Our student this week is Zach Menning, a mechanical engineering major who accepted a co-op at Nissan North America, Inc., located at Smyrna, Tennessee. He describes the department he worked in and what his main responsibilities were.
“I worked in Nissan’s New Model Trim & Chassis Engineering group,” said Menning. “I was tasked with organizing and managing the completion of several sub-assembly jigs and fixtures for new model vehicle parts. This entails designing the fixture, contracting the project out to vendors or the machine shop to have the fixture made, and finally having the material handling group install the fixtures into their final production locations. In addition to this, I studied the effectiveness of the completed jigs and fixtures throughout production trials and performed PDCA loops on these items to ensure they are both effective and user friendly. During the whole process, I was in contact with manufacturing managers and technicians to make sure that the items not only the Engineering department’s needs, but also the needs of the technicians that will be using them on a daily basis.”
Menning said the most valuable benefit he received during his co-op assignment was, “A greater understanding of the manufacturing engineering process. Even though I have been working in the automotive manufacturing industry, I think that the information I learned about manufacturing could be applicable in any manufacturing setting. I learned about all of the different groups that work together to see a product from its initial design stage through prototype phases all the way to final production.”