Controls Intern summer
Brian
Experience Information
Employer: JR Automation
Job Title: Controls Intern
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
JR Automation is a well know automation company located throughout Holland Michigan. Over the past 2 years the company has increased two fold. Now with nearly 1000 employees the company is ready to expand more into the medical and aviation field. Being an automation company means that they provide manufacturing solutions to different customers. Everything from robot programming to screw tightening is handled by JR to help automate a production process.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
Most of the tasks I worked on was data logging. For nearly every project in my business unit I would update the build's schematic which had changes made on paper but had yet to be updated electronically. When I wasn't updating schematics I was programming robots, designing user interface screens, and completing documentation for the company.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
During this summer I gained much experience reading schematics, before I had virtually no experience with that. Also I was introduced to two programming languages : PLC and Visual basic.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite project was one that I worked on about half way through the summer. I was given a large amount of trust and freedom while I programmed all inputs and outputs for a machine. Then after programming I had the responsibility of designing all of the screens on that same machine. Whenever I open that project I can see my work.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
I am very thankful about acquiring work experience before leaving school. Through this internship I have began to set some career goals. I like controls engineering, which boils down to programming automation robots. However, I would like to branch off into signal processing with my Electrical Engineering degree.