Machine Design Co-op 1
Bryanna
Experience Information
Employer: Herman Miller
Job Title: Machine Tool Services Co-op Intern
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Herman Miller was founded in 1905 in Zeeland, MI as Star Furniture Co. Since then we have grown to consist of 8000+ employees at sites worldwide with a revenue of over $2 billion. In the past 114 years, the company has increasingly taken off and grown immensely but has stayed humble since. There are values that the company still follows, values that many companies of this size stray from. Herman Miller strives to maintain a "work-life balance" for all employees, including offices staff as well as manufacturing workers. A work-life balance means to build a life for its employees consisting of equal amounts of work and life outside of work, . They believe this is necessary in order to have happy and optimistic employees ultimately creating a more enjoyable work space.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
For this rotation, I handled smaller work orders coming from the manufacturing engineers at different facilities to the Machine Tool Services team that I was working on. These work orders involved using CAD programs to design small assemblies or adding to larger ones to solve issues that we were seeing on the assembly lines. I also took on all 3D print orders, many of which were used as prototypes to test designs. I took on a few longer term projects both of which involved in the automation of an entire assembly line for one of our most popular products. I was tasked with two projects within the automation project that will be used in the automated assembly line. Also at Herman Miller, as a summer intern, you are placed in a group of about 9 other interns, all from different fields of study, and tasked with a large project sponsored by someone higher up in the company. My group was given a sales and operational planning project, of which I knew very little of the topic. We met 1-2 times a week meeting with each other or with operational managers from all of our manufacturing sites in West Michigan. The project was meant to find the capacity constraints of each product lines, what would be required to do to add about 30% capacity to each of the lines, and to find issues within the supply chain. At the end of the summer, we were to present our information to our sponsors and whoever else joined us.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
My CAD design skills have significantly improved. Prior to the job, the only experience I've had is what we got in EGR 106 and 107. Using SolidWorks all summer, I've learned an abundance of things about the program and tricks that I never knew of. I've learned what it means to design a small fixture, a sub-assembly, or a whole assembly, all with design intent. Designing while keeping in mind what each part will be used for. This means whether a part is going to be under compression or tension, will it be experiencing repetitive motions, is it placed within a machine or will it handled directly by the operator and if so, what is the most ergonomic design? This is something we were never really taught in 106/107 and I really had to get the hang of thinking about it prior to starting my design.
Favorite Part of the Experience
The hands-on experience was probably my favorite. I was able to see/do things that I do not know that I would have ever gotten to witness within a classroom or lecture setting. Many may be insignificant but I at least know what I would do if I were ever to encounter them again. Another favorite thing was the rewarding feeling of talking with fellow engineers and actually knowing what they are saying and be able to carry on a conversation because its directly related to things I have learned in school.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
Since this is my first job working within the field, or my first job that was not working as a waitress, it was extremely reassuring. For a long period of time, I hated my jobs because of the hours or the unpredictability and began to hate the industry as a whole. I was getting worried that I would never really appreciate work and that it would always be something I dreaded; however, Herman Miller has showed me that there are jobs that you can look forward to. I have finally been able to feel like I was a useful asset to a company, or rather to a portion of the company, as opposed to just another employee to staff a shift. It was also reassuring in the sense that I know I've chosen the right field of study for myself. A whole work day will pass and suddenly its 5PM and I haven't even bothered to check the time since lunchtime because I've been so involved in my work, work that I genuinely enjoy.