Internships are great opportunities for learning about industries you have never experienced and discovering new fields. This was the case for Fori intern Nick McHugh. Nick, an electrical engineering student at Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan joined the Fori team in early July. We spoke with him to learn more about his experience over the last few months, working at Fori and his plans for the remainder of the summer.
Q: How did you come across the internship here at Fori?
I applied to a bunch of internships. At my school they have a career fair every year and I applied to some internships through the career fair. I wasn’t hearing back from some of the places I applied, so, I started working my normal summer landscaping job. Then my dad told me someone from Fori reached out to him about Fori’s internship program. I’m really interested in circuits and circuit design and my dad suggested I check out other industries and places to see what other fields I might like. After that, I came in for an interview, did all that stuff. I wasn’t familiar with the work Fori does, but I was interested.
Q: So, that’s what you were doing with this internship learning about different industries?
Yea, I think it’s a good idea to try and figure out if circuit design is or isn’t what I want to do. I think that’s a good point of internships to learn if you like something or if you dislike it.
I totally agree. So, let’s get back to your experience at Fori.
Q: What types of projects did you work on while you were here?
I mainly worked on the AGVs for the Ford batteries. We worked with the Fori Flex Floor AGVs. We commissioned them. Me and Kerolless (the other Fori summer intern) also got a chance to wire some of the AGVs, after the commissioning work slowed down.
Kerolless explained to me what commissioning involves but can you explain the process?
Yea sure thing, the electrical and building departments build and wire the entire AGV. In the controls department we basically get the AGV without any software. We then have to add all the software to the AGV, configure the IP addresses and finally make sure everything is connecting and talking to each other. While we’re going through all these processes, we troubleshoot any errors we might find. It could be a miswiring or a control panel made by a supplier having issues, that sort of thing. You can’t notice the errors until the AGV is on and saying, “Oh there’s an issue here.” We did a little bit a work with the electricians as well, learning how to wire the AGVs. The electricians are responsible for wiring the AGV, building some smaller scale components and creating some smaller wires for the AGV.
Q: If you could do the internship over what would you change? Is there something you wanted to learn more about?
I would be interested in learning more about the engineering process from start to finish. Spending more time with each of the departments. Like, more time with the electricians, controls, blueprints and understanding the full process. If there was an issue with the AGV we were able to look at the blueprints and troubleshoot the issue, but it would have been fun to sit with some of the engineers and learn more about the design and build process. When I first got here there was also some line testing going on in the shop, it would have been nice to explore a little and learn more about that.
Q: Did you receive training and support during your internship?
I was given resources and I had a mentor for the first week or two. I could also ask all the other controls engineers or people working in the controls department for help or if I had questions. I was given a tour of the shop and shown the AGVs and the components. We talked about how it works and then we installed some software on the AGV together, then I was added to the team so I could start working.
Q: Did the work match your expectations of the internship?
I didn’t know what to expect, so I really didn’t come in thinking anything one way or another. I don’t know if what I did here will translate to my coursework, I’m heading into my fourth year at Michigan Tech and I’ve taken various electrical engineering courses and we have to complete a senior design project. Overall, the internship was a really good experience because it will allow me to build on the knowledge that I have gained from the last three years of college. In school, its theory based, we’re not doing much hands-on work, yet at least. I’m assuming when I get to more upper-level courses, I’ll start doing more practical stuff. Even just reading the blueprints during the internship was helpful because I get to see something that’s real and has a purpose. It’s not like coursework where they say, "Let’s throw as many wires and issues as we can to solve the problem."
Q: How would you describe the company culture here at Fori?
With working in controls everyone was very friendly. I liked the entire group of people. Knowledge wise there was not a lot of hand holding, we figured things out and then people were available as a resource.
So, what’s next for you, any exciting plans?
Right now, I’m really looking forward to my study abroad trip. I’m participating in a cultural program where I am going to Japan for two weeks. As far as engineering I still don’t know exactly what I want to do maybe I’ll want to do something completely different. Overall, I had a great time at the internship, I enjoyed it.
Fori provides internship opportunities for students interested in automation manufacturing. We offer internships in various departments and help students gain hands-on experience. If you want to learn more about our internship or apprenticeship programs, contact employment@foriauto.com
The summer season is coming to a close and with it the end of summer break. Soon we will be saying farewell to our interns as they head back to school. Kerolless Nasseef joined the Fori team on June, 7 as an engineering intern. He is a current senior at Wayne State University in Detroit, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. We sat down with him to learn more about his experience working at Fori and his future career plans.
