My primary summer project was to troubleshoot, repair, test, and return an automated hopper system to service.  This piece of machinery was located on the connecting rod line, in between the cracker (a hydraulic ram that breaks the powdered metal connecting rod from it’s bearing cap) and the final machining stations.  Frequently, the final machining stations would get backed up, meaning the travel line in between these stations and the cracker would fill with connecting rods and then stop moving.  Once this occurred, the cracker would also stop, since it had nowhere to output it’s connecting rods.  The automated hopper would pick up connecting rods from the line and store them in large pallets.  This increases productivity by allowing the cracker to continue working while the machining stations were stopped.  Then the hopper could output the connecting rods back to the line once it was cleared.  The entire operation was automated and required no operator interaction.  For the previous 11 years, the hopper had been dysfunctional after operating problems in the mid 1990’s.  No one knew what was wrong with it, why it had been taken offline in the first place, or how badly it was damaged.  So, they gave it to me as a nice intern project.  I later learned that they gave me this project without any expectations of me actually finishing it.

Livonia Powertrain was having major cutbacks while I was there.  The plant was to be closed, and in anticipation nearly 60% of the workforce  had been laid off or moved to other plants over a several month period prior to my arrival.  It was a ghost town.  Despite this fact, the plant still had to produce good engines; meaning that productivity and efficiency was even more important.  The engineering department was spread dangerously thin, and everyone was working long hours to keep the plant running well.  With all of the work that had to be done, there was little time for internship mentoring.  On my first day, my mentor told me something along the lines of, “I’m going to help you as much as I can, but the hopper project will be your own.  You’ll have to do the troubleshooting yourself.  Figure out what’s wrong with the hopper, order the parts, and schedule the maintenance crews to do the work.  You’ll need to manage your time well to finish it by the end of the summer.  I’ll be giving you lots of smaller projects in the weeks to come, as well.”

One of the first things I did was dig up some information on the hopper.  I found old drawings, electrical schematics, maintenance schedules (that were woefully overdue), and operating instructions.  My mentor introduced me to Joe, an electrician who would support the project (and explain all the electrical stuff to me) for the duration of the summer.  Joe and I then tried to start up the hopper and see if it would work in manual mode.  It wouldn’t.  There were many, many blown fuses.  I sourced some new ones, let Joe replace them, and we tried again.  All the same fuses blew immediately.  So, I pulled out the electrical schematics.  Most of the fuses that were blown were protecting solenoids–some electric and some hydraulic.  Joe said we should focus on just one and see if we could get it working.  We picked an electric solenoid that was easy to access.  Joe removed it, and found that the rod the solenoid was pushing was nearly frozen in place.  The grease used to keep everything lubricated had caked up and thickened over time, making the solenoids work harder than what they were designed for.  The electric solenoids were all fried–they needed to be replaced.  The hydraulic solenoids were still good, but would need to be resealed–they were leaking fluid all over the floor.  I scheduled maintenance to come down and remove the old grease and apply nice new grease.  A guy in coveralls came down and spent hours scraping off the old gunk.  I felt badly:  I would have loved to help him, but Unions laws said that was a big NO.  I also sourced new solenoids and seals-not an easy task considering most of them had been out of production for years.  I gave what I gathered to Joe, and he installed the new electric solenoids.  The two of us also replaced the hydraulic seals (which technically was ‘illegal’ since it was out of our job descriptions–but we didn’t want to wait and it was a simple task).

Joe and I replaced the fuses again and tried running the hopper in manual mode.  Success!  It was coming alive!  We cycled each operation several times to get the grease evenly distributed.  Everything moved as it should, but we still hadn’t tried to actually pick up any connecting rods yet.  The hopper easily had enough power to damage the conrods if something was misaligned.  Conrods are expensive.  So, I grabbed some old, bunged up conrods from my desk from another project to test on.  Sure enough, there was misalignment, and the conrods did get bunged up.  The grabber arms that descended and then clamped the conrods were off by nearly 1/8″… which is a lot.  I consulted some of the drawings and found one of the problems.  The arms were supposed to have little brass locating pads.  Brass wouldn’t scrape the steel.  These pads also located on the big hole of the conrod.  Every one of these pads had been removed from the hopper.  We never found out why.  I assume they were scavenged for some other project.  I found the original drawings and took them to the machine shop.  They had the right material in stock and made 18 shiny new brass pads.

With the pads installed, we tried again in manual mode, and with success.  The hopper was now able to grab the conrods off the line, put them into a pallet, and then move the pallet out and bring in a new one when it was full.  It also worked in reverse.  But we were still yet to try it in automatic mode.  When Joe switched it into full-auto, I had one hand on the ‘emergency stop’ and the other with my fingers crossed.  I had to mash the emergency stop.  The grabber arms started coming down with the line still moving the conrods, which means major interference and potential damage to the connecting rods – or worse, the line.  Joe and I sat and talked it over, reviewing old drawings and schematics.  He proposed that many of the sensors that detect the presence of the conrods were either damaged or disconnected.  He was right.  Many of the sensors were entirely missing, presumably scavenged for other projects.  Some other sensors were visibly damaged, and still others proved broken with Joe’s multimeter.  I grabbed all the part numbers and started tracking down replacements.

