“I wanted a place I knew would put me in a position where I could hit the ground running when I graduated due to the skills I had learned,” said Jon, Electrical Engineering Intern.
This past summer, we had eight students start full time for summer internships. Stepping into roles in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, shipping and receiving, operations and assembly, our intern team helped us ship work in one of the busiest summers to date.
Improving System Communications with Electrical Engineering
“I am interested in the programming/logic side of electrical engineering and I found out that C³ used electrical engineers to create the logic for the manufacturing machines and coding for the user interfaces, which caught my attention,” said Luke, Electrical Engineering Intern.
Within the first few weeks of the electrical engineering interns’ start, they met with our CEO and lead engineers. They were assigned a project corresponding with a large scale system design with one of our clients. Throughout the summer, the two interns worked together to lead the HMI design and background communications for the full-production system involving 12 separate PLCs. At the end of the season, they presented their progress to our teams and we’re incorporating their work into the system today.
We talked with Jon at the beginning and end of summer to see how his internship played out. Did it live up to expectations? Jon shares his opinion:
Mechanical Engineering Interns Master Drafting Skills
“(Working with a Mechanical Engineer), he showed me a whole bunch of tricks in Solidworks that I never knew existed. He helped me learn to take all things into consideration when designing parts, and he’s great to talk sports with!” said Scott, Mechanical Engineering Intern.
Our mechanical intern team worked on projects based on the three phases of design: concepting, detailing, and floor support. In concepting, interns worked on projects related to new product or machine developments and explored areas we don’t have today. In detailing, interns designed and released complex manufacturing machine parts. As floor support, interns got their hands dirty helping with assembly, machine start-ups, and continuous improvement projects.
Nick returned to C³ this summer as a Mechanical Engineering Intern. His experience is unique as he started working first in assembly for a few summers and now in his direct field of study. Hear how his experience has transformed summer to summer:
Mini Sessions Encourage Collaboration
In the second half of the summer, interns met once a week with a department leader from operations, sales, marketing, shipping and receiving, engineering, and human resources. They learned about how the department functions and what they’re responsible for, as well as how engineers are connected to their work. Jon summarizes his experience in the sessions, “(We learned) as engineers, how we can help them and they can help us, in addition to providing background of their work scope.”
Providing these mini-sessions was a great way to introduce interns to other parts of the business that makes C³ run. We highly value teamwork, not only within our departments but also among departments. We recognize that we all need to work together as a team to produce great work. Mini-sessions were a relaxed, fun way to have this conversation.
Adopting the C³ Culture
“I never expected a CEO to have as much interaction with interns. That speaks volumes that he’s willing and able to speak individually with everyone in the company and no one is too big for another,” said Jon.
For many of our interns, this position is the first time they are working in their field. There’s a lot more that comes with that responsibility than just the project you’ll work on – you also experience what it’s like to mold into a workplace culture, manage your day to day schedule and live in a new city.
A unique part of our culture is explained perfectly by Jon in that “no one is too big for another.” This concept stems from our leadership to our intern team. As Grant, a Mechanical Engineer, explains, “Everybody comes together as a team. When we’re trying to solve a problem, no one points fingers. We all just strive to produce the best equipment out there.”
We also like to have fun at the end of a workday. Here are a few things our intern team enjoyed in our community when they were off the clock:
- Visit our state park, High Cliff, free with Student ID
- Attended networking events with C³ staff
- Used public running trails and basketball courts
- Played on local soccer and volleyball leagues
- Went to Mile of Music in Downtown Appleton
- Played softball on our C³ Bun Squeezers team
We hope all our summer interns are off to great starts back at school!
Want to #RollWithC3 next summer? Check out who we’re looking for and apply soon!