Technical Report

Sample Co-op Technical Report Cover Sheet

Student Name
ID# 312-12-1234
Academic Major
Semester(s) on Co-op (example: Spring and Summer 2004)
Company Name
Company Address

"I have read this co-op report and agree that it contains no proprietary information and it may be submitted to the Cooperative Education Program at MTU."

Supervisor's Signature ______________________________________
Supervisor's Name (Printed) __________________________________
Supervisor's Title ___________________________________________
Supervisor's Phone/Email ____________________________________
Date_____________________

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"I have submitted the following required documents to complete my Cooperative Education Technical Report":

• An abstract
• An original report at least 7 pages in length, double-spaced and with standardmargins, detailing specific information as instructed in the report guidelines
• An updated hard copy of my resume reflecting my recent co-op experience
• Completed employer and student evaluations (previously submitted at requireddue dates)
• A bibliography page (if material has been used from other sources)
• An updated resume has been uploaded into the MTU Career Services’s NACElinksystem"

Student's Signature _____________________________________________
Date _______________________

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Abstract

The following report explains my co-op experience while employed by the Herman Miller Corporation. The two primary career-related skills obtained while working for Herman Miller included development engineering design skills and various communication skills. It is only through the mastery of these skills that a young engineer can expect to succeed in a competitive career such as developmental engineering design.

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My work experience with the Herman Miller Corporation and skills obtained will prove invaluable towards my career after graduating from Michigan Technological University with a Mechanical Engineering Degree.

During my co-op assignment at Herman Miller I was assigned to work in a building called the Design Yard located in Holland, Michigan. Within the Design Yard, I worked in the New Product Development department, as a Development Engineering Intern. In general, Herman Miller, Inc. produces furniture designed for the office dwelling person. The New Product Development department is responsible for the creation of new products and moving it from concept to production. In fact, Herman Miller is so innovative with their product development that Forbes tells of how "sales nearly doubled to $1.8 billion in fiscal 1999 and earnings went from $4 million to $142 million" in their Platinum List of America's Best Big Companies.

The specific team that I worked for was the McFly Team, which worked on developing office spaces or cubicles for companies that need to fit a lot of office workers in a small amount of space. More specifically, the McFly Team was responsible for bringing an existing office space (Ethospace) up to date through a number of different products. Some examples of these products are storage compartment that hang on the systems walls and tiles that give the system a more modern look as well as serving a functional purpose. When talking about both aesthetics and function, it is best to look a Mcfly product such as the Gooseneck Light that not only lights up the work surface for a more productive user, but also makes the office space more appealing to the eye. This product and many more were developed by the McFly team, which I had the opportunity to be a member of. As you can see from the brief overview of the company Herman Miller provided me with an exceptional co-op opportunity. Maybe this is why Business Ethics considers Herman Miller to be one of "The 100 Best Companies to work for in America." In the paragraphs to come I am going to describe ways in which Herman Miller provided me with the necessary skills to become a productive engineer as well as ways that I was able to be beneficial to them.

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In the department in which I worked, the overall objective is to develop a facelift to Ethospace. As a Development Engineering Intern, my main job was to support the other Development Engineers on the McFly team, but I also supported Manufacturing Engineers, Project Planner, and Project Manager of the McFly team. The term support is used because for the majority of my co-op I worked closely with other engineers in order to gain valuable skills necessary to succeed in my career. While working with Paul Radke, a Development Engineers at Herman Miller, we were testing a storage unit bracket and were having trouble with an impact test. Because of his extensive experience, Paul was able to determine that there was a tremendous bending moment created by the test. Paul asked me to help by performing stress analysis calculations on the storage unit. We then used these calculations to devise a new design for the storage unit bracket that was able to pass the impact test. However, if it would not have been for Paul's insight on the bending moment I may have gone completely in the wrong direction in my calculations. In retrospect, the knowledge I gained by providing support to engineers like Paul, I was able to help New Product Development meet such objectives like designing a new style storage unit that raises the unit above the wall.

However it was only though the completion of the research, analysis, and documentation phases of this project that Isaac and I could honestly say that we now know the insides and outs of the New Product Commercialization process at Herman Miller, Inc.

During my co-op there were many skills that I learned in MTU classes, but the skills I learned in Geometric Modeling Engineering design (ME-105), Mechanics of Materials (ME-342), and Product Realization II (MEEM-3502) proved to be the most beneficial during my co-op assignment. It was in Geometric Modeling Engineering Design were I first learned how to use Pro-E, which is the design software used at Herman Miller. The knowledge of Pro-E allowed me the opportunity to design parts as well as make revisions to drawings like my experiences with the curved screen (Appendix A2). I was also able to further my knowledge of Pro-E here at Herman Miller through courses that were offered consisting of Basic Pro-E, Pro-E Sheetmetal, and Pro/CMS. It is through these courses as well as ME-105 that I now consider myself a proficient Pro-E user. The next class that gave me the skills required on my co-op is Mechanics of Materials where I was taught to perform stress analysis calculations. As mentioned previously this skill was used to determine whether or not a storage unit bracket would support the wrath of the impact test.

