Anna Saur: “Enjoy your course and get lots of practical experience while you’re still at university!”
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ETH alumna Anna Saur studied Management, Technology and Economics at ETH. This March she was awarded the BME Hochschulpreis for her Master’s thesis and became lead of the Sales & Operations Planning Team of the Swiss firm On, which makes performance running shoes and clothing. In this portrait, Anna tells us what she gained from her course, how she shoulders responsibility in her role as a team leader and how she maintains a good work-life balance.
You won this year’s BME Hochschulpreis, a prize from the Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics, for your Master’s thesis. Congratulations. What does this award mean to you?
Thank you! I was, of course, delighted to learn that I’d won the BME Hochschulpreis. It is wonderful to see the findings of my research valued not just by my professors, the Chair of Production and Operations Management (POM), and the Supply Chain Team at external page On, but also by an external body!
However, the best recognition I could hope for comes the program I wrote for my thesis being a fixed part of the supply planning process at On, thereby simplifying the job of the Supply Planning Team. The fact that my work can have a real, practical impact means more to me than any award. Through my thesis, I’ve been able to achieve something and improve processes within the team as well as increase product availability.
"Generally speaking, my day involves a good mix of meetings and “number crunching”, processing huge amounts of data!"Anna Saur
You've been working at On Running for a few years and have recently been made head of a team responsible for planning sales and production. Can you tell us about your daily work?
I’ve been working at On for around two and a half years: I started as a trainee in Supply Planning, then I wrote my thesis while also working part time as a Supply Planner. In December 2019, I started in my permanent position as a Supply Planner in Footwear and very recently, I was made head of the Sales & Operations Planning Team in March.
My daily work is definitely hugely varied. My team is responsible for coordinating all supply chain planning, both within the Supply Chain Team as well as with other teams at On and our external IT providers. So I have to attend a lot of meetings, for example with the Demand and Supply Planning Teams, the Production Planning and Sourcing Teams in Vietnam and with Sales, Marketing and Development. I also have to prepare all kinds of analyses for these meetings. So I spend a lot of time working on Excel analyses or dashboards with our business intelligence tool. Generally speaking, my day involves a good mix of meetings and “number crunching”, processing huge amounts of data!
What challenges are you facing at present?
Given that I only started in my new position about a month ago, I am constantly learning new things and the job brings with it a lot of new responsibility. That’s certainly challenging, and not just in terms of getting the work done but also managing people: for the first time, I head up a team of two and we are in the process of hiring another two people for my team – this is certainly a huge challenge for me for this year!
How do you strike a balance between work and leisure?
Through sport! I do some kind of sport in my lunch break just about every day - I either go jogging, attend a fitness or yoga session and I play rugby too. My rugby training and the rugby fitness sessions are particularly important to me and are a permanent feature in my diary. Of course, brunch or dinner with friends at the weekend is always a great way to relax.
"I was very interested in the many practical elements, like the Entrepreneurial Leadership Seminar, and lectures by guest speakers from industry."Anna Saur
You graduated from ETH with a master’s in Management, Technology and Economics (MTEC). Why did you decide on this course?
After gaining my bachelor’s in Technology Management at the University of Stuttgart, I wanted to study somewhere else for my master’s. The MTEC master’s programme appealed to me straight away because it included a mix of technical and management subjects that I had enjoyed as an undergraduate and wanted to explore further. The individual aspects of the course also really resonated with me: I was very interested in the many practical elements, like the Entrepreneurial Leadership Seminar, and lectures by guest speakers from industry. I was also impressed with the group work element, where students have to work on case studies or semester projects for a large number of subjects. All this certainly motivated me to apply for the MTEC master's! Finally, the mandatory trainee element in the course also allowed me to obtain valuable practical experience while still studying.
How much has your master’s course helped you in your career?
My master’s course has had a huge impact on my career. My colleague Leander, also an MTEC graduate, posted the trainee position at On in the MTEC Facebook group and I applied as a result. So I would probably never have ended up at On if it wasn't for MTEC!
And of course my master’s course helps with the work I do now. Alongside the analytical skills, which I acquired through the technical subjects, I also learnt a lot of soft skills. Through the many group projects, I was involved in with students from different cultural and academic backgrounds I learnt how we were able to collaborate constructively. This is proving invaluable in my current role where I work with colleagues from different areas. During my master’s course and for my thesis, I learnt programming, which is incredibly useful! As I've already mentioned, we use the program that I wrote for my dissertation. I’ve since written various add-ons for it.
What advice would you give students today?
Learn programming - even if you don't want to become a software engineer or data analyst, it’s an unbelievably useful skill. Enjoy your course, get lots of practical experience while you’re still at university and don’t worry too much about things!