Intern of the Week: Kene Modilim for Engineering Mgmt.!

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 19:44:17 -0400
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Name: Kene Modilim

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Cummins Inc.

Position Title: Supplier Quality & Improvement Engineer

Major(s)/Minor(s):Engineering Management

Work Term: Fall 2018

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

From a top level view, I support the components business strategy, evaluating supplier product quality & capability via production part approval processes (PPAP) and advanced product quality planning.

As part of the job description, part designs/process redesigns are reviewed to ensure conformance to specifications and ensure process capabilities for