2nd Co-op Rotation at Emerald Corporation
Trent
Experience Information
Employer: Emerald Corporation
Job Title: Engineering Intern/Co-op
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Emerald Corporation specializes in engineered decorative solutions and has a wide range of decoration capabilities. Emerald's production floor contains an automotive quality robotic paint line with five paint booths, a smaller spindle paint line, multiple plastic injection molding presses, multiple laser etching machines, a screen-printing room with a UV line and a solvent line as well as a newly added digital printing room. Emerald is a smaller company which allows for a great atmosphere to work in. The team at Emerald is a very tight knit group which makes it very easy to communicate with all members of the team. Overall Emerald is a great company to work for and always has many interesting projects in progress.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
During my second rotation of co-op at Emerald Corporation I was able to take charge and lead a few new projects. One of the projects was to come up with a new way to ensure traceability on all of the parts that are painted on our paint line. I was able to talk with many different printer and label suppliers to determine a plan of action to implement printers on our unload side of the line. These printers will allow Emerald to place labels on every part which will include important information about that specific paint run. If we have a quality alert from our customer we will be able to quickly determine a root cause based on the information printed on the label. Along with the leadership roles I was still able to enhance my CAD skills by designing new fixtures and even making edits to our plant floor blueprint.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
The main skills that I gained during this semester were communication, project management, and leadership skills. I also improved my general engineering skills and even learned some in-depth knowledge on return on investments (ROI).
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of this co-op semester was getting to take on more responsibilities and manage some interesting projects. This allowed me to feel more involved as an engineering team member at Emerald and not just an intern. I was able to put my engineering and communication skills to the test to see the areas where I could improve.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This experience reinforced my future career goals and made me confident that I chose to start my career in the correct field.