‘Cum laude’ for final-year research on logistics at UMCG

Today, 20 April, Arnout Pool will graduate ‘cum laude’ [with honours] from the five-year degree programme in Industrial Engineering and Management (TBW, now called technology management -TM). He spent his extra year* conducting applied research for the UMCG: ‘It’s quite scary to explain to a group of 60 medical professionals that you really feel they should do their work differently’, he says. His research, which was awarded a grade of 9, has encouraged the UMCG to have more studies conducted by faculty staff and students.

_{*) the possibility of following an extra (fifth) year was discontinued in 2002 when TBW changed into Technology Management, but students of TM can still carry out a more extensive final-year project (40 ECTS) financed by companies.}

The University Medical Center had a challenging job for the TBW student: the department that is responsible for sterilizing medical instruments wanted to know whether they were working efficiently enough. ‘There was no overview whatsoever of the instrument flow, from receipt via the sterilizing process to the redistribution of the instruments at the hospital’, says Arnout. ‘I created this overview by analysing and modelling the current cycle time and then calculating the ideal procedure.’

One-hour break not ideal
One of his recommendations was to change the working hours. ‘So there I was, standing in front of a room full of sterilization department staff, telling them that staggered working hours would be better than the current division into shifts, and that their one-hour break between 3 and 4 p.m. was far from ideal. That was scary, but also fun and educational: this human side to a technical story means that you really have to think about how to present it.’

Arnout’s research was a pilot project in the field of Health Care Operations which is to become one of the focal points of the faculty’s research in the coming years. The links between Economics and Business and the UMCG have been strengthened, which has already resulted in three follow-up studies by students. Follow-up work will be done with Pool’s simulation model, and a PhD position has been created, which will be filled in the near future.

The nicest year
‘The additional fifth year was the nicest year of my programme’, Pool continues. ‘The extra modules and an extensive research project enabled me to familiarize myself further with a number of subjects, in particular logistics and quantitative research. I also enjoyed working with other students in the five-year programme. Working in a small group – a maximum of eight students – means you learn a lot from each other’s presentations and feedback.’

Arnout first came to Groningen on an Erasmus exchange, and decided to stay. ‘I have Dutch nationality but I was born in Germany and also went to school and university there. I enjoyed my exchange at Industrial Engineering and Management so much that I decided to stay. I was sad to see it all end so soon, so when programme coordinator Pieter Lont advised me to apply for the extra year this immediately appealed to me. And luckily I was accepted.’

Junior researcher
Arnout Pool enjoyed conducting research so much that he is now working as a junior researcher at the faculty for five months. ‘Jacob Wijngaard offered me a research project at Douwe Egberts in the field of “lean manufacturing”, which means producing with as little wastage as possible. I am using this period to think about my future: Do I want to start working in the business world or will I continue in research? I may even end up applying for the PhD position that the UMCG is offering!’