Once all the new sensors were  installed, we tried the hopper in automatic mode again.  My hand hovered near the emergency stop for more than half an hour, but it was unfounded.  It was working!  I continued observations for the next several days, operating the hopper only when I was present.  There were no faults or issues.  So, with guidance from my mentor, the hopper was allowed to run unsupervised.  It performed well.  The operator for that part of the conrod line kept an eye on it.

The final step of the project was recording everything I had done.  I did a nice technical write-up.  I documented everything.  I also made sure to get the hopper into the routine maintenance schedules – now the grease would be changed out every 6 months.

The hopper project was complete, and my bosses couldn’t be more impressed.  I was told right then that I would have a job waiting for me at GM when I graduated.  I did numerous other projects over that first summer, including designing a tool adapter hub, troubleshooting and resolving conrod defects, and doing trend studies on conrod dimensions (tolerance acceptability).  During this time, I was always treated as an engineer, and not some mindless kid that can only do spreadsheets.

The amount of passion at GM was impressive.  All the engineers worked hard throughout the day.  They worked long hours to get problems resolved and to keep the plant running.  They all loved GM and wanted to do everything they could to keep it going.  I had never seen anything like it at previous internships or  jobs.  This passion passed into me, and I really put forth all the effort I had into my summer internship.  I started to love GM.  I loved the work, the passion, the community, and the cars.  I wanted to buy an American car because it was made with this passion and devotion to keeping the company alive.  I was tired of all the misnomers that GM cars sucked and Japanese cars were best.  It’s not true anymore.  American cars are exceeding their competitors in nearly every category, including price.  But I’m not going to get into a discussion about consumer opinions, the media, and decisions based on old data.  Read “Why GM Matters” and you’ll learn the truth.  It’s an outstanding book.

In the summer of 2008, I again worked for GM.  I requested to work on the design side, so I could experience both realms of engineering – manufacturing and design.  GM honored my request and placed me in the Advanced Safety Development Department in Warren, Michigan.  My primary summer project would be to support the design and testing of an active head restraint – essentially a head rest that deployed forward to ‘catch’ your head in the event of a rear-end accident to prevent whiplash.  I was quickly swept into the project and began attending meetings with the supplier.  My primary function would be to schedule and run crash tests with the head restraints.  I would schedule the crash tests, and routinely go to Milford Proving Grounds to help with the set-up of the instruments, the crash-test dummy, high speed cameras, and the seat and head restraint.  Although we weren’t crashing the whole car – just a sled with a seat attached to it – the tests were still incredibly fun to watch.  The GM personnel of course took the time to explain the process to me and show how the giant hydraulic ram that propelled the sled worked.

Once I got the data from the tests, I was able to start analysis.  I used the video footage to determine displacement and duration.  Coupled with acceleration data from the various sensors on the dummy and in the head restraint, I was able to calculate the moments, forces, and accelerations present.  I made a nice presentation with all my findings and then presented it at a meeting with our suppliers.  I was nervous, but it was unfounded.  I presented well, fielded every question with confidence, and had the respect of everyone in the room.  I showed comparisons of neck moments with and without the head restraint, and proved that the presence of the head restraint drastically reduces whiplash.   I also was able to find the exact point where certain head restraints failed, and showed why and how they failed.  Lastly, I calculated how quickly the head restraint would need to deploy to be effective.  I also determined the necessary spring rate to make this time, which was challenging considering the external forces present due to the accident itself.

I was also involved with the analysis of other crash tests, competitor comparisons, and upcoming vehicle launch safety ratings.  By the end of the summer, I had completed all of my projects.  My bosses were impressed, and like the previous summer, said that GM would have a job waiting for me upon graduation.

Over the second summer, GM again impressed me.  I was given great responsibility throughout the summer – more than most any other internship.  Further, I was astounded by the amount of work that was being put into the design of these cars.  Everyone was working long, hard hours to get everything perfect.  Nothing was half-ass like in the past.  Everyone had the passion to help GM succeed.  Why was everyone hating on GM so much?

When I graduated from Ohio State University in December 2008 (The height of the recession), GM was unable to hire me, or anyone.  They were in the midst of deep financial crisis.  I hold nothing against GM, and truly hope that they succeed.  The company carries more passion in what it does than any other company I’m familiar with.  While GM has faulted in the past, their current products, service, and community is above the rest.  I only hope that the average American will overcome the prejudice against American cars and start buying GM before it’s too late.