Co-op at Altus
Michael
Experience Information
Employer: Altus
Job Title: Engineering Co-op
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Altus is a company that specializes in producing medical workstations for hospitals. With roughly 25-30 people working at the company, Altus continues to provide workstations for nurses and other employees all over the world. With hospitals moving to electronic health records, Altus has found a niche where they provide a cart that has the capability of allowing a desktop computer to be mobile so that the computer can move from room to room.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
As being the engineering co-op student at Altus, I have been given many responsibilities. I have tasks of creating and redesigning workstations so that the products could be assembled faster by our assemblers. I also deal with suppliers when there is a quality issue so that the issue does not occur again. I help with prototyping new products and I am including in discussions relating to the future of products and how we can develop our carts to be more successful. For being a co-op student, I have a lot of say in the development of our products.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned the ability to properly discuss with suppliers so that I can talk to them in great detail but with extreme efficiency. I have also learned a lot of problem solving skills. I often make myself step back and look at all options for what could be going wrong and I decide on my knowledge what would be the first step to solving the issue. People come to me with quality issues and I often have to make an on the spot decision if it is acceptable to produce or not. I have learned to make educated decisions much faster because of this.
Favorite Part of the Experience
I really enjoyed creating the workstations for the shop as it allows me to have a lasting legacy with the company. I could potentially come back in 5 years and I would still see these workstations. That feeling of pride is the reason I enjoy engineering.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
With my experience, I have learned what I want to do with my career. I eventually do want to go back to school to get my business degree and I want to be more on the product design side of engineering. The entire process of going from start to finish is what I enjoy when engineering a product.