Definitely real applications in the field and actual contributions to BHP, but overall it depends on where you go and which site you go into. There are some roles which looks at performance and trying to understand what's wrong with the situation. You can delve right into technical problems or you can step back a bit and be in charge of a project. Engineers on site with end up with projects and identify bottleneck or a part of the business that needs to be moving faster and safer. So you identify, understand, and rectify a problem, but most importantly lock it down forever. The difficulty depends on the problem, some are easy and some are extremely difficult and takes a lot of engagement from lots of different areas. Some assets are much more technically complex, whilst some are more chemically or electrically complex, so it really does depend on where you go for your internship.
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