to produce useful business analysis to a sales and

profitability measure. This skill is something that will take me forward in the future with other

organizations, and allow me to better understand a business.

Organizational Suggestion

Something I have noticed, which can be seen positively or negatively, is that the managing

director clearly has the respect of the finance department, but also the notion that he is “the

boss” is apparent. It may help the organization if he becomes viewed as more of a peer, whilst

retaining the respect of the department, as the team will likely feel more significant to operations

and increase work production.

The difference this experience has made?

Having worked in an office from 9 till 5 most days, I have a real good sense for what that

style of work feels like, and feel more prepared to leave college and transition into a job/working

life. Overall the experience has just left me better equipped to understand the inner workings of

an organization, which is a great starting base to work with going into a career.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank Mr Jaidip Sen (Managing Director and Host) for allowing me the

opportunity to work at Napier, and I hope to stay in touch.

I want to thank Mr Tony Franklin (Finance Director) for helping progress my learning within

the company, and increase my business analysis skills.

I also want to thank the whole finance team for making me feel really comfortable in the

department, and being a joy to work alongside/learn from as well.

Professionalism and Project Management Skills – Review

Communication

Acknowledges all emails/ responds within 48 hours; uses “away’ option when cannot

respond.

- Aside from the occasion where UNCA’s email system was down, and I could not

see/send emails for a 5 day period during the middle of my internship, I was did

reasonably well with this form of communication. I acknowledged emails from my host,

my sponsor and finance team members promptly. I did not use the away option

however, so this is something I could have done better.

Uses professional language, correct grammar and spelling.

- I made sure to proof read my documents and emails, and kept all communication

within the bounds professionalism to the standard of formality that each person sought

from me.

Facilitates communication between host (client) and project sponsor (Dr. Manns).

- I made sure to mediate the communication between these two parties. Dr Manns

asked for confirmation that my host had received emails from her on multiple

occasions, and this was kept in check.

Keeps up with primary method of communication (Moodle) on a daily (or almost-daily)

basis.

- I checked Moodle every other day for the most part, and once my fieldwork was

complete alongside most of my academic requirements, reduced this to 3 times a

week, to ensure any updates were viewed.

Meetings

Is punctual & prepared.

- I was never late for the start of the day, as there was leniency with when work began

between 8am and 9am (if you went in later, you simply had to stay till 5pm instead of

4pm). So I was in this time always within this time period. With meetings, I always

turned up 10 minutes before the beginning, and prepared any necessary documents

beforehand.

Prepares useful summary following meeting.

- I did not use a summary following meetings, aside from with my project sponsor where

this was used. In fieldwork meetings, I instead had follow-up meetings where we would

review the previous meeting, and how much progress had been made upon the tasks

set out.

Accountability

Attends to obligations without personal reminders.

- No one needed to remind me to do things within the organization, when I was asked to

do something, I did it. When it came to my project, I kept to deadlines, and asked for

help when needed.

Attends to details so that extra work is not created for others.

- I stayed on top of the requirements asked of me for when completing some work, and

aside from the first week where I needed a little more attention, was rather

independent in working on the project, disrupting the team very minimally.

Time management & organization

Prepares materials with ample time for review and re-check.

- As mentioned, I met all deadlines, and this was due to sufficient planning ahead of

time. Ultimately the project timeline I created left me with additional time to review and

make changes, which increased the standard of my analysis.

Adapts to changes

- There weren’t any major changes to adapt to, apart from getting used to being in an

office from 8am till 4pm, which seemed a long time at first, simply because I hadn’t

experienced it before, but this became much easier after week 1.

Work attitude

Works steady, with perseverance and optimism.

- I feel that I created a good relationship with the finance team, because of my positive

attitude towards everyone, and respect shown to all others’ work schedules. I got my

head down and focused when needed the vast majority of the time, only drifting when

chatting about non-work-related subjects.

Learns from missteps (rather than making excuses).

- I didn’t make any excuses for lack of knowledge or incorrectly inputting a piece of data,

but instead apologized and asked for some guidance, so that I would not make a

mistake twice.

Expresses appreciation to others.

- This is something I pride myself on, and I was very quick to acknowledge any help

given to me, and I really did appreciate the finance team’s willingness to help me with

the project where needed.

Positive relationship with project sponsor (Dr. Manns) and host (client).

- I went into the process having a positive relationship with both the host and the

sponsor, and feel that it has remained positive during and post internship. Absolutely

thrilled to have worked alongside Dr. Mary Lynn Manns and Mr Jaidip Sen (MD).