Hello! My name is Arnav Sirigere and I am 14 years old. I am the leader of this group. My hobbies are coding, reading and playing table tennis. I am a huge wildlife enthusiast and a nature lover. I aspire to be a software developer.
ADITYA DAS (VIDEO & PHOTO EDITOR)
Hi! I am Aditya Das and I am 14 years old. My hobbies are playing cricket and singing. I also love creating and editing videos. So, the role of the editor for this group fits perfectly with me! I aspire to be an IAS officer and server my country!
SAYEE SHINDE (FACILITATOR / DESIGNER)
Hi! I am Sayee Shinde and I am 14 years old. I am the facilitator for The Green Fingers! I am in love with art. Some of my other hobbies are basketball and cooking. I aspire to be an artist, and a singer as well! I always try to do a lot of activities to increase the greenery in my country!
NITYA BIJU (INTERVIEWER OF CUSTOMERS)
Hi! I am Nitya Biju. I am 14 years old. I am the interviewer of the customers in this group. Reading is one of my main hobbies. I aspire to be an IAS officer and serve my country. I love to see the greenery in the environment and I absolutely love doing gardening!
SHREEYA GARJE (INTERVIEWER OF COMPANIES)
Hi! I am Shreeya Garje and I am 13 years old. My hobbies are reading, dancing and learning languages. I also like listening to music. Through this wonderful opportunity, I wish to know more about promoting social responsibilities among youngsters and eager to learn distinct European cultures.
Watch Our Introductory Video!
RESEARCH
ACTION PLAN
We held meetings where we would collaborate together and share ideas for completing a goal set by ourselves.
Most of our research was done with the help of the internet, while our conducted interviews were also a part of it.
We interviewed the Safety, Health & Environment Manager of Benteler Automotive India Pvt. Ltd. and the CEO of Vinod Phillips for what the thought about the current plan for the company on keeping their products eco-friendly and what they had planned for the future
We distributed the work accordingly and collaborated together to complete the project.
METHODS
Website
Their website includes 4 main sub-parts that describe their company - The Company at a Glance, About the Company, About their Press and Media and Divisions. The website contains all the important history of the company. How the company was founded, where it was founded and how the company gradually progressed to become what it is today. The website describes their goals, their target audience and the methods they use to be eco-friendly. The website provides a storyline of all 4 generations of the family that owned the company and their contributions towards the company. Their website describes the values and traditions practiced at the company and how they actively shape the rapidly changing market. The website provides complete history about their company along with their contact and a careers page for anyone looking to work at the company.
BENTELER AUTOMOTIVE INDIA Pvt. Ltd.
BENTELER AUTOMOTIVE INDIA Pvt. Ltd. It is a multinational German company founded by Eduard Benteler in 1876. Their headquarters are in Salzburg, Austria and its current owner is Ralf Gotten. The group companies operate worldwide in the files of automotive technology, steel and tube production and engineering. The main customers of the company are Volkswagen, Maruti Suzuki and Honda are present in India. Like most companies, this company has an ecological policy too. It is a document where the top management agrees to a set of commitments which reduce the risk towards the environment. This policy has been adopted to have a sustainable business with no negative effects. Environment Management System is a certification system where a company receives a quality certificate, which may help customers to find better goods. Other factors which attract the customers are better control and monitoring by divisions, advanced technology from Germany, comparatively higher safety factors, less environmental impact, usage of fewer pollutants, low input costs, clear guidelines on environment safety and fewer failures. Every country has different environmental policies. This helps in the prevention of pollution and enhancement of the environment. If these policies are not followed, the company may have to pay heavy penalties and it may lose its great reputation. The company sees environmental protection as a task that involves every team and every subsidiary of the group on an equal basis. All BENTELER Automotive and all European BENTELER Steel/Tube production sites have certified environmental and/or energy management systems in accordance with ISO 14001:2015 or ISO 50001. That enables the company to guarantee effective protection of resources and the environment.
Sunil Kale, Safety, Health & Environment Manager of Benteler Automotive India Pvt. Ltd
EMBROSS Pvt. Ltd.
For over 20 years, the Embross team has been delivering passenger self service kiosks and solutions globally. It is a global leader in self service technologies and solutions. Boasting some of the largest deployment footprints of airport kiosks in the world, Embross continues to be the choice of airports, airlines and travel partners for delivering reliable, seamless and efficient self service. Embross TravelStream is a biometric-based, automated passenger processing solution that enables a seamless and secure passenger experience. It is a next generation, multi-model kiosk platform for modern airports, airlines and self service providers. The V series delivers the ultimate flexibility for service providers with unrivalled user experience for efficient and effective self service regardless of environment. It delivers greater operational efficiency, optimal passenger experiences and maximized ancillary revenue opportunities through self service automation. They have came up with very innovative methods with which their kiosks production can "Go Green". They focus on energy consumption and every part of a kiosk can be recycled. They have very efficient software and their developers have came up with smart ways on how they can reduce energy consumption of a kiosk.
