Our day today began with a quick hotel breakfast before our departure to Nouryon, a chemical manufacturing company located in Deventer. We were given a presentation from a Pitt alum who currently works for Nouryon, and she gave some insight into what it is like working abroad and what the company does. I learned that Nouryon focuses on safety and sustainability and was in the top quartile for people safety and their CDP climate score was an A-. Both of these statistics are very impressive for a chemical company and align with the sustainable practices I have been seeing throughout the trip. As far as what Nouryon does as a company, they provide the building blocks for other companies which are used to make solutions in the forms of either products or services.
We were given the incredible opportunity to go back into the labs at the company and see some of the work that employees and chemists at Nouryon do. Despite my lack of chemistry knowledge, I found myself intrigued by all of the complex machinery and laboratory instruments such as the microscopes in the facility. The company focuses very heavily on research and development, and 77% of this involves making their solutions more sustainable. I learned that when it comes to logistics and transportation, many factors must be considered that one may not think of. For example, certain chemicals that Nouryon develops must be delivered to customers all over the world. Many of these chemicals must be stored and transported at a certain temperature that is deemed safe and kept in secure packaging to prevent any accidents. This requires an immense amount of preparation, planning, and money.
My favorite part of this site visit was watching chemical reactions in the labs. All of the students were split into three groups after our lunch break, and then we rotated to various locations at the company’s site in Deventer. Our group saw the reactions first and learned about how Nouryon protects itself when conducting experiments that are extremely high-pressure and dangerous.
After our visit to Nouryon, we had a short break at our hotel before we were off to a networking event with Pitt alumni who work in the Netherlands. This was such a great experience, as I got to speak with several alumni who work in various industries. I learned more about how the workplace in the Netherlands is very different from the United States, as they place a strong emphasis on work-life balance. Overall, our day consisted of lots of learning, and I feel as though I gained a much better understanding of workplace culture as well as working abroad in the Netherlands!
