For the past six months I interned as a process engineer at DuPont working on their Vespel resin process. Vespel is a high-performance polyimide resin, with a complex synthesis process. As an intern I was responsible for several different projects ranging from quality control test design, management of change – subtle and technology, test authorizations, and investigational project management. I worked independently on about half of my projects and with a team on the other half.
Being my first engineering internship, I feel that I gained a much better understanding of what engineering in industry looks like and what it’s like to fill a process engineering role. I went in reserved and while I felt technically competent, I didn’t feel as comfortable speaking up in team meetings with other engineers and I was hesitant to ask for help when I was struggling with a project. The Vespel team was group oriented and quickly helped to cultivate confidence with teamwork and my own ideas. I was able to gain confidence in my ideas and learned to speak up when I have input. Both are valuable lessons I have taken with me and will continue to implement as I go back to school in January and down the road at future internships and my career.
Aside from how my experience affected my confidence working in teams, I also gained a new understanding of the role an engineer plays in process safety management. The production of Vespel is classified as a high-hazard process and thus must be treated with high levels of caution from an environmental, health, and Safety (EH&S) approach. The Vespel EH&S engineer mentored me on three of my nine projects and instilled an appreciation for the burden an engineer carries in keeping the line operators safe and the environment clean. Prior to this internship I didn’t fully grasp the independent responsibility for safety each engineer carries. I now understand how crucial it is to double check your work and ensure a deep understanding of any process prior to making changes to a system.
The Vespel technical group meets as a whole group every morning and afternoon–Monday through Friday. In between these two meetings there are also several smaller group meetings with individuals working on the same project. I think the general focus on collaboration helped me to feel more comfortable working with other I didn’t know so well. It felt much more open and relaxed than prior team experiences I’ve had, and this allowed me to become quickly comfortable with contribution. Contribution felt not only welcome but often expected during meetings, even if it was just to update others on what I did that day.
The open line of communication that Vespel maintained was crucial to the safe function of the process and this became apparent on a few occasions where a lack of communication caused issues in the process. The most common example of this was an engineer making a process change without adequately informing operations of the change to their role. This caused failed batches, and sometimes damaged equipment (each batch is nearly $1MM on the market, 4-8 batches per day). Both impact production and pose potential safety hazards if severe. The responsibility that I had to communicate with my team and involve the group whenever I was in doubt forced me out of my shell quickly and allowed me to grow as a team player.
Moving into what I learned about process safety, the first two weeks of my internship consisted mainly of safety training and process tours. Prior to this internship I didn’t fully comprehend the independent responsibility a process engineer plays in safety. In my head, I expected this to be more diffuse and automated, but it is very real and possibly the most important part of the job. When implementing a change an engineer must create a Management of Change transmittal (MOC, industry standard). While this does ensure every change has a minimum of 3-4 engineers signing off and reviewing the change, the responsibility of any change is ultimately that of the MOC originator. This burden made it very clear to me the necessity in speaking with others and taking their input and following up based on their ideas. While I was only responsible for less PSM-critical changes, I saw many critical changes occur while I was there, and it was easy to see that a mistake could be costly both in safety and monetarily.
The deeper understanding, appreciation, and competency I have for teamwork will be beneficial throughout the rest of college, and as I navigate my career post-graduation. Most careers in engineering mandate the ability to work on a team and I think gaining this ability early on is invaluable to me as a beginning applicant out of school. The confidence this experience developed will make it easier to work on group projects, present, and better communicate throughout school and in whatever field I decide to pursue.
The better understanding of safety and personal responsibility is a life-lesson that is commutative to any field, not just industrial work. A deep sense of independent responsibility for my work cultivates better ethic and a stronger personal investment in my work. While this can be a burden to carry, it can also be a sense of efficacy for the work I do, it develops ownership over my projects down the road and emphasizes personal contribution as equally as important as the result. Both changes to my thinking will make me both a better student and a better potential applicant and asset down the road.
(I am not permitted to upload photos from my internship)