Hey Kerollees, thanks for taking some time to meet. Let’s start at the beginning.
Q: What motivated you to apply to the internship position with Fori?
Well, a lot of my colleagues in school recommended applying to an internship. I wasn’t sure of the specific field that I wanted, I was looking for controls and embedded systems with programming, those were kind of my interests. I applied to a couple internships and Fori responded right away. It’s close to my house so that helps too.
Q: Did you receive training and support during your internship?
When I started everything was well documented, as far as the processes for doing the job. A lot of it was learning the processes from the information provided and troubleshooting the systems. It was good because it forces you to understand things in a deeper way. And if I needed help with something I was able to ask one of the supervisors that are around to help us out.
Q: Can you explain what you did during your internship?
I was working on the AGVs, the smaller AGVs. Our role was to commission them. There are steps to configure the (AGV) networking to the software and the hardware configuration and then tuning the drives using separate software. There are a couple different software systems that we learned to use, to configure the scanners and magnetic sensors, since they are magnetic guided carts. Then we would take them on the track and test them. For example, we would run them for an hour make sure everything was working correctly then we would add heavy weight. I was surprised those small AGV carts can carry like a ton and a half. Once the weights were added using a crane, we run the carts for 20 hours to make sure everything works. I also got some exposure to the VMS (Vehicle Management System) which is the systems or the brains behind the AGV. I got a lot of exposure to the networking aspect of the system, which is how each piece of the system communicates with another. We also worked with WABs, which are the wireless access points. We would commission those as well. So, those are set up around the AGVs to communicate with all of them. We were given a router and we had to connect those systems to the power and ethernet cable, then connect those to a computer, then follow steps to configure the networking part of it. From there we had to set the specific IP address which allows the AGVs to communicate with the VMS. Through the VMS you can control the AGVs. We would upload ACE tables and those ACE tables are what gives the AGV commands based off a track. The track is designed then given an ACE table that can follow the magnetic sensor and then uploaded to the VMS and the VMS communicates that info to the AGVs. I got to work with a Fori employee and design a track and help create an ACE table which was cool.
Thanks for explaining that so clearly, it sounds like you learned a ton. Let’s change gears and talk about the culture within Fori.
Q:How would you describe our company culture?
I was surprised because I didn’t know what to expect. I thought I was going to be working in a much more managed environment and everyone I worked with was easy to get along with. They explained the processes and let you know what you needed to do to get the work done but no one is breathing down your neck about anything. There was a lot of hands-on experience, and I learned a lot. It was good to see what opportunities there are in this field. It helps too, to know what I should be working toward as far as what software types and what background and experience companies want.
Q:If you went through the internship process with Fori again is there anything you would change or like to learn more about?
I would like more experience with the VMS system, it seemed interesting and there weren’t a lot of opportunities to get involved with it. I think understanding the full system would have benefited me especially now after working on the AGVs in detail and the communication part of it.
Q: Do you think what you did here during your internship will translate to your coursework?
I do think what I learned will help with future coursework. I had to look at prints for the entire AGV, and you know in school you get all this work, but you don’t get to apply it to real world experience. So, seeing it in person helps with making the connection to the schoolwork. Getting exposed to the automation industry was really interesting to me. Some of the courses I have taken have been basic assembly code and I don’t think many companies program in that low level language, so it was nice to learn about the systems that are actually being used. In school they don’t really tell us what is being used in the industry, so it was good to learn. I’m interested in computer science, and it was great because the internship with Fori offered me some interaction with the CL programming language using the Siemens PLCs on the AGV systems. For controls engineers I learned I should know some programming too so that was good. I feel like programming is something that is really intriguing. I’m still trying to figure out what specific field I want to go into, but Fori gave me great exposure to what I can do with my skillset and degree in the future.
Fori provides internship opportunities for students to work in various departments and gain experience in all aspects of automation manufacturing. If you’re interested in our internship opportunities, contact employment@foriauto.com
For this post we are travelling across the globe to our China location. Fori China supplied 10 end of line testing systems for an automobile group, with an annual output of roughly 1.5 million passenger vehicles.
These systems allow the customer to complete 30 to 45 jobs per hour creating a more efficient process and workload for their teams. For this customer we increased their production rate, accommodated future production increases and created a flexible end of line equipment process for multiple wheelbases. The systems Fori China supplied are adaptable for testing fuel vehicles and electric vehicles and for testing of automatic driving function modules.
Fori Automation remains a global leader in the manufacturing of wheel alignment, headlamp aiming technology and ADAS calibration systems. Interested in how we can help with your next project? Drop us a line.
