GE Appliances

Wolfram Fosu, a Chemical Engineering Student at UK , writes of his third rotation at GE Appliances in Louisville :

This rotation revealed that developing a good relation with employees on the job goes a long way to help getting things done. As a new employee I made good friends with the operators. I'd talk to them to find out what their problems were and what changes they would like to be made. In doing this I learned a whole lot about the job that even my boss could not communicate to me. I proposed many of these changes to my boss, and some where made into lean projects for the coops to work on. The operators on the line have great experience and vast knowledge on the job, and I believe it's a good resource to tap into. Making friends with the operators also made my job easier since they where willing to put in a little extra effort for my projects.

For the job at GE Appliances, critical thinking was needed to finding what I call most efficient solutions to problems. This rotation involved the use of stages to clean the parts for e-coating before they are painted and shipped off. I worked with employees on titration curves to make sure PH levels are always right for good finish on products.

During my rotation I initiated a system to keep track of scrap in the building. I ordered counters for all the press machines. Then I convinced the operators to record scrap that is generated in a day. At the end of each week I collected all the data and created graphs to show the quantity that had been scrapped and the cost involved. Such graphs help locate the root cause of scrap generation; then a solution can be implemented. Such a project took observation and good relation with operators for them to cooperate and help implement the project.

This rotation was more on the floor and came with great responsibility. Compared to my other rotation this was more challenging and really exposed me to the inner works of a supply chain. The work was in a high union environment and every decision had to conform to the rules. I had to learn the systems to enter in overtime and sometime use the overtime to motivate operators to do certain jobs.

The rotation showed me that being an engineer means you need to know how to apply general knowledge to solve problems - not necessarily what you learned from school but knowing where to go to get information necessary to solve the problem. Also it showed me that to every problem there is a solution one just has to find it.