Experience Matters - Grand Valley State University

Magna Mirrors Co-op Experience

Joshua
Major: Mechanical Engineering I did a variety of tasks. Much of my time was spent in preparation for engineering builds for prototypes, studies, etc. This required me to gather mirror components and arrange for time to be spent on the line. I also performed studies/gathered measurements. This usually came in the form of dimensional measurements, reflectivity measurements, angle measurements, and Instron measurements (pull-out strength, for example). I also had several longer term assignments, such as designing a portable "suitcase" tester for a new video mirror, and a role in producing, testing, and statistical analysis of mirrors built with experimental aluminum tubes (replacing steel).

Third Co-op Rotation

Jordyn
Major: Mechanical Engineering I analyzed customer verbatim and complaints, benchmarked competitors, and made possible recommendations to improve customer satisfaction

DeWys Manufacturing Co-op

Zachary
Major: Mechanical Engineering In my final co-op rotation, I worked mainly on a project which sought to add a collaborative robot to the powder coating line on-site to help with quality issues of the powder application. I did lots of CAD design and planning, and the build and testing will be happening shortly. It was overall a great semester and I learned a lot from the experience.

IPM Mechanical Engineering Co-op #3

Logan
Major: Mechanical Engineering I was tasked with various degrees of project work, where I designed, modeled, and assembled hundreds of parts to form a specified conveyor for the application at hand. I also worked on standard library components to help improve efficiency for designing in future similar projects.

Final Co-op at Medical Device Manufacturer

Emily
Major: Mechanical Engineering Being my third co-op rotation at Rose Medical, I had the opportunity to work on more challenging and complex projects. I worked mostly independently on protocols-- drafting, receiving customer approvals, executing, and writing reports. The nature of these were for installing new tooling/fixtures, updating tooling, manufacturing process qualifications, operational (verifying machine settings for various products) qualifications, measurement system analysis validations, and numerous customer requested validations. The vast majority of these were for two projects with two project engineers at Rose Medical; I reported to both for the duration of the semester. I also was given the opportunity to run my own project for a company requesting prototypes of a tipped cannula. For this, I was the point of contact for the customer. I created a schedule, designed four fixtures/tools for the tipping process, got quotes for tooling, and placed orders for tooling and material. The project reached a bump in the road with ordering the customer specified material with the customer ultimately changing material; therefore, I didn't get to create any prototypes. Instead, I learned bounds and leaps more by this hiccup through difficult communications than if everything had gone smoothly. In addition, I was a point of contact on one of my supervisor's projects where I sat in on meetings and communicated daily with the customer, answering questions and providing recommendations. By doing so, I kept the project's rapid pace while my supervisor was out of the office and aided getting product out the door during crunch time. I executed multiple DOE's for different products to recommend settings for thermal welding, medical pouch sealing, and cannula bending processes to multiple engineers.

Engineering Co-Op rotation 3

Dylan
Major: Mechanical Engineering I started off the semester doing a robotic welding fixture for a local manufacturing company and then I went more into product development, specifically with landscaping tools and power equipment.

Engineering Co-op Final Rotation Experience

Abbey
Major: Mechanical Engineering I spent the semester mostly designing and detailing parts and assemblies using PTC Creo software.

EGR 490: Co-op 3

Ryan
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my co-op, my main responsibility was to execute projects that improve upon our manufacturing processes. Some larger projects included redesigning/refreshing major components of our machines. In addition, I was also responsible for a portion of the day's production, materials handling, preventative maintenance, and spare parts management.

Quality Engineering Co-op at Flexco

Austin
Major: Mechanical Engineering There were a wide variety of tasks that I completed. I was able to complete multiple solidworks composer animations of product assemblies (they are used as a reference for the shop floor). I also spent time writing work instructions that explained how parts went together in assemblies. A considerable amount of my time at Flexco was spent inspecting, sorting, or salvaging parts.

Regular Employee

Beau
Major: Mechanical Engineering Project engineering at TGW puts all of the puzzle pieces together and orders anything todo with mechanical install. After the project is sold and the preliminary design is done Project engineering takes the project and does more detail engineering for the entire project. Some of the major items that we handle are mezzanines, fencing, safety, stairs, racking, and large portions of conveyor like sorters or cranes.

EBW Electronics - Rotation III

Jacob
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my final co-op rotation, I was able to be much more independent by heading projects on my own. I contributed to many mechanical engineering designs and analyses associated with new product launches. I was also able to perform finite element analyses to determine thermal strains associated with heat generated from new LED assemblies.

