AUTODIE Internship
Luke
Experience Information
Employer: AUTODIE
Job Title: Engineering Intern
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
AUTODIE is a die shop that is a part of Chrysler. They receive designs from all different auto makers (Ford, GM, Chrysler...) and build the dies that will make panels for the cars, mostly side panels and hoods. They machine the dies down to specifications sent from the auto makers and run panels through the presses until the results are satisfactory.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
I helped to make the company more efficient and productive by trying to eliminate wasteful activities. I standardized the concentration of coolant in the large Okuma CNC machines and in the cutoff saws and grinders. I compared the white light scans of the castings to the designs sent to the pattern shop to determine if we were adding to much casting to the parts that needed to be machined which would eliminate the amount and save money. I analyzed the data from the machines of all the times they weren't working on a job in order to find the most wasteful activities and tried to reduce the amount of time not cutting a job.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I learned a lot about how a large company runs and everything that has to be done for the company to be competitive and productive. I also learned about how important it is to have good communication between the engineers and designers and the actual machinists or people working on what the engineer designed. There are many opportunities for the information to be misleading so it's important for an engineer to be very clear in their work.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part was actually getting to see the machines run and make the actual parts designed by the engineer. I like working hands on so being down on the shop floor was a great experience.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
It has allowed me to realize that I want to be a hands on engineer that works with the machinists on the floor to fix problems that may go wrong. I want to be able to physically see my designing work put into production and see something I may have designed on a computer turn into a physical representation of the model.