#1

My Step Signature Project was an engineering internship at Axalta during the summer of 2023 in Hilliard, OH. My main tasks were inventory organization, where I ergonomically reorganized over 140 bins of parts,  and supply management, where I oversaw ordering products for the company.

#2

I had a lot of preconceptions of what my first industrial engineering internship would be like. For one, Axalta is a 6 billion dollar company so I thought the factory plant would be a lot larger, have more employees, be more organized , etc. However, my shift only had 15 workers for the whole plant. So although I was working for a large corporation, the day to day felt much more like a small company. 

Also going in, I thought my work would be more focused on 1 or 2 specific projects. However, while I did do larger projects, I did far more ad hoc tasks than I expected. This taught me how chaotic running a small factory plant can be. Lastly, I expected my manager would oversee and approve nearly all of my work / actions. The reality was far different, with my manager being more hands off than I expected, giving me a certain level of freedom and responsibility I had to get used to.

#3

One event that really showed me how chaotic a small plant can be is when one of our extruder cooling rollers broke. Since it was 1 of our 5 extruders we had to rework the whole work schedule to accommodate for this. This involved delaying certain orders and messing around worker schedules moving people between shifts. This wasn’t unexpected since the roller was showing signs of wear. This directly affected me since it became my top priority to find a replacement cooler that matched the specifications we needed. 

This second transformation happened slowly over the summer. Where I went from thinking I would be working mainly on one or two large projects to realizing how many different ad-hoc tasks I should expect to do in a given week. The tasks I was given were so diverse, including the following: organizing paperwork, researching and organizing inventory, driving to Home Depot for supplies, returning packages, etc… This helped give me experience of what it would be like to work for a smaller manufacturing plant, which will be quite useful when contemplating job offers for the future.

Lastly, I didn’t expect my manager to be as hands off as he was. This first struck me when I bought parts online, my manager didn’t follow up to ensure I ordered the right parts. When I made a mistake, I had to return the wrong part and re-order the right part. Fortunately, the parts weren’t essential, so it didn’t hold up plant production. But it still taught me to double check myself when doing this process going forward. Also, I worked directly with other employees at the company without my manager’s oversight. Overall, I liked this level of freedom but had to be more careful to ensure I didn’t make any mistakes.

#4

These changes were significant for three reasons. First, it gave me a more realistic view on the workplace. Where someone like my manager won’t always be checking my work, so it is up to me to control and deliver high quality work. Second, it made me realize what it is like working for a smaller company, which includes doing many more ad-hoc tasks and dealing with more uncertainty in my day to day schedule. Third, it gave me a chance to work in an industrial based internship, my first so far. It provided a nice contrast to my other internships and work opportunities, helping me realize that I preferred to work in a plant over coding.

Overall, my learnings here will help me be better informed when I choose between the full time offers I receive.

Pictures

This is one of the many parts I ordered. It was quite difficult to find this part.

I labeled and organized all this inventory