Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

3rd Co-op at GM

Alex
Major: Mechanical Engineering I completed various activities regarding development of cam phasing technology. I also worked on completely a few test requests to support other product engineering activities.

Mechanical Design at JR Automation

Preston
Major: Mechanical Engineering I participated on the Mechanical Design team, helping support primary design engineers on a variety of projects. I participated in design checks, print detailing, and was able to help solve a multitude of complex problems with my own designs over the course of the semester.

Magna Co-op III

Mitchell
Major: Mechanical Engineering I will have participated in two innovation projects/meetings this semester. Innovation involved designing a prototype to be presented at an innovation meeting. I was able to use CAD to design the prototype part and 3D print or CNC machine the part to create the physical model. I also worked on various lighting and mirror testing tasks that were assigned by engineers within my department. I worked on several display/fixtures for outside mirrors to be shown at meetings and shows. Furthermore, I worked on a project that required part performance tests to be ran on the Ford F-150 outside mirror. Lastly, another co-op and I managed two 3D printers. This involved managing what parts were to be printed and when, printer maintenance, and managing the inventory.

Third Rotation at JR Automation Technologies LLC

Jonathan
Major: Mechanical Engineering Throughout my internship I detailed and checked prints of details and assemblies before they were released for fabrication and assembly. I was also tasked with designing small additions to existing cells that were already on the build floor. The parts I worked with varied from weldments, to sheet metal, to purchased components, and customer data.

APD Intern

Joseph
Major: Mechanical Engineering Some of the tasks I do on a daily basis is operate the 3D printers, and manage the builds. I also build innovative prototypes for an innovation meeting each quarter (This is a lot of fun). I also benchmark outside mirrors, inside mirrors, and door handles on any vehicle. This is a great process that gets the interns familiar with what Magna Mirrors is all about. Working with other engineers on meaningful assignments when needed is also a task I accomplish. This could even mean projects or help on one of their own assignments.

Controls Engineer - Automation

Joe
Major: Mechanical Engineering Initially I was placed on a newly developed training cart. It was recently built and ready for programming/debug. The first month of my co-op was spent debugging wiring diagrams, electrical/pneumatic issues, and developing code with another co-op student. It was very beneficial for me to see the overall aspect of the controls engineering position. Having this broad understanding of how projects were ran, I was able to move into a larger project with confidence. I was placed on a project, roughly a month into my co-op, with a more experienced controls engineer. I was initially given the task of developing a sensor list for the machine (500+ sensors in total), adding them into the electrical drawings, and submitting the order. Next, I was able to dive right into the programming portion of controls, setting up inputs and outputs. From there I developed and set up HMI screens for the 3 HMI's and 1 PC screen that were on the machine. This not only includes the initial layout/design but also linking each button to a PLC tag so when pressed, the correct signal was sent to the PLC. Lastly I created alarms and faults that would display on the HMI screens when an action wasn't performed correctly within the sequence. I was able to do just about everything an inexperienced controls engineer could do in his/her first few months of employment.

Co-op III

Ethan
Major: Mechanical Engineering I worked with the systems engineering department to design and develop conveyor systems. This involved working with the customer to ensure everything desired was accounted for, calculating loads, providing drawings, and determining solutions.

Engineering Co-op

Andrew
Major: Mechanical Engineering Tool design and metal stamping simulations. Trip to China to document engineering process abroad.

Making Machines Work

Benjamin
Major: Mechanical Engineering I performed debugging adjustments to automated machines to bring the quality of the part up to what the customer expected. I also assisted with PLC programming, prototyping for the sales team, and mechanical design.

Engineering Co-Op III - Rose Medical

Travis
Major: Mechanical Engineering As an intern I was primarily responsible for data collection but found a niche within the company as a fixture designer and machinist. In addition to this I was also responsible for producing and executing validation documentation for preliminary tooling and manufacturing processes.

3rd Semester with JR Auto

Gunnar
Major: Mechanical Engineering As a cost and concepting engineer, my job was to work face-to-face with customers to come up with custom automation solutions that JR would provide them. I would then write-up a concept proposal document, often referred to as a quote, that would present my concept, how that concept worked, and how much it would cost the customer to purchase that machine.

Casting Ductile Iron

Adan
Major: Mechanical Engineering When I arrived, my first task was to spend a few weeks shadowing each department. My next assignment was to attempt to create CAD for an existing mold pattern. This helped me increase my level of skill in the software, CREO PARAMETRIC. After I was comfortable enough, I was given projects that usually had me working on changing existing designs. This ultimately lead to me being given the task to completely redesign a mold pattern for production.

Trans-Matic Engineering Co-op

Cade
Major: Mechanical Engineering This first co-op semester was a learning experience from the ground up. Much of the first few weeks was dedicated to learning software and company standards. The rest of the semester consisted mostly of updating tooling prints of growing complexity, with a few more design-oriented projects. I also had the opportunity to do a study on the production floor.

Dematic Co-Op I

Zach
Major: Mechanical Engineering While working at Dematic I have completed a wide variety of tasks. I work on the Amazon Mechanical Engineering team which designs conveying and sortation systems for Amazon Fulfillment Centers. My day-to-day functions include making/updating drawings in AutoCAD, ordering miscellaneous parts to the job site, verifying that all necessary conveyor assemblies were ordered, assisting the manufacturing department, and update the standards document Engineers use when they have questions pertaining to products or system design.