Helix Steel Engineering Co-op

Andrew
Major: Mechanical Engineering This semester I was a machine operator at the plant. This meant doing routine tasks like quality checks, restringing machines, and preventative maintenance. It also included diagnosing machine and quality issues and learning about how to fix those issues in a time-efficient manner.

Engineering Co-op at Genesis Seating

Daniel
Major: Mechanical Engineering This was my third rotation, so many of the projects I worked on were larger than previous rotations. Last semester, I created a proposal for a portable lift which would be used to raise and lower sofas from an assembly table. This rotation my main project was creating this lift. However, it now needed a rotational function lift rotate and lower 200 lb table tops without damage. This was completed by modifying a portable pallet stacker to meet our needs. I designed every component of the lift in SOLIDWORKS and used this design to create the lift.

EGR490 Co-Op III

Malcolm
Major: Mechanical Engineering I often worked directly with customers to understand their needs and desires of the projects. I drafted project specifications and qualification protocols. I often had a hand in the manufacturing processes as well.

Co-op III @ Gentex Corporation

Chadwick
Major: Mechanical Engineering While at Gentex, I was given the opportunity to work on some awesome projects with the aerospace group making auto dimming windows. I was able to work on process improvements for our Boeing 777X product, improve epoxy materials to protect the electro chemistry in the window, apply statistical analysis to the manufacturing process to identify high impact projects, and a multitude of other projects. I was able to be hands-on with the product and processes for much of my work.

Co-op Rotation 2

Jake
Major: Mechanical Engineering At IPM I was given many opportunities to learn about business, conveyors, and CAD. At IPM i was able to work with AutoCad and SolidWorks every day. Hands on experience for me is extremely important and IPM was a perfect learning opportunity and a great co-op decision.

EGR 390 Co-Op Rotation

Jordyn
Major: Mechanical Engineering I worked with the design team. My duties include supplier parts test support & closure, design issues support & closure.

Cooped Up at Koops

Daniel
Major: Mechanical Engineering During my rotation I modified the design of an overhead cage for use in assisting the assembly process of vehicle headliners. During this project, the design was reviewed, prints were drawn, and a bill of materials was created and kicked off. After Kick off, I had the opportunity to build the cage I had designed to experience some of the issues that could come up in the assembly process when not caught by the mechanical engineer. Later in the semester, I worked on a team designing stations in an automation cell that assembled vehicle components. Design reviews were held twice a week to try to keep things on track for kickoff. This involved a lot of problem solving and team work to try to meet customer specifications and keep costs down.

EGR 390 Co-op experience

Greg
Major: Mechanical Engineering For this rotation, I was assigned to the quoting department. I would put together full quotes that would be sent out to customers for potential work.

Co-Op 2

Brianna
Major: Mechanical Engineering I primarily worked on project management. This included organizing meetings and communicating with customers and suppliers, tracking document status, performing testing, etc.

Second Co-op Rotation at Genesis Seating

Daniel
Major: Mechanical Engineering During this rotation I was tasked with designing a layout for a cell where a new product would be assembled. This included creating many drawings and ideas for how the cell would be arranged, as well as creating carts and racks to hold different tools and parts that would be used to assemble the chair.

Helix Steel Engineering Co-op

Andrew
Major: Mechanical Engineering For this semester, I was a machine operator. This meant fixing machine wire breaks, changing wire spools, and pulling and replacing full product boxes from the machines. I also completed excel quality reports for unmachined product and machined product for meeting testing standards and record keeping.

Woodward FST Inc - 1st Rotation

David
Major: Mechanical Engineering Some of the tasks/projects that I worked on included coming up with new processes to aid in the production of parts. I was also apart of a few CAD design projects to either create new processes or improve existing ones. On a daily basis, the tasks varied to working with different engineers on projects or running with my own project. i also did some shadowing on the floor. There was always lots of collaboration with different engineers and operators and that created a great work environment where new ideas were always encouraged.

390 Co-op

Josephine
Major: Mechanical Engineering I had launch engineering position this co-op rotation. Launch is our word for getting a machine up and running and ready to ship out to the customer. I worked on several machines, setting sensors, cameras, and flow controls, and testing the auto and manual functions of the machines with customer parts.

DeWys 2nd Co-op Rotation

Zachary
Major: Mechanical Engineering This semester, I completed a variety of design projects. One of which was a continuation of a previous co-op student's project, where I finalized his design, fabricated the project, and saw it through testing until it was ready to be used to run production parts. I completed various other design and fabrication projects, including designing and fabricating a trash bin lifting system for a trash compactor.