2nd Co-op rotation
Tyler
Experience Information
Employer: Spectrum E-Coat
Job Title: Automation Tech
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Spectrum Industries is a company that has roughly 400 employees who work to apply decorative and protective finishes to metal and plastic parts. There are multiple facilities that fixate on separate tasks. The largest being the Wealthy Street location which is focused on the protective finish of metal components.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
I was asked to help design and build automation cells that assisted with the e-coating of the parts. This involved designing end of arm tooling for robots, building lighting cells to help illuminate the parts, and even coding the cell to help ensure the most efficient run times. I was also asked to design and build an inspection cell that vision inspected the packing of finished parts. This was done to ensure proper packaging. With this cell I was granted full design freedom and was allowed to code, build and design it how I envisioned best fit for the project.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned how to work independently and problem solve independently. There were multiple projects that involved group collaboration but a lot of my tasks were individual. This means that I had to work on my time management and ensure that my communication was clear with my fellow employees. When working on individual tasks that are a part of larger projects, I had to ensure that I was going to finish what was asked of me in a timely manor, otherwise the entire project would be delayed.
Favorite Part of the Experience
The freedom of design that was given to me personally. My boss would ask me to come up with a solution to a problem that we were facing. He would then allow me to design any and all solutions that I thought would be best for the problem. Then if I wanted to, I was allowed to build or 3d print the prototypes for testing. This experience taught me a lot about design and how to design solutions that will work the best.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This experience has taught me a lot about engineering and how to think/solve problems in the professional field. There were many times that my solutions failed and each time I learned from my failures, and I believe that this has made me a better student/ better future engineer. This experience has also given me a taste of what it means to design solutions to engineering problems. I have loved every second of it and it has increased my drive to become an engineer.