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I also used this skill in the development of the curved screen due to once again a huge moment arm created by testing. Mechanics of Materials has proved to me its worth, for this reason I have scheduled Intermediate Mechanics of Materials this fall. Now, Product Realization II was a class that I learned all about designing and manufacturing. So when it came time to pick out a machine screw for the curved screen I was able to go directly to the textbook that I saved from MEEM-3502 and pick the right size from the tables provided. This class also provided me with the knowledge of how to pick the appropriate pipe size for the screen. So the professor at MTU told me how useful this book was in the working world, well now I'm here to tell you it is everything its cracked up to be. With the skills I have already learned form Geometric Modeling Engineering design (ME-105), Mechanics of Materials (ME-342), Product Realization II (MEEM-3502), and along with the skills I have yet to learn from MTU courses like Intermediate Mechanics of Materials I am confident in my success.

For the majority of this report I emphasized on the technical skills that I have acquired however, the communication skill is equally important. Granted the technical skills are much more commonly encountered but, without the communication skills we can't convey this information to another person. An exaggerated example of this is to say an individual is the best Pro-E user in the world and they have designed an elaborate part that is hard to understand. Then it comes time to have this part produced and the manufacturer cannot completely comprehend the drawing and no matter how hard they try to explain it they just can't get your point across. The moral of my little story is no matter how advanced of technical skills someone has acquired they are always going to have communicate these ideas whether written or verbally. There have been many references to technical tools in the previous paragraphs like the ones used to operate some of the advanced computer software programs. In the way of communication devices one of the most important is the telephone. I can't stress enough how important this piece of equipment was during my co-op, but I will let you know that it was imperative in New Product Development division of Herman Miller, Inc. During my co-op I have learned volumes in the art of communication whether it be by phone, face to face, email, meetings, or live via satellite video conferencing. All this said it is imperative to know that the art of communication is equally, if not more important than technical skills when it comes to a career in New Product Development.

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During my eight-month co-op with Herman Miller the skills in which I have learned are priceless when considering what career to take when graduating from Michigan Technological University. I know the technical skills I used to develop the curved screen or to finish the NPC project can be transferred to countless other fields. Whether the skills needed in my career as a engineer are mainly technical design skills or in the art of communication is questionable. Although I am sure that Herman Miller furthered my development of both of these skills. Aside from these main skills, the leadership skills I observed used by my supervisor Robert Walski were impeccable. One thing is for certain the skills in which I have acquired from the MTU co-op program have set in stone my focus and desire to become a successful engineer.

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Essay Questions

Describe how cooperative education has enhanced your understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.

My cooperative education has enhanced my understanding of professional responsibility by making me realize that there is specialized knowledge and academic training that goes along with becoming a development engineer. For instance I know that there is constant stream of new programs, software upgrades, and technological advancements that a professional needs to keep up with. Another professional responsibility learned on my co-op with Herman Miller is punctuality, in that it is imperative that I show up on time to meetings as well as work in general. Along with the knowledge of professional responsibility the cooperative education has enhanced my understanding of ethical responsibility. Although most ethical responsibilities are common sense I did learn first hand what is right and wrong way to conduct yourself in the new product development division of Herman Miller, Inc. An example of this is that you should not be surfing the Internet for personal reasons on company time, or for that matter any thing else that doesn't pertain to your job. Most ethical responsibilities that are not common sense are learned in the new employee orientation or the observation of other employees. Although most of the professional and ethical responsibilities are underwritten I can assure you that I learn volumes about these responsibilities through the experience of day-to-day interaction with other professional and ethical people involved in my co-op.

Describe how your co-op experience exposed you to the use of techniques, skills, and modern tools necessary for your career. Which of these items were you exposed to at MTU, and which were you only exposed to through your co-op experiences?

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The co-op experience exposed me to many techniques, skills, and modern tools necessary for my career some of these I was previously exposed to at MTU and some of them were only recently exposed to during my co-op. Some techniques that I learn at Michigan Tech were things like writing, organizational, time management, and money budgeting techniques. Not surprisingly MTU supplied me with most of the technical skills I needed like Pro-E, problem solving, drawing, and advanced reasoning skills. Michigan Tech was also able to expose me to some modern tools like computers, calculators, measuring devises, and part manufacturing tools. Now not everything necessary was taught to me through MTU there were a couple of particular items that I learned from my co-op experience. Probably the most important is the use of the phone along with communication, techniques, skills, and modern tools. Using telephones for communication was imperative in the compellation of my projects. I was also able to improve my communication skills through the extensive use of letter writing. In fact I had to write more technical letters during my co-op experience than I typically would have at MTU. This forced me to become a more skilled writer. Finally, I was exposed to many different pieces of manufacturing equipment or modern tools while on my co-op. Things like roll-forms and robot arms were not an uncommon occurrence. No matter whether I learned these things during my co-op experience or at MTU one thing is for certain these techniques, skills, and modern tools that I learn can only benefit me in my career as an engineer.

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Works Cited

Abramson, Michael "Business Supplies" Forbes Jan. 10, 2000
"Everybody loves Herman" www.vault.com/companies/companies/company_main.
Gaines, Susan "The Hundred Best Corporate Citizens" Business Ethics 14 Mar. 2000 (12-17)
"Herman Miller Classic Design Furniture" www.saper galleries.com/HermanMiller.html
Korecki, Steve "Project McFly" http://hmn.hermanmiller.com/hmn/proddev.nsf/Pages/McFly
"Herman Miller Classic Design Furniture" www.saper galleries.com/HermanMiller.html

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