Vinod Philips, CEO of Embross Pvt. Ltd.
INTERVIEWS WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
1) "I would choose this company as it feels like a very efficient and a highly environment conscious company. I also appreciate the fact that the company has adopted a eco-friendly policy towards a goal of protecting the environment. I can compare them with other industries and I feel like this is an apt company which would fulfill my needs along with being eco-friendly. This is enough to convince me for being a customer of the company and trying out some of their products".
2) "Yes, I might consider giving the company a try. This is because of the fact that they use environment friendly materials, produce less pollutants and have their product has a low chance of failure. They seem to maintain a policy where they do not cause unnecessary wastage of products and resources, which benefits the environment. The company has convinced me with its concerns for the environment and their goal of producing the best products as per their consumers needs as well as keeping their products environment friendly at the same time.".
3) "I would consider giving the company a try. This is mainly due to the reason that the company shows concern towards the environment and designs and produces products which cause the least damage to the environment. After hearing about the various methods they use, the company seems like a reliable one. I like the idea of creating light weight products which saves them a lot of resources and and reduces waste towards the environment. I have faith in their products and their eco-friendly method is definitely a convincer".
4) "I am very impressed with the products of the company. They seem to provide efficient and safety-relevant solutions. The products and solutions of the company have greatly benefited my company. The company focuses on its ecological policy and has a sustainable use of natural resources. The products seem to be satisfactory and reliant. Due to the fact the company also provides effective solutions for the global automobile industry and that they design and develop solutions where quality, safety and efficiency are decisive, I might consider products from the company.
Mrs. Vineeta 47 years old
Senior Hydraulic Engineer at Case New Holland
Summary of Potential Customers
The overall view of the companies are very impressive. The customers are very satisfied with the products and services of the company. They said that the company was contributing to the environment in the best way possible by effective waste disposal and sustainable use of resources. They added that this company was 20 years old but still maintained its legacy. The customers had great review about the company and said it provided effective automobile solutions too. The customers shortlisted this company because it was multinational company and provided good products with ecological aims. environment management is a certification system, it helps customers to find better goods. Also, adopting new technologies in which the safety factor is high, environmental impact is less, usage of pollutants is less and clear guidelines are written are factors that help in attracting more customers. Better control and monitoring leads to advantages and chances of errors are low. The ecological policies are adopted so that the company can do sustainable business with their customers with no negative effects. With all these advantageous factors, the customers find the company to be reliable and hence they buy goods with respect to these factors. Therefore they were interested in buying products from the company. It was a great interview with the customers and we came to know more about the company from the customer’s view. The company had an excellent review from the customer’s side. The products were satisfactory and reliant. The company also provided effective solutions for the global automobile industry. They design and develop solutions where quality, safety and efficiency are decisive. It was a great opportunity for us to know more about the company through the customers and we got a wide view about the company.
SUBQUESTIONS
BENTELER AUTOMOTIVE INDIA Pvt. Ltd.
Q.1 - Who founded the company, when and where did it start and who is the current owner? A.1 - Eduard Benteler founded the company in 1922. It started in Bielefeld, Germany. SenthilKumar Sivasam is the current owner.
Q.2 - Describe the work location. A.2 - The employees at the company are very diverse. They believe that their employees are the heart of the company's success. Members of the company are committed to the company with opportunities to learn and their chance to pursue their passion.
Q.3 - Who and where are the main customers? What is done to get more customers? A.3 - The main customers of the company are Volkswagen, Maruti Suzuki and Honda are present in India along with automotive, energy and engineering sectors. They attract customers by showing their ambition to keep improving until they achieve the very best.
Q.4 - Why has the company adopted an environmentally friendly policy? A.4 - The company has adopted and environmentally friendly policy to make their business more sustainable and reduce the carbon footprints of the planet and also potentially attract customers with their eco-friendly products.
Q.5 - How environmentally friendly is the company? What does the company produce, sell, construct? Which concrete measures has the company taken to make the company more environmentally friendly. A.5 - On a scale of 1 to 10 on environment friendliness, the company gets a 9. Their is always room for improvement and some minor tweaks that can be made. BENTELER is a global enterprise that develops, manufactures and delivers metal-based products, systems and services that includes steel/pipes. It invests in lightweight technologies for sustainability and their products have corrosion protection without Chromium VI which protects the environment and makes them have to spend less resources. They have came up with efficient solutions for recycling steel.
Q.6 - What are the future plans of the company? A.6 - The company aims to safeguard the future of the Steel/Tube Division in a challenging market environment. They plan on revising strategic orientation, optimizing the product portfolio and sales structure, adapting capacities at the locations in Bottrop, Dinslaken, Schloß Neuhaus and Paderborn and strengthening of cross-plant collaboration.
