GMi Companies

Summer Manufacturing Engineering Co-Op

May - August 2024 • Lebanon, OH

What I liked

During my time in the Manufacturing Engineering Department at GMi companies, I undertook diverse responsibilities including the revision and creation of technical drawings for both current and new products, development of fixtures and processes to enhance production efficiency, quoting for specialized products, and editing of bill of materials. Working with industry-standard software like Microsoft NAV and SolidWorks significantly helped my proficiency and operational understanding of these tools in a professional setting. The supportive work environment was another highlight, characterized by collaborative and knowledgeable colleagues who offered great training and valuable guidance. Additionally, the opportunity to gain hands-on experience on the plant floor, shadowing various production areas and receiving training on equipment, provided amazing insights into the manufacturing processes and enriched my project management capabilities. The organization also fostered a culture of innovation and personal development, encouraging me to initiate and manage independent projects and pursue new skills with full support and resources.

What I wish was different

During my rotation, much of my focus was on utilizing Microsoft NAV and SolidWorks, which certainly refined my proficiency with these platforms. However, I yearned for more hands-on projects that would further deepen my practical experience. Additionally, I noticed a relatively light workload for Co-Ops; upon completing assignments ahead of schedule, I sometimes faced downtime until new projects became available. I recognize that many tasks in the Manufacturing Department require extensive training, which is challenging for Co-Ops to fully grasp within a short timeframe. Despite these challenges, the projects I did participate in were intricately involved, stimulating, and significantly contributed to my understanding of engineering and manufacturing processes.

Advice

When you're working on projects or making changes to company programs, take your time and be careful. Mistakes can be hard to fix and can affect things on the plant floor. Don't get discouraged if things aren't going as smoothly or quickly as you hoped. Projects often need input from other engineers and can take time to progress. Stay open-minded, keep a positive attitude, and you'll learn a lot from your time here. Don't hesitate to ask plenty of questions along the way.

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Production operations intern

July - August 2023 • Lebanon, OH

What I liked

The work environment and the safety measures taken. I also like the work environment and the high-end machineries they are using for all their process. They have a pretty cool environment where everyone is trying to help you or teach you or learn from you.

What I wish was different

They should have a production supervisor to supervise all the employees this will help them decrease the number of employees and at the same time increase efficiency. They should have a daily schedule meet for all the departments in order to complete all the given task on time and without confusion. Their inventory should be managed properly. The dead stock should be taken care of in order to avoid companies losses ( either should be reused or should be returned or scrapped)

Advice

As an intern, I would like them to give us more workload so that we can learn more things. They should have a program in which the intern will basically go and work with every department for at least 10 days and gain as much as knowledge he or she can (mainly only applicable for a Mechanical or ENM grad student)

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Product Developement Intern

January - August 2024 • Lebanon, OH

What I liked

I enjoyed the hands on learning that I got the opportunity to have at Ghent. It was very educational and interesting to sit in on meetings and participate in the engineering discussion. I got to learn that engineering is not just about producing a product but making sure it is manufacturable and creating the manufacturing process. I got to work with great engineers and help with groundbreaking projects that could change the world of collaboration. I enjoyed that the internship was not only doing CAD work but also was hands on building prototypes.

What I wish was different

I wish I had the opportunity to work in both the product development and NAV engineering side of the company. I think it is very interesting how production is set up and wish I had the opportunity to work on that side of the company. They are two very distinct skillsets both very helpful to people pursuing engineering. The product development side works with new products while the Nav side works with exist products and improves the online side of the company such as the bill of material and keeping track of existing products. Having only one side of the skillset and working so close with the Nav side made me curious what it would be like to be on the other side working with Nav and production.

Advice

I would advise anyone looking to work at Ghent to be ready to work. That is not saying that you will be doing more work than you are paid for but rather that you will be doing real work. You will be sitting in meetings with engineers and even the heads of some departments helping to give you opinion on products or solutions. You will be involved in the company and expected to participate in meetings and discussion. You will be given engineering calculations, drawings and models and expected to create them for new or current products.

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Process Engineer Intern

May - August 2023 • Lebanon, OH

What I liked

I like the freedom I am given when completing projects. I have now spent three rotations with GMI and I have learned how to take charge of many projects at once. Having the freedom to switch between projects as I saw fit allowed me to effectively make improvements in many different aspects of the company. I could be working on the 3D modeling process, or getting a new product set up for production. Whatever I decided I wanted to work on, I was able to.

What I wish was different

I wish I had been able to work on more hands-on projects. I very much enjoyed the work I was doing, but I was in the process engineering department. I worked much closer with products that have already been engineered. The focus of my work often surrounded the exact processes we use to manufacture. I got to do some testing when switching glue brands, but working in a product development environment would involve more research and physical analysis.

Advice

Don't get discouraged if you feel that your projects are moving slowly. When you are brand new to the job, it can be hard to complete projects when you lack the knowledge to effectively communicate what you want to do. Just keep working and trying to be productive. If you hit a road block, just ask question until you have a path forward. Your coworkers are often your most important resource so don't be scared to lean on them heavily when you are first starting out.

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Product Development/Solidworks Intern

January - May 2022 • Lebanon, OH

What I liked

I really love the sense of community that GMi has built around the entire company. It is quite clear that there is a great effort made by management to retain employees for a long time, from big scale things like solid communication and events for employees to the little details like occasional candy bars and celebratory theme days. Another aspect that has been extremely beneficial for me and my development has been the sense of collaboration and patience among the team I work with in product development. Being my first Co-op opportunity, I didn't have as much experience as I would have liked going in; however my team was very understanding and patient with me as I learned more and got better at my job. This extended well beyond my direct team as well; everyone I met has been kind and always has a smile and ready to help in any way possible. GMi also helped me confirm that I want to go into product development/R&D, as I was interested in not only the design and testing, but also a lot of the other processes as well. Overall, my first term at GMi Companies was very positive and a phenomenal learning experience.

What I wish was different

I wish I could have done a second term in the summer; however the timing didn't quite work out that way, which is understandable. It's still a shame because I think that more time would have allowed more growth and familiarity with the company than the more split approach. I also wish I had gotten a bit more of a look at beginning stages of big projects versus working mainly on final details and touches. However, this is again a result of timing; the big trade show GMi goes to is in the beginning of June, so typically the first part of the year is working on the new products that are going to the show. Understandably this is the main focus, so newer future projects are put off a little bit. I would still love to see that process of deciding what new products to go forward with and seeing more heavy design work however, and hopefully in my next term I get a little bit more of that experience.

Advice

GMi is a great place for anyone of any experience level to go and be successful. Even if you don't have as much experience, as long as you are willing to put in the work and effort and listen to suggestions and tips that people are giving you, you will learn a lot and have a good experience. And if you do have experience, they are more than able you use you properly and get you more advanced projects and tasks. Good advice for anywhere you go is just to go into a job/co-op/internship with a positive attitude and try to learn as much as possible. Lastly, the product development group at GMI is a fun group to be around, so once you're settled in and comfortable, don't be afraid to joke around and have some fun! Just don't let Scott and Ryan get you too off topic, it's quite easy for them to do.

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