{"id":141329,"date":"2024-07-29T17:12:22","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T22:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=141329"},"modified":"2024-07-29T17:12:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T22:12:24","slug":"center-for-manufacturing-excellence-course-immerses-students-in-japanese-industry-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/center-for-manufacturing-excellence-course-immerses-students-in-japanese-industry-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Center for Manufacturing Excellence Course Immerses Students in Japanese Industry, Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Course bridges classroom learning with unique experiences abroad<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Erin Garrett<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fifteen students in the University of Mississippi<\/strong>‘s Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence<\/strong> traveled across the globe to gain behind-the-scenes access to some of the world’s leading manufacturing facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The May intersession\u00a0study abroad<\/strong> experience<\/a>, led by Tyler Biggs,\u00a0CME<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>associate director for external operations, allowed the students to immerse themselves in cultural and professional Japan <\/strong>for nine days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This has been a bucket list item for the CME for a long time,” Biggs said. “We wanted to take their college experience and give them hands-on international experiences outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The idea is that they will gain a deep understanding of how companies that have locations in Mississippi can function in an entirely different economy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Students from the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence at the University of Mississippi visit a Nissan manufacturing facility during a summer trip to Japan. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trip included visits to Tokyo<\/strong>, Nagoya<\/strong>, and Kyoto <\/strong>manufacturing facilities including Nissan<\/strong>, Toyota<\/strong>, Kirin, <\/strong>and Coca-Cola<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Jackson, a rising senior mechanical engineering major from Oxford, observed differences in work culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was very interesting,” he said. “When we visited Toyota in Japan, they were following all the same principles as Toyota in Blue Springs<\/strong>. Although, there was more of an emphasis on efficiency and productivity over work environment in Japan.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the industrial tours, students visited shrines, a sumo wrestling match and a baseball game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The sumo match\u2014they take sumo wrestling<\/strong> very seriously,” Jackson said. “When you walk into the arena, people were dressed very ceremonially. Even the corporate sponsors had banners that were hand woven.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Students from the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence at the University of Mississippi visit the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya during a summer trip to Japan. The group toured some of the world\u2019s leading manufacturing facilities and gain hands-on experience outside the classroom. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tabitha Webster, a rising junior accounting and marketing major from Richmond, Texas, was struck by the respectfulness of Japanese society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think, honestly, seeing the Japanese culture and how respectful and modest everyone was made a huge impact on me,” she said. “Everyone is very courteous of each other, whether they are going shopping, walking the streets or riding the subway.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abigail Moeller, a Tupelo native and senior biomedical engineering and Chinese major, said the experience was invaluable for her future career prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Seeing factories in Japan was truly an exceptional experience,” she said. “Not only was I able to observe the layout and organization of several manufacturing facilities in Japan, but I was also able to interact with the manufacturing personnel and learn about their firsthand experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This experience will definitely make an impact on how I navigate my future career and how I interact and conduct business relations with people, as it has given me a more holistic understanding of the manufacturing industry from an international perspective.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ole Miss students from the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence visit a Coca-Cola plant in Kyoto during a summer trip to Japan. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biggs emphasized the unique nature of the course and said it will alternate with a trip to Europe and Asia every two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is one of the unique things that we want to offer our students,” he said. “The CME is a unique program, this is even a more unique trip, and by offering it, we’ve become a premier outlet not just for education inside but also outside of the classroom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Course bridges classroom learning with unique experiences abroad by Erin Garrett Fifteen students in the University of Mississippi‘s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":141331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25263],"tags":[9304,971,29615,18978,29610,5,7067,4,29609,29616,18977,29612,655],"class_list":["post-141329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-blue-springs","tag-cme","tag-coca-cola","tag-japan","tag-kyoto","tag-mississippi","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-study-abroad","tag-sumo-wrestling","tag-tokyo","tag-toyota-2","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Kyoto-temple-e1722290819963.jpg?fit=1149%2C1032&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141334,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141329\/revisions\/141334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}