Manufacturing Engineering at Herman Miller
Nicole
Experience Information
Employer: Herman Miller
Job Title: Manufacturing Engineer - Co-op Student
Major: Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Herman Miller is a furniture manufacturer based in West Michigan specializing in office furniture and emphasizing new and innovative modern designs and "open" office space furniture. They also sell furniture to the medical community and have an online presence to sell (mostly chairs) directly to the public. I worked at their wood plant, where the wooden work surfaces are produced.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
The main project that I completed this semester was a capacity study for a variety of machines. A capacity study determines how many products a machine is able to produce in a given period of time. This helps in high-level decision making such as when to add another manufacturing shift or when to purchase more machines. I also worked on deciding if a proposed process improvement: to use a larger router bit to cut holes in the work surfaces, would be cost effective. I needed to compare the cost of the new bit to the cost of the smaller bit currently in production and also consider the benefit to Herman Miller that this change would provide. The last major project that I worked on was to begin organizing a system to track certain machine parts as they were shipped out for repair and as they were moved throughout the manufacturing plant from one machine to another. This would help us to detect quality issues and ensure that repairs were made to these parts in a timely manner.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned a lot about project management and the importance of communication in cross-functional teams. It is important to create a project plan before beginning work on that project so that you can ensure that all of the necessary work has been performed with the most efficient use of time and resources available. It is also important to get other groups into the discussion early because they may have input to contribute that benefits the project at the beginning and could hold the project back if presented later.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part was taking control of most of the projects that was given to me. I was put in charge and involved the Engineers on higher-level planning and they were able to help me whenever I needed it. I was able to control the order of completion of most of my projects; I could determine the best method to go about tackling the work load; and I got the necessary people involved throughout Herman Miller in order to complete my project. I loved that I got to meet so many people from so many different areas of Herman Miller.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
It taught me that I have a lot to learn about project management. It also confirmed to me that I would like to explore project management as a career goal. Project engineering is another realistic career goal that I am considering because of the interest that I have in project planning. It also showed me that any career that I choose will require collaborative interaction with people in a variety of fields in order to successfully complete any project that I am given or choose to undertake. I now believe that I need to gain at least a basic understanding of those other fields in order to have the most success possible when I interact with other professionals.