First Co-Op Rotation with Genesis Seating
Casey
Experience Information
Employer: Leggett & Platt - Genesis Seating
Job Title: Manufacturing Co-Op Engineer
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Genesis Seating is one of many facilities in Leggett & Platt's Work Furniture division. They manufacture seating solutions for several furniture suppliers, namely MillerKnoll (Herman Miller), Haworth, and Steelcase. Leggett & Platt as a larger entity is a manufacturing company that works in furniture, flooring, textiles, bedding solutions, aerospace, automotive, and more. The company has locations worldwide and is based in Carthage, MO. It was founded in 1883 when two men designed a bedspring that has revolutionized the mattress industry.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
In my role as a manufacturing co-op engineer, I spend a lot of time working on process improvement. I am often out on the plant floor talking with employees about how I can improve their jobs, which can be anywhere from increasing production volume to reducing discomfort due to manual labor. Basically, I design and implement solutions to make our situation better.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I think welding is the skill I have grown the most during my co-op. Before working at Genesis, I had welded once. Now, I can supposedly weld better than most of the guys in the shop, according to what they have told me. Being able to weld relatively well has been really empowering for me as a woman in a male-dominated field. Although welding is not my trade, learning the ins and outs of the skill has been essential in shaping how I design. I feel I can come up with a design and articulate it in a way that makes sense from a manufacturing perspective more than I have in the past, which helps me to feel more confident in my work. I have also been involved in daily continuous improvement meetings, where my work has been primarily implementing the Toyota production system, which utilizes a one-piece flow to reduce bottlenecking and quality issues during manufacturing. To do this, I conducted time studies, learned to make block charts according to tact time, planned new cell layouts, and designed new solutions for part storage.
Favorite Part of the Experience
I think my favorite part of my co-op experience has been the confidence that my supervisors have instilled in me. There have been several occasions where I have questioned "Do I have the authority to do this?" and, so far, my bosses have always given me the green light to put my ideas into action. Another piece of my time here that I have enjoyed is learning more about the diversity of engineering roles. When I started my program at Grand Valley, I was set on design engineering. However, there are not a ton of companies that offer CAD-specific roles like I wanted. When I was offered the role with Leggett & Platt, I figured I would do it to gain experience before I eventually go into design engineering. While I am still interested in design engineering, I am really enjoying seeing the impact my changes have on the daily routines of the plant employees. I love it when they come up to me saying that the new solution I built for them is working a lot better than the previous one. Having that confirmation from your "customer" that your design works well is really gratifying.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
At this point, I am still interested in being a design engineer for the furniture industry. However, I really enjoy having a direct relationship with my customers, so I could absolutely see myself going into manufacturing engineering. The design work is not the same, but it is design work, and I'm not necessarily creating aesthetically pleasing pieces, but the impact the functionality has on the user is more rewarding than the visual appeal of the piece.
Internship Format
In Person