Chad Sexton Email and Phone Number

The Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) is a subsidy of the Federal Railroad Association which conducts railroad testing for companies around the world. The facility has 52 square miles of rail which is laid in specific ways to simulate different conditions a train may encounter anywhere in the world. TTCI is one of 3 facilities in the US that do what we do. We crash locos, simulate derails, force cars into hunting, test the brakes, and even simulate cross country trips all on our custom tracks. My job as an instrumentation engineer is to set up data collection systems for any of the tests I am assigned to. I have to calibrate the transducers that will be used on the test, install them on the train car, rail, or in the ground. After I have the test instrumented, I then set up the data collection system by makings sure everything has the correct voltage, gain, scale factor, and remove any offsets. After everything is set up it’s up to me to run the test efficiently and collect viable data for our customers. I’ve worked with pressure transducers, string potentiometers, accelerometers, lasers, load cells, LVDTs, and strain gauges. I received training on how to lay down both bondable and weldable strain gauges to create Whetstone bridges for different types of force circuits. We test everything including locomotives, car bodies, the trucks, wheels, springs, brakes, and even the rail itself. Because there are so many tests and we are always testing something new, my 3d modeling skills have come in very handy for creating blueprints for custom parts we may need our machine shop to create. It’s a great facility that constantly builds on top of my skill set with every new test I am assigned.

Trane manufactures industrial size HVAC units, and as an Intern at Trane I support the line in any way I can. I make sure the workers have the proper tools for the job and replace bad ones of necessary. It is also my responsibility to try and improve the overall process and way things are done to improve efficiency and quality. I help make changes on the line that may make a workers job easier, more ergonomic, cut down on TAKT time and cycle time, or allow the company to create a better product. If a work cell is short on people and I am able to help, I can jump in almost any cell and help move the HVAC unit along to the next station. I do anything, from bolting the support structure to the base frame, all the way to designing new transportation carts for a new type of suction pipe too heavy to be carried by one person. I’m here to learn about lean manufacturing and acquire new job skills.