Multi-Dimensional Integration
Controls Engineer
After graduating from Georgia Tech, I started working at Multi-Dimensional Integration as a controls engineer. My first role was to work on a contract in San Diego at an Amazon Fulfillment center. There, I worked with the team on site to commission conveyor and controls equipment throughout the facility. This included troubleshooting electrical systems, problem solving through issues in the PLC code of various systems, and working closely with electricians to ensure that equipment was installed according to the correct drawings.
I am currently working on a contract at a new vaccine plant in Durham, NC. In this role I work with a team to validate OEM PLC pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment to the specifications and needs of the business. This includes authoring and revising technical documents associated with the equipment, performing testing, implementing changes to PLC’s and HMI’s using the correct change procedures, and frequently communicating with other teams to determine how to best make systems perform to fit their needs.
Pratt & Whitney – Middletown, CT
Manufacturing Engineering Intern
My first work experience was with Pratt & Whitney as a manufacturing engineering intern, working at their facility in Middletown, Connecticut. I specifically worked in the Compression Systems Module Center, working mostly with commercial integrally bladed rotors.
My daily responsibilities largely consisted of performing root cause and corrective action analysis on individual parts that had been flagged for quality issues. I investigated work instructions, inspection data, and the parts themselves, as well as communicated with operators, inspectors, and engineers to determine the cause behind defects caught at the various production checkpoints.
One of the main projects I worked on involved collaborating with another employee with the goal of bringing a new machine into use to automate a surface finish inspection process that at the time was being done via an inspector manually taking and recording up to several hundred individual values. I helped write the new work instructions for using the machine, but we eventually ran into the issue when we realized that the format of data output from the machine was extremely inconvenient and impossible to automatically transfer to the network. I was able to find a solution to this by creating a series of official forms and Excel macros that were able to automatically transfer the necessary data from the inconvenient machine output to the required format used by the company. This enabled data to be transferred extremely quickly, removed potential issues of human data entry error, and ensured the possibility of the automated machine being implemented.
I also spent time working on blue light inspections for a specific part, aiding in pre and post processing of gathering imaging data to be used to improve the manufacturing processes associated with the part.
Underwriters Laboratories – Atlanta, GA
Mechanical Engineering Intern
My second formal work experience was working with UL in their Research Teardown Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia. This business unit was specifically focused on working with Home Depot to analyze various private brand products with the goal of finding the root cause behind why various products are often returned by customers.
I was the intern assigned to lead analysis efforts for products in the flooring, kitchen, bathroom, and storage departments. Every week, I communicated with and wrote reports for the Home Depot quality engineers concerned with the products that I had worked through. Over the course of the summer, I developed a cohesive format to present information including measurements, images, problem descriptions, and recommended solutions. At the request of the Home Depot engineer I most frequently reported to, I also standardized my reporting format and wrote a communication guide to enable a more smooth transition to the intern after me and other interns in the future.
The largest project I undertook over the course of the summer was to reoptimize the flooring inspection area to be better suited for fitting in with the lab’s workflow. Using 5S principles, I cut down on unnecessary inventory, organized and labeled drawers, introduced an additional bench for analyzing visual defects, and designated specific areas to store material before, during, and after analysis.
At the end of the summer, I earned the “Intern of the Quarter” award for my efforts and hard work.
Conor Snyder 