Research And Development Engineering Intern
St. Marks Powder, General Dynamics
Crawfordville, Fl
R&D Engineering Internships-St. Marks Powder, General Dynamics (05-08/2009) (05-08/2010)Summary:My main project was to add color change capability to a label-printing procedure for propellant test samples. The goal of my project was to improve efficiency in tedious process that had to be carried out hundreds of time each week. I found that implementing color change in the current set-up was a significant drain on resources, did not address root causes of inefficiency, and was impractical with the current hardware. I instead tackled the problem by shortening label-printing procedure, automating and removing steps wherever possible. My solution shortened the time required to print a label from several minutes to two mouse clicks and is still in use at the pilot plant today. In the course of completing the project I used the following method:Approach:• Familiarized myself with the Excel notebooks used as propellant sample libraries• Consulted with technicians to see the current printing procedure, how they Excel libraries, and establish their needs in a new system• For each different label, using third-party label template software, technicians were required to read information from the spreadsheet and manually input ten different values from a single propellant sample in a library containing thousands of different entries• Main technician needs: automation and usabilityResolution:• I Integrated Visual Basic, Excel, and SATO printer languages into single-click print functionality directly from an Excel library• My function drew the exact label template used previously and automatically extracted all necessary information from the desired propellant sample• My solution eliminated safety hazards of manually inputting information in each individual label and the reliance on third-party label template software• Years later I spoke with a technician who told me they still use my code in their pilot plant