Mobility+Shuttle
We've all been there: a fruitless search for a parking space can sometimes cause considerable stress even before work begins - and travelling by car is not particularly sustainable. But how can employees be made aware of possible alternatives? In cooperation with Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH, Tobias Dillinger tackled this problem in his bachelor's thesis. Here, the HNU alumnus explains his communication measures and implementation strategies for a shuttle service that benefits not only the employees themselves, but also the company and society.
Nominated for the Bavarian-Swabian
Innovation Award Transfer 2024 of Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
What is it all about?
Tobias Dillinger explains: "There are only around 2,500 parking spaces for almost 5,000 employees at the site - which naturally causes stress. Employees pay with their time, their nerves, their money and with unnecessaryCO2 emissionsif they commute to work alone in their car and not sustainably. The 'Mobility+Shuttle for employees' project aims to help improve the parking situation at the site for everyone involved. This means that employees can reduce their CO2 footprint, save time, costs, stress and fuel and solve the parking problem. Liebherr can increase employee satisfaction, implement its sustainability strategy and reduce costs. And society also benefits: The city air improves, there is less congestion and less traffic overall."
Tobias Dillinger
worked on the topic as part of his bachelor's thesis in the Information Management and Corporate Communications programme.
The idea came about in the elective course Design Thinking with Prof Dr Jens Kolb, in which initial solutions to the problem were developed. I was then able to take this further in my bachelor's thesis and work it out in concrete terms, i.e. design, test and make recommendations for action.
The cooperation partner
As a strategic partner of HNU, Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH supports the promotion of students in a variety of projects. Tobias Dillinger's bachelor's thesis is a current example of productive corporate cooperation in the field of final theses: Based on the feedback compiled by Dillinger, the shuttle service was optimised and relaunched at the end of last year; there has also since been a commuting app for all sustainable modes of transport.
I am very grateful for this cooperation opportunity, which has also become a professional opportunity for me: Liebherr has created a position for mobility management, which I was able to take up in October 2023.
Interview with Tobias Dillinger
[1] How would you describe your project in three key words?
Creative - communicative - innovative
[2] What is special about your project?
The threefold win-win situation:
- The employees have massive benefits from the project.
- The company builds its employer brand, ensures greater employee satisfaction and saves costs.
- Society, in the form of the town of Ehingen, benefits because there are fewer cars on the road, residents are happier, noise is reduced and air quality is improved.
[3] What does transfer mean to you?
Bringing theoretical knowledge and concepts into reality and implementation in order to help real people with real problems.
[4] What do you take away from the project - professionally, but also personally?
The mentality: "Just. Do". And the realisation that we shouldn't be tempted to play theory and practice off against each other or get bogged down in one or the other, but rather use one to promote the other in order to ultimately create a solution that helps specific people and meets their needs.
