First Co-Op Semester At Innotec Corporation
Matthew
Experience Information
Employer: Innotec Corporation
Job Title: Engineering Co-Op
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Innotec is a company that is based on Biblical principles and strives to make that a part of its values and company culture. The corporate vision and values along with a company overview can be found at: http://www.innotecgroup.com/Company.aspx The corporation is primarily a tier one supplier to the automotive industry both domestically and abroad. Most of the production is focused on automotive interiors and lighting. The company has also diversified to divisions focused on furniture, design solutions, and manufacturing solutions.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
The vast majority of my semester experience was focused on learning production and running the production lines (being machine responsible). I was machine responsible for an average of over 30 hours per week for the semester. The responsibilities associated with this were keeping production running no matter if it involved the clearing a simple error to tearing apart a station to replace a component which had ceased to function properly. My next biggest daily responsibility was being in charge of ordering spare parts and parts needed for production line changes or improvements. This was very challenging since most orderable parts used on the machines were not documented and required research and price comparisons before ordering. The remainder of my time was spent working on projects to help improve the production process. Some of these are listed and briefly described below: Circuit Press Oil System: Updated current automatic oiling system, rewired panel, and updated company logic based software. Finished Goods Stacker Extension: Finished goods tote auto-stacker was extended to allow for more tote capacity. Along with this the entire E-stop system was rewired and updated. Finished Goods Stacker Re-alignment: The rails used for stacking the finished totes needed adjustment to prevent failures for totes both entering and leaving the system. Line Capability Improvements: A second Power/Reset/Go setup was added to production lines along with a second monitor and mouse station. This allowed for faster machine failure fixes by eliminating the need to walk around the production line to restart a machine. Additional Printer & Label Redesign: A printer was added to the production area so that label printing could be performed without the need for walking back and forth across the plant. Along with this change, a complete label redesign was needed for functionality with a new program. Various Small Tasks: Changes to the company based machine logic software, addition of sensors, and other small engineering changes were made throughout the semester in order to improve production capacity and time between machine failures.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned how to program and make changes to machine programming though the company designed logic software. This included starting programs from scratch and how to properly change existing programs. I also became more familiar with the plastic injection molding process. I had a little experience with this before starting at Innotec, but have gained a wider and deeper experience level though out the semester.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of this co-op experience was having individual responsibility to complete my projects. I had very little oversight for projects which I was individually responsible.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
This experience has showed me a different take on how to operate a company that I have not experienced in the past. This will influence my future goals by having myself put far more emphasis on the day to day operations and expectation of an engineer at a company before taking a position.