Andrew Esguerra '12

I am the oldest of three siblings, born and raised in sunny Orange County by mom and dad. My brother, sister, and I grew up very close, we were all very involved in AYSO soccer, swim team (Golden West and Fountain Valley High School), and Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguards.

 I had a difficult time picking a major, so I took my parents’ suggestion of Business Management because of my previous leadership roles (soccer team captain, club president, etc.) and comfort with public speaking. I later added Marketing when finding “management” internships to be difficult, and Operations when I learned a double-majoring in Management didn’t require extra classes.

Since graduation, I’ve been doing some traveling because I didn’t get to study abroad. Since 2012, Aside from domestic travels, I’ve been to Canada, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia, and most recently Panama. I also re-visited Hawaii with my family when my brother and sister both finished school at CSULB! I enjoy surfing, sailing, skateboarding, kayaking, and snowboarding as well.

Since summer 2012, I have been working for Toyota Motor Sales at the North American HQ in Torrance, CA. My division of the company, North American Parts Operations (NAPO), is responsible for parts distribution to the U.S. dealerships.

I work within the Operations Excellence Department to 1) implement Toyota Production System (TPS) and lean throughout the facilities in the network, 2) support the NAPO on efficiency and time studies projects, and 3) train Toyota team members in TPS/Lean.

After two part-time jobs and three unpaid marketing internships during undergrad, I was able to get a 10-week summer internship with NAPO at the Parts Center in Ontario, CA in 2011. That led to a full-time job offer into the Logistics Trainee program (management training program geared toward operations and supply chain field) upon graduation in spring 2012. I was promoted out of the program after just one year to Operations Leader (supervisor) at the Los Angeles Parts Distribution Center in Torrance (LAPDC), CA. As a supervisor of the largest (by volume and size) PDC, I managed the 45 to 55 Toyota team members responsible for the shipping of stock parts to 134 dealerships across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada.

My time as an Operations Leader and Logistics Trainee gave me the knowledge/experience in warehouse operations, NAPO supply chain, and TPS and Lean application, to fill the role of TPS Implementation Administrator.

Professionally, I enjoy seeing the impact of my work in people and on processes. When I train, I like challenging those in my class and seeing the gears turning inside their heads as they think critically. For process improvements, it’s very rewarding to measure the impact of my changes. In an operations environment, both small and large changes have an immediate impact on productivity.

Personally, I enjoy being able to travel and see different parts of the country. Since my position includes 25% travel, I’ve been able to visit Portland, San Francisco, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Dallas, Ojai, and Vancouver, Canada this year.

Not at all! I was convinced for most of my undergrad that I would be working in marketing (hence the many internships). Toyota only came into the picture during the last twelve months of my time at CSULB. They really took a chance on me because, up until my internship, I was very heavy on marketing work and classes and hadn’t taken any of the Operations-specific classes for my major.

It was the biggest sigh of relief that I’ve experienced. At that point in my life, finishing a degree had been the accomplishment that had taken the most amount of time to complete. Being able to close that chapter and finally move onto the next was a load off of my shoulders.

Rigid work hours.

As a full-time student, I decided how I wanted to leverage the hours in my day to be most effective (ie. Studying in early morning, napping when needed, taking breaks as necessary, etc.). Operating like that, I could have 14-hour days every day with no problem.

But when I was given strict working hours with pre-determined breaks and a lunch, it was a struggle, especially if all my work is being done on a stationary computer. Yes, it’s nice not having to take work home with you and to have weekends free. The flipside to that is trying to maintain productivity and focus on work for hours at a time before your half-hour lunch. Rigid 8-hour days can seem longer than self-directed 14-hours days.

I also worked second shift (3:30pm to 1:30am or 3:30am with overtime) for two years. This was very difficult because I am naturally a morning person.

To this day, I still think the single most important decision I made was to apply for CSULB’s International Business Strategy Competition, a business simulation competition among undergraduate teams from universities from different countries. Dr. Annette Lohman took a similar chance on me (a marketing student) when she brought me onto the GOENBAUS team as the VP of Operations, still not having taken any of the Operations-specific courses.

The success of winning first place was an excellent talking point for my interview for the Toyota internship. Through ICBSC, I had unknowingly developed a philosophy on headcount allocation, establishing on-hand inventory, and production management similar to Toyota’s which really helped demonstrate my decision making ability and alignment with company culture/values.

I wanted to stay in touch with the university that played a major role in starting my career and other alumni who have had similar successes. Keeping a strong network is very important to me.

For those of you looking for work, don’t be too picky. Take the best opportunity you have before the end of the summer so that there isn’t a large time gap between graduation and employment. Even if it’s not exactly what you want to do, you can at least start getting full-time work experience. Once you start, keep job searching. It’s okay!

For those who already have work lined up, be prepared for a multi-generational workforce. By now, you’ve probably learned how to communicate and collaborate with (predominantly) Millennials. Your approach may have to be tweaked when you’re working for or working with Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers. Listen more than you talk, they have years of wisdom that you can tap into and benefit from. Think before you speak – it may save you from saying something embarassing.

Also, think about how choices/decisions that you make will affect you a few years out. We’ve had the benefit of being able to “reset” or “restart” at the beginning of a new school year or semester, which helps prepare you for short term decision making. Your professional career is long-term – make choices that keeps this in mind.

In five years, I see myself graduating from a Masters or MBA program. It is another leg-up that I need in order to stay competitive against others with many more years of experience than I do. Personally, I hope to have at least another fifteen new stamps in my passport.

Career-wise, it’s really difficult to tell. While Toyota HQ and my job are moving to Texas in a couple years, I am open and willing to move wherever the company’s opportunities present themselves.