Industrial Engineering Co-op Follows IBM to Philippines
Shuntaro Okuzawa, BS, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 2013—“I was looking at everything from individual processes to entire departments from a bird’s eye view,” said Okuzawa.
“My work is all about looking at the bigger picture, what individual tasks fit into a day-to-day operation,” Okuzawa said. “You start with a lot of outdated documents and, through a series of focus groups and a lot of study, you start to figure out what people are doing and where they fit into the broader system.”
Okuzawa’s work allowed IBM to identify areas where the business could improve, creating an opportunity to view operations on a more macro level than ever before. He created an online framework to track changes and discuss operations, identifying key points of contact for future changes or clarifications.
At Northeastern, Okuzawa was president of Tau Beta Pi, an honor society that admits the university’s top engineering students with the goal of creating opportunities for community service and professional development. In addition Okuzawa was in the University Honors Program, made Deans List, received a Sears B. Condit and Feretti Scholarship Award and made the Huntington 100 for the 2012-2013 academic year.
In June 2013, the Japan native relocated to Seattle, where he accepted a position with Amazon.com’s supply-chain finance team. His responsibilities include looking at how the massive online merchant can more efficiently deliver goods to its customers around the globe.