Herman Miller 2018 Summer
Andrew
Experience Information
Employer: Herman Miller
Job Title: Controls Engineer Co-Op
Major: Electrical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Herman Miller is mainly known for its office furniture solutions, producing anything from filing cabinets, to high end office chairs, and much more. There are 4 main Herman Miller locations spread throughout west Michigan. The Main-Site is located in Zeeland, where our wood products are manufactured. Our Greenhouse site, located in Holland, is where every Herman Miller chair is built to order. The Meridian and Hickory plants are located up in Spring Lake, where all of the metal products are manufactured. The Design yard, also located in Holland is where many of our furniture design and marketing team sits. Overall, there are over 8,0000 Herman Miller employees throughout the world. Herman Miller isn't limited to the United States as they have a large market and manufacturing facility in China and other countries.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
Throughout the summer, I've been introduced to a few different types of work at Herman Miller, Spring Lake location. Early on, I started with basic PLC programming using Rockwell software's RSLogix 500. There were a few simple assignments such as mimicking a stoplight sequence and taking the positions of analog sensors. As the summer progressed, my work team lead began assigning me work orders that consisted of issues throughout production. Many of these issues were caused in the PLC programming, whether it be timers that weren't correct, or certain limits that needed to be changed. The most exciting portion of updating the PLC programs is that everything was done online with the controller, so the machines and assembly lines were still running while the changes were being made. Most of the assembly lines and machines are programmed using RSLogix 5000, which is an expansion of RSLogix 500 and offers more functionality to a programmer. Later on in the summer I began working with the HMIs(Human Machine Interface) which are the main interaction between the line workers and the assembly lines. We try to design and program them as simple as possible, while making sure they have maximum functionality. Towards the end of the summer, I started working more with AutoCAD electrical for designing controller layouts and schematics containing sensors, switches, and other components. Along with the wiring schematics, I designed a few control panel enclosures that were later installed for a temporary project on a couple of the smaller assembly lines. The rest of the time this summer was spent working with my project team on the summer intern project. Every intern is placed into a group with 7 or 8 other interns and given a real company issue and the team is to present their solution at the end of the summer in front of the project sponsor, CEO, and many other employees.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
PLC programming, HMI design and programming, AutoCAD Electrical layouts, Networking
Favorite Part of the Experience
Meeting and working with multiple experienced engineers in a project based environment.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
I got to experience first hand that the harder you work and the more dedicated you are to learning and understanding the company ways, usually means more opportunities will present themselves to you