Aaron Welch completed an internship at Kubota Tractor Corporation's corporate office in Groveport, Ohio. As the first parts and analysis intern, his tasks included data entry, equipment allocation, and small projects. Major accomplishments included selling damaged goods at a discount and attending sales meetings. Welch recommends students take risks in internship searching and make the most of opportunities for learning and communication. The internship provided valuable corporate experience and insights into logistics operations.

1. ASM 3191 Internship
To: Mr. Dewey Mann
From: Aaron Welch
Date: December 6, 2015
During the summer of 2015, I was given the opportunity to learn from and work with an appreciable
company out of Groveport, Ohio, known as Kubota Tractor Corporation. Kubota has numerous (or a large
number of) dealerships located throughout the United States, but I was fortunate enough to work at their
corporate office. This report will cover aspects of the company and what one can anticipate to take part in if
they, too, are given the opportunity to work for Kubota.
How I Found My Internship: The Ohio State University does a tremendous job of offering possibilities for
students to grow in their field of study by giving them the chance to work in a more hands on environment.
Students who are interested in partaking in field studies need only to make themselves aware of these
opportunities and to hold themselves accountable for attending events such as the career expo. Being a student
in the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), Ohio State hosts this special career
expo specifically and solely for their students each semester. I, personally, became aware of the events from my
former classes, such as professional development (ASM 2305), as well as campus wide emails that I received
from the university. At the career expo I was able to talk directly with several different companies including
Kubota Tractor Corporation, whom thankfully contacted me to come into their corporate office for an interview.
Soon after my interview, I received the phone call from Kubota offering me a position in Parts and Analysis, a
new position for the company, where I became the first intern.
Overview of the Company and My Position: Kubota is a Japanese owned company that first introduced their
product into our American market in 1969. A few years later, in 1972, Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC) was
founded and the headquarters were located and still currently remain in Torrance, California. The company
introduced their first 12 horsepower four-wheel drive tractor in 1974. Kubota has been satisfying the American
market since it has come over here in the small horsepower tractors, which are considered 120 horsepower and
below. Another said to be; overnight success was the L200 tractor coming in at 21 horsepower. Kubota has
expanded and now has construction equipment, hay tools and most recently has entered the market for large
horsepower tractors with (heavy equipment) machines ranging from 120-200 horsepower ranges.

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With that, there are four division offices located in the United States that distribute parts and whole
goods to dealers all over the nation. As previously stated, I was fortunate enough to intern at one of these
corporate level offices in Groveport, Ohio. My position, as the parts & analysis Intern, consisted of a number of
different tasks each day and small projects over the course of the summer. With my position being the first
intern that Kubota has had at this new facility, there were a few days that were at a slower pace and required
little from me. However, the learning experiences that I had with this internship were both beneficial and
intriguing to me.
Description of primary tasks: As a parts and analysis intern, I was working closely with both the parts and
whole goods side of the operations for our distribution warehouse. Also, I worked closely with the warehouse
manager and personnel for loading out semis that were delivering parts and whole goods to Kubota’s
dealerships. During my time with Kubota, I did a lot of data entry into spreadsheets and, what we refer to as,
number crunching for our District Sales Managers. I performed equipment allocation for drive over mower
decks and other attachments for equipment like snowplows and snow blowers. In doing allocation, I had to
contact regional sales managers (RSM) and work with them when there were discrepancies with their
spreadsheets that they had filled out in preparation for their dealerships to receive their equipment. I also had
daily projects that I would work on when I didn’t have allocations to complete. Daily projects would be small
jobs, such as entering orders for dealerships and assisting in the warehouse doing various jobs. I was also
fortunate enough to go on a dealer visit with one of our local regional sales managers to see what a “typical
day” is like in sales. While on the visit, the RSM printed out spreadsheets of how the dealer was doing on
market shares and other types of reports that he went over with the owner of the dealership. Furthermore,
Kubota wants to help their dealers with anything they can, which led to our visit to the service department and
the parts side to see if there were any problems we could resolve while we were there.
Major accomplishments and learning experiences: Throughout the summer, I had all kinds of learning
opportunities with Kubota. I attended their division sales meeting where all of the RSM’s fly in, as well as the
head executive team and president of the company. The president meets with the RSM’s about their dealers and
discusses what items they need to improve on to help their dealers down the road. Attending this event, I
learned what kinds of obstacles people in sales have to endure to be successful and to increase profitability for
their company. Another learning experience I had was similar to the divisional sales meeting, but allowed me
to fly to California for the National Summer Sales meeting. While out in California I sat in on a meeting,
mainly discussing new promotions they were introducing in hopes of selling more of their products. Also, they
introduced their new product line and had models there that we were able to both ride and drive. Lastly, while
out on the west coast, I was given the opportunity to meet the other interns that work with Kubota at other
division offices. These meetings were beneficial and very informative to me and it gave me a more accurate
interpretation of what goes on at corporate meetings; an experience that is remarkable to have. An additional
learning experience I had been given was visiting Penn State to attend their Ag Progress Days and work at our
Kubota tent. While there, I had interactions with customers with questions about their implement or looking to

