Ger comyns

Embrace and enjoy the experience.  Your time on co-op will fly by. Don't underestimate the "soft" learnings gained from going to the office, interacting with people and often people from different geographies and cultures, attending meetings in person and online & reporting out. This will also make attending your first job, post graduation, less daunting.

Tell us a bit about yourself, what course did you study in UL, what has your career looked like to date?

My name is Ger Coymns, I studied Industrial Engineering in UL from 1986 to 1990. 

My career after college began at Finsa in 1990, where I worked in Maintenance Engineering, Quality, and Production for six years. Following that I joined Dell in Limerick, before moving to the Netherlands. My journey at Dell saw me take on various roles, including Project Manager in Manufacturing, Process Engineering Manager in Manufacturing, and Project Transition Lead for Dell Services. I was instrumental in transferring operations from Limerick to the Netherlands and served as the EMEA Network Operations Manager. Currently, I am the Programs Transformation Lead for Philips Circular Lifetime Solutions. I manage a global team of project and program managers, overseeing transformation projects across service parts, repair (parts and devices), and equipment refurbishment domains.

Tell us a bit about your co-op placement, what organisation did you work with and what year it took place?

For my co-op placement I joined Coopers Animal Health, a pharmaceutical company based in Dublin. I was working in their production department for eight months in 1988. 

What impact did your co-op placement have on your future career?

My placement helped to confirm for me that I wanted to pursue a career in the manufacturing and  service related Industry.

What piece of advice would you give to students going on co-op now?

Embrace and enjoy the experience.  Your time on co-op will fly by. Don't underestimate the "soft" learnings gained from going to the office, interacting with people and often people from different geographies and cultures, attending meetings in person and online & reporting out. This will also make attending your first job, post graduation, less daunting.