GVSU Intern
Bryce
Experience Information
Employer: Magna Mirrors
Job Title: Engineering Intern
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Magna is one of the world's largest suppliers to the automotive industry. They have over 150,000 employees in almost 30 different countries across the world. There are subsections of the company that specialize in certain portions of the car, like Magna Mirrors where I am employed. They specialize in outside and inside mirrors as well as door handle systems.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
At Magna Mirrors, I worked this semester alongside several engineers in the outside mirrors group at the Kentwood location. During my internship I was involved in a large amount of projects including disassembling parts for benchmarking, finding the output torque both manually and electrically of glass actuators, finding current draws of power fold actuators in different humidity and temperature settings, taking mirrors out for a drive in different test vehicles with accelerometers attached for vibration data, and creating special wire harnesses to allow serial control of a mirror to emulate a car control module. I also operated CNC mills to rework parts, did draft analysis of several mirror assemblies, coordinated part delivery between nearby plants, assembled prototype mirrors for customers, performed door slam simulations, and even conducted a case study at a nearby car dealership to find correlation between VIN numbers and the mirror combinations that are associated with them. I never expected such a small component of a car to have such a diverse array of processes and tests for an engineer to be involved in, but the outside mirror is an ever-evolving piece of technology that I have had the ability to become quite familiar with.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
Over the course of the semester, I acquired a lot of new knowledge especially in regards to the automotive industry. Magna is a global supplier of automotive parts, so I learned about industry standards that apply to outside mirrors and door handle systems and about the production processes that each individual mirror goes through until the moment it is bolted onto the car. I learned a lot about geometric stack within an assembly and ways to reduce friction and low frequency vibrations in that assembly. I learned a lot about wire harnesses and how to read and verify electrical blueprints, which allowed me to improve my soldering skills. I was introduced to many different ways to gather torque data in different actuators and I have become much more proficient with dozens of tools.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of this co-op experience was getting to see the entire process firsthand as a mirror progressed from design all the way until becoming a production-ready assembly. As an intern I was involved directly in performing all of the necessary testing at each stage in the development process. I got to hear about the design concept, watch prototypes being made and even build them myself by hand, test the prototype's ability to meet specifications, test drive vehicles with the prototype bolted on, and eventually see the assembly become a production ready mirror. Seeing the entire timeline of a product from idea to finished result is the purest way to view the engineering design process, and was definitely what I enjoyed the most.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
Working at Magna Mirrors has been my introduction to the exciting and fast-paced automotive industry. Before this experience, I was not quite sure which path I wanted to take considering the only engineering related job I had was in the aerospace industry. My experience here helped revitalize my passion for engineering and remind me why I love this field. Cars will always be adapting and changing with the advancement of technology, and I hope to be on the forefront of designing the technology of the future. With this knowledge, my future goal is to see a piece of technology I design and bring to life drive past me some day on the road.