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get information on a new model. I paid close attention to the RSM’s and listened to their explanations, so that I
could see how they handled the questions and therefore I could learn more about our product as well.
My major accomplishments for this past summer were when I was working on my project of trying to
clear out damaged goods at a discounted price to dealers. I worked closely with one of our district sales
managers who helped me decipher what appropriate discounts would be for our damaged items. The items there
were in blocked stock were whole goods that had been damaged, either while in transit or when they were being
stacked in the warehouse, and there were some items that were used for dealer meetings that had become
slightly out of date. Items consisted of tractors, loaders, zero turn mowers, buckets, and smaller boxes of whole
goods items. My objective while on board with Kubota was to get rid of as many items as I possible could
manage. With my time there, I believe, I sold eight of the damaged tractors that had been in blocked stock
before the DSM would take over my position after my internship would be finalized for the summer. This
project that I was assigned to was a fun way to connect with the dealers in our division. I made a lot of phone
calls to dealerships that would be most likely to accept these damaged items. I learned that the reasoning of
some dealerships that prefer these kinds of deals, is because they like to place them in with their rental fleet
where cosmetics are not as large of a factor, when comparing them to equipment that has damages in need of
repair, that are still expected to make a profit. Working on moving these items out of the warehouse gave me
more communication skills than I had anticipated acquiring from this internship. Honestly speaking, I had not
been sure of what to expect for my three months at Kubota, but I could not have been more grateful or pleased
with my internship.
Recommendations: To find an internship those students in the ASM program would thoroughly enjoy, they
should talk those to companies that are consistently at the CFAES Career Expo in both the Fall and Spring
semesters. Not only is it crucial to speak personally with these companies at the career fair, but students should
research the companies that they plan to talk to while there. Another recommendation is to take a risk. Without
taking any risks, you don’t challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone and find a whole new world of
opportunities. Before I accepted my internship, I knew that I wanted to be working outside for the summer, but
at Kubota I was inside at a desk the whole time. Although it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing for the whole
summer, I still enjoyed my time there and learned a lot of information on what happens on the corporate side of
my major. In addition, I would recommend students to have as much fun as they can. The job may not be
exactly what they have planned, but it is only going to be enjoyable if they make it that way. Also, another
helpful tip that gets pointed out in a lot of classes is that communication is key. Sending follow up emails after
an interview reflects very highly of oneself before even being hired. However, once on board with a company,
communication should not stop. Sending follow ups to the dealer who had a problem or to your supervisor after
working on a project helps everyone understand the items and topics that were taken care of, and it shows that
you take ownership over dealing with those tasks.

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Conclusions: All in all, this internship was a time of firsts, as well as great learning experiences. I had a lot of
fun over the summer and I made a little bit of money as well, which is a bonus. I would suggest that if a student
has an opportunity to get corporate level experience in an internship, they should take it. Having that kind of
experience will give you an edge over others when competing for a job in the future. With that being said, the
most interesting part of my internship was the fact that everyday I went into work, I wasn’t sure what kind of
tasks I would be completing that day. I enjoyed having something different to do everyday because it kept me
interested in learning all different kinds of tasks about the job and the company, as well. The best part about my
internship was that I got to travel with RSM’s and with the office to California. In addition to that, the biggest
learning experience that I had over the summer was how logistics work and the procedures that went into
keeping the warehouse moving products out the door. The experiences you can have at an internship are
incredible and I would encourage students to take as many as they possibly can to see what fields they enjoy
and to discover the areas that they dislike.