Q.7 - Analyze the website of the company. Does the website reflect the ecological policy of the company? A.7 - Their website does reflect the ecological policy of the company. The website includes information on how they are keep on improving their products to be eco-friendly and how and one of their main highlighted goals is being a eco-friendly a company.
Embross. Pvt. Ltd.
Q.1 - Who founded the company, when and where did it start and who is the current owner? A.1 - The company is an unlisted private company and the CEO of the company is Vinod Phillips.
Q.2 - Describe the work location. A.2 - Embross is constantly on the look out for talented and driven people to help make their solutions even better and continue their growth. From software development to hardware engineering, sales to onsite technical support, the company provides all career opportunities.
Q.3 - Who and where are the main customers? What is done to get more customers? A.3 - World leading airports and airlines are the main customers of the company. The company keeps refining and fine tuning its products in multiple generations to provide high quality products.
Q.4 - Why has the company adopted an environmentally friendly policy? A.4 - The company has adopted and environmentally friendly to keep their business sustainable and to save resources on a huge scale.
Q.5 - How environmentally friendly is the company? What does the company produce, sell, construct? Which concrete measures has the company taken to make the company more environmentally friendly. A.5 - On a scale of 1 to 10 on environment friendliness, the company gets a 8. The company produces self-service solutions for airports and airlines like kiosks and bag checkouts. The company has developed a design which enables them to recycle every part of a kiosk. With smart hardware and software, they have reduced the energy consumption of their product. For example, they added a stand alone mode.
Q.6 - What are the future plans of the company? A.6 - The future plans of the company is making their products more accessible and secure. They aim towards producing solutions varying complexities and scales. They aim at reducing energy waste.
Q.7 - Analyze the website of the company. Does the website reflect the ecological policy of the company? A.7 - The website does reflect their ecological policy of the company through various sections where they talk about the procedures they use in thinking about how they can make their product environment-friendly.
CUSTOMERS
The customers like that these companies have ecological policies that help towards the betterment of the environment. Adopting new technologies in which the safety factor is high and the environmental impact and usage of pollutants is less are factors that helps in attracting more customers. Better control and monitoring leads to advantages and chances of errors are low. The ecological policies are adopted so that the company can do sustainable business with their customers with no negative effects. With all these advantageous factors, the customers find the company to be reliable and hence they buy goods with respect to these factors. The customers appreciate the company's concern towards the environment and are impressed by its innovative solutions of keeping their products eco-friendly.
SIMILARITIES
1) Both the companies have adopted an environment friendly policy to make their business more sustainable. 2) Both of them have worked on recycling of their products as that saves them a lot of resources. 3) They both share the same idea of having their products be made with materials which are as environment friendly. 4) Both of the companies have focused on low energy consumption while designing their product.
CONCLUSION
The companies have taken several measures to implement a eco-friendly policy. Benteler has invested in lightweight technology as it is a key component of our sustainability strategy. For example, if they replace chassis springs made from solid material with tubular springs, they can make their customers' components up to 40% lighter. Their tubes with variable internal diameters cut vehicle weights by a further 15%, thereby reducing unnecessary environmental impact. Their products are rustproof, sealed and sustainable. They contribute to environmental protection with their long-standing expertise in technology and materials. The Benteler Zista® Seal guarantees corrosion protection without the use of chromium VI, so it complies with the European REACh regulation. That means they can increase their products’ service life while at the same time protect mankind and the environment. To conserve resources Benteler focuses on sustainable production processes. For example, the BENTELER electro steel plant in Lingen only uses scrap steel and reincorporates discarded steel products into the production process. In addition, by-products that arise in manufacturing are processed into high-grade construction materials for road building. The BENTELER Automotive plant at Kleinenberg, Germany, draws electricity from the local wind park Asseln in Lichtenau. As a result, the plant has improved its C02 balance and is using less resources. In addition, thanks to extensive modification work, this plant will ultimately be able to draw 50 percent of its electricity from wind power. That is equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to supply 2,000 households for one year. Their employees in Brazil also planted 200 trees for the betterment of the environment. Embross produces their kiosks with a high quality design with durable and recyclable materials. They have designed their kiosks to leave small environmental footprints behind.
Communication
Our school’s Eumind team had two meetings with Hervormd Lyceum Zuid (Our partner school from Europe). We had interacted with them through teams breakout rooms. We asked them about their progress on the project, how they were planning to do their research and how they would manage to conduct their interview in the current pandemic. We attended both of the meetings from our home due to the lockdown, while they attended the first one from their school and the second one from their home. we were in touch with them through Whatsapp and we had a nice conversation. We didn't really prepare for our meetings with them, besides some of the project related questions we would ask them. All of us were curious about each other's school life and how the pandemic had affected it. We learnt about how their country was handling the current pandemic situation and how times were going for them. We had personally interacted with them through video calls, introduced ourselves and had a great time interacting and talking. We also shared our projects with each other and they showed us how they managed their interview with the companies and the research they had to do. We mostly spoke with them through Microsoft Teams. All of us enjoyed meeting new kinds of people of our age group from all around the world and all of use made new friends.