Attwood Co-op

Jacob
Major: Mechanical Engineering A lot of my co-op involved working with the CAD software NX. Some projects were very straightforward and involved importing parts into CAD and making drawings for them. Other projects required more skill and involved machine design. I had begun creating a riveting machine for manufacturing that would be used to put together pedestal systems. Currently, I am working on a project that involves other interns at Attwood, we are working together further analyze a fuel demand valve. The testing involved design of experiments. In this project, no CAD was required.

Trans-Matic Experience

Sam
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my first rotation at Trans-Matic I handled a lot of updating and redesigning existing tooling in the presses. Each production job has tooling originally designed that fits into the presses to produce specific features on the part. These designs go through constant changes as the tools wear down or industry standards change. This was all done using the latest version of Creo (3D CAD software). Besides doing redesigns I also had many other opportunities such as designing gages to test that parts in production met customer specifications and chances to get more up close looks at the assembly machines.

SAF-HOLLAND Co-Op Experience

Joseph
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my time with SAF-Holland I have completed many tasks ranging from tearing down a truck suspension to designing new suspension components on the computer. Some of these tasks are: data mining, detailing drawings, design, FEA, setting up life-cycle tests, tearing down suspensions, and managing part inventory.

Internship

Kyle
Major: Mechanical Engineering While I was interning as a Mechanical Engineer at JR Automation my assigned tasks were to detail and design checking drawing packages. Detailing involves going through an assembly and creating drawing sheets for each part that is located in that assembly. Design checking drawing sheets is where an engineer goes through a drawing sheet that has been detailed by another mechanical engineer and checks the detailing as well as the overall design of the assembly. I was lucky enough to be able to do some designing in my first coop at JR Automation. I was able to design different aspects to the machines that were being built in my business unit and was the thing I liked the most about my first coop.

JR Automation Mech. Engineering Co-op 1

Joshua
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my first semester with JR I worked on several different projects with the different engineers there. Some examples of projects I did design work on are a dial table, weld cells, and single operator work cells. I also took part in day to day work with my coworkers to insure that our work was accurate and high quality at all steps in the design and release process.

Fogg Co-op Experience

Zachary
Major: Mechanical Engineering Fogg kept me very busy right from day one whether they were teaching me about Fogg's procedures and standards getting me started with some work. I did a lot of revisions in the beginning of my co-op. These revisions were a good way for me to wade my way into the water. I learned a lot of things on SolidWorks through these revisions as well as being exposed to all the different ways of accomplishing the same goal. These revisions also helped me to learn names and faces of the engineers at Fogg. If I got a print that asked for a change of the part, I would go seek out the engineer that drew the part and had to check with them to make sure that the requested change wouldn't affect the part in a negative way. I also created a couple fixtures to hold a part in a specific orientation to allow for welders to create a consistent part. During my time at Fogg I have also received miscellaneous tasks here and there when they pop up. One of these tasks was to work with one of the electrical engineers to design a cable tray bracket. While not a large or complicated design I had a sense of accomplishment after creating the bracket.

More than Recycling

Ryan
Major: Mechanical Engineering The tasks I was required to complete during the semester I worked at Padnos were very diverse and unique from each other. This was because the engineering department is only 4 full time engineers with 1 co-op student. They service all of the locations with recycling equipment on site. This means there is a lot of work and modification that need to be created by the department as well as new innovative processes and machines that also need to be designed. I had a lot of responsibilities in larger projects such as a new plastic recycling line was being put in I was required to take charge of designing and overseen the fabrication of multiple components of the system including conveyors and pneumatic sorting fingers. I also did many small tasks called "continuous improvements" that are ideas submitted by operators of machinery or other employees that give ideas of how to make a process more efficient, safer, or just maintenance that needs to be completed. These ranged from adding operating platforms to making safety bars to hold up a machine component when maintenance was being completed. I had many unique tasks that each brought their own challenges because every one had to do with a different process and had different requirements because of it.

Mechanical Engineer Co-Op 1

Patrick
Major: Mechanical Engineering Benchmarked various automotive parts such as outside and inside mirrors. Design work with a 3D printer for prototyping parts. Designed displays for automotive parts created by Magna as well as other automotive companies. Conducted light, sound, vibration and impact studies of automotive parts.

Co-op 1 at Autocam

Joe
Major: Mechanical Engineering Many of the most successful engineers and managers at Autocam started their careers by operating machinery. For this reason, I spent the first half of my summer in a machinist and lab technician role. I was trained and gained operational certification for a CNC multi-spindle lathe as well as a multi-spindle screw machine. Both of these machines manufacture components for gas direct injection fuel pumps in high volumes and with high precision. I also performed first piece inspections using various gauges and lab equipment. Some of this equipment measured surface finish, surface profile, and roundness, capable of measuring fractions of nanometers. The second half of my summer was spent working in the engineering department. I assisted with research and development for a new Autocam part. I designed and performed studies to monitor critical dimensions at various stages in the product's manufacturing cycle to identify points in which problems are occurring. I also performed a gauge correlation study where I compared results from various measurement devices to identify the most efficient gauging method for accurate, automated, 100% inspection. I assisted with the assembly of an automated work cell and learned about how robots and vision systems can be used to inspect critical features and dimensions.

JR Automation Rocks!

Mike
Major: Mechanical Engineering I completed automation quotes on a daily basis. Each quote takes anywhere from one day to three weeks. I dealt with vendors on a daily basis, and many different JR Automation employees as well. I organized meetings for quote reviews, and helped to organize and attend customer meetings as well. The very first quote that I worked on, lasted for a month and a half and was finally sold for more money than I ever thought I'd be involved with.

Design ME at JR Auto

Jatinderpal
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my time at JR I designed stations for assembly lines, modified existing assemblies, and detailed and checked design prints.