Summer internship experience

“Delivering an unbeatable combination of quality, price, and service through hard work and innovation.” ~ Mission statement of Niagara Bottling LLC.

This Summer, I had an excellent opportunity to work at Niagara Bottling LLC as a Strategic Procurement Intern towards completing my Dual Degrees, MBA (Strategy) and MS (Supply Chain Management), at The University of Texas at Dallas. I can say with pride that, in lines with the mission statement, hard work and innovation were crucial aspects throughout my internship.?

Founded in 1963, Niagara Bottling LLC started with 5 gallon glass containers for home and office delivery.?The company got its second plant in 1980 and presently has 38 Plant locations. Headquartered at Diamond Bar, California, Niagara has established itself as a National leader in high quality affordable bottled water with geographically diversified production facilities throughout the United States.

My internship journey started with trainings about the company’s culture and about the LIFE tenants. LIFE tenants are the competencies and Behaviors that each and every member of the company preaches. I was attached with the Logistics Operations department of the Company, thanks to my recruiters who spent time with me to analyze what could be the right fit for me. I’m glad that I was at a role that I would love to pursue as a career in the future. Niagara ensured my development right from the start and imparted Lean Six sigma (White Belt and Yellow Belt) methodologies trainings, Tableau and advanced Excel knowledge.?

Some of the key projects that I worked on are:

?????Logistics Management: Collated, analysed and presented data within supply chain cross-departments to display true incremental cost due to Carrier’s performance based on contract compliance and scorecard for carriers.

?????Procurement Analyst: Collaborated with Carrier relations and Customer service to analyze the operational delays from all the stakeholders and develop methodology for correcting errors to ensure continuous improvement.

?????Forecasting: Prepared Forecast Adherence Report by analyzing external pricing and historical data to optimize supply chains, thereby preparing benchmark costs for negotiation of multiple contracts

?????Preparation of SOPs: Prepared data driven reports and presented findings on process optimization for laying down SOPs in due course.

Coming from a Military Background with a completely different work culture, I realized, there are some fundamental soft skills and people management skills that are similar in both the sides. I’m glad that I could leverage my Military ethos and procurement experience to give my best for the team here at Niagara.

As it is said, learning is a never-ending process, I intend to learn more during my remaining time at Niagara and strive to make the most of this opportunity.