Comparison and Reflection
COMPARISON
Both the schools had interviewed ecological companies from their countries and listed the conversations to their website. By reading and comparing both the interviews, we can see that every country has different environmental policies. This helps in the prevention of pollution and betterment of the environment. If these policies are not followed, the company may have to pay heavy penalties and it may lose its image if laws aren't followed. By comparing the companies of India and Europe, we can see that both the countries follow strict rules regarding environmental safety. The main strategy of the European company was to clean up as many cities as possible and to provide clean and safe jobs for the people working in this sector. And the Indian company's strategy was to have a sustainable business and with no negative effects. Their main goal is to reduce the risk factors towards the environment. The cleanliness ratio of both the companies may definitely vary but the methods can be partially similar. We can learn that every company has special measures that are taken to make the environment risk free. These companies have indeed taken a great effort to make mother nature completely secured and risk free.
REFLECTIONS
Arnav
Working on this project was a very unique experience for me, especially as the leader. I learnt a lot while working on this project. I found out what companies thought about the environment and their mission to keep their products as eco-friendly as they could. I learnt about all the various methods companies use to protect the environment and how they came up with innovative solutions which contributed towards the environment. It was a great experience of conducting interviews with companies. We got to talk to very creative people and got to know more about the thinking process of people behind such a big company. Making new friends from our partner school was one of the best parts. I really enjoyed talking with them and all our video conferences with them. Sharing and discussing about each others projects and helping each other was a great interaction with them. I had a great team which was very collaborative and would help each other out in case on got stuck. We would conduct meetings and discuss about a set goal of our project and decided how we would approach it. For something I would do differently next time would be to try and distribute the work more suitably. Working on this project was a very wonderful and unforgettable experience for me and I thank EUMIND for providing me with such a wonderful opportunity!
Shreeya
Through this opportunity, I learned a lot about our environment and why it is so important to protect and maintain it so that it would not harm us and our coming generations. This project enabled us to take interviews of companies and how they go about their ecological policies. We understood their system of protecting the environment by a certification system in which companies are given a quality certificate which helps customers to find better alternatives. We also learned that just making policies is not sufficient, they should be implemented too and therefore laws are made. If the company does not follow the policies then they have to pay heavy penalties and it may lose it’s image. We also had many fun sessions with our partner school where we saw how they worked to achieve their goals. Our teachers were always present to guide us if we had difficulties. Researching and scheduling meetings for interviews was also fun and interesting. My teammates would help each other and resolve problems. This project helped in spreading awareness and people all around the world will try to protect their environment. I hope to a part of this in the upcoming years too! Thank you!
Nitya
It was a thrilling experience working with my group members towards the EUMIND project. We came to know more about the environment and its conservation through interviews of customers and companies and a thorough research on the ecological companies. We all worked as an effective team and divided our work. We had roles like interviewer, video editor, Weebly editor and overall coordinator. And we were always there for each other’s need. Moreover, we also had our partner school with whom we had multiple conversations in WhatsApp and organized meets with them to know them better. Through these meets we came to know more about their research methods and how they were going about their project. “Ecology plays a vital role for existence of life.” This project made me realize that. EUMIND project gave me a wide view towards conserving the environment. I came to know more about the ecological companies in India and the ecological policy they were following. Last but not least, we got to merge with a school in Amsterdam and we got to know about their culture, methods of working and their country etc. It was an amazing experience working towards this project!
Sayee
This program gave me an opportunity to meet new people abroad. it provided me with a great experience of team work and how to manage high scale projects and handle specific problems. We got to interview some companies who contributed to the environment. I got to learn about all the various methods companies were adopting to get the best out of their products but also thinking about the environment at the same time. This project was indeed a great experience for me and I am glad I got this wonderful opportunity!
Aditya
It was a great time working on the project for me. I got to know about other country’s culture. I got to meet wonderful people abroad. I learnt about the various methods which companies use to protect the environment. I developed new skills team work and improved my social skills. I got to know about companies and organization which contributed to save our nature and take care of it. I enjoyed the conversations with the partner school we had via video calls and our WhatsApp group through which we interacted several times. We discussed about our projects and what all we had completed. The partner school also told us what they did and how they had conversations with organizations in Amsterdam. This project was possible with the help of our mentors, teachers and most importantly our school who gave us this opportunity. This project boosted my confidence. We all learnt about the ways and importance of protecting the environment. This was a great experience for me!