The Structural Concepts Experience
Joseph
Experience Information
Employer: Structural Concepts
Job Title: Co-op Student
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Structural Concepts Corporation is responsible for keeping your food cold at Meijer, Starbucks, Publix, and other big name companies. SCC makes the refrigerated display cases that you would find in these facilities. With about 500 employees the company can create up to an average of 250 cases a week. Because of advanced technology,Structural Concepts is capable of customizing these cases to fit the needs and wants of the customer.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
The most common task was changing the bill of materials on part assemblies as well as changing the respective models of these assemblies to represent the changes. Sometimes an entirely new part had to be designed in SolidWorks to satisfy the need of a part on the final product or assembly. For example if the part was made out of sheet metal, the SolidWorks model would be cut out on a CNC laser and then bent to shape.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
SolidWorks is used almost daily. So inherently, I learned more of the technical side of this CAD software. Along with the esoteric knowledge, I also gained general knowledge of the designing process that goes into every little detail of a case. Every once in awhile AutoCAD was used arrange wire diagrams. But most of the focus was on SolidWorks.
Favorite Part of the Experience
Seeing your designs come to life a surreal experience. It's one thing to look at a model on a computer screen, but once you get to see your intricate details cut out by a CNC machine and used on a final product, you get the sense of working towards something bigger than yourself. The possibilities of what you can create then become endless and imagination runs wild.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This experience has really given me more motivation to learn the "boring" technical knowledge of engineering. It would be sad if the only thing holding an individual back from greatness is the lack of work ethic needed to learn the small details behind their field of study.