Engineering Co-op With Koops inc.
Michael
Experience Information
Employer: Koops inc.
Job Title: Mechanical Engineer
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Koops inc. is a medium sized factory automation company. They design, build, program, test and install machines and assembly lines primarily for the automotive industry.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
I worked as a full time mechanical engineer. That means I spent the majority of my time on SolidWorks designing machines. The customer will come with some task they want the machine to perform and how fast and it was my job to design a machine to complete that task.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned an incredible amount about how to use SolidWorks. I learned a lot of the more advanced features of SolidWorks and how to design faster and more efficiently. I gained a lot of knowledge about the right way to go about designing a machine from scratch and how to make it reliable. A lot of what I learned was good practices of design. For example how to design for ease of machining and how to keep cost low.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part was the amount of freedom and responsibility I was given. They trusted me to design complex projects that had to perform in front of the customer. They let me go and gave me any help or advice I needed along the way. It was really cool to see some of the machines I designed out functioning on the floor.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This experience helped show me how an engineering company functions and the different roles different positions fill. I learned that I would love to be someone who just designs machines full time, similar to what I was doing. I also learned I would be interested in pursuing a role in project management. I liked how the project manager got to see a project all the way through and do more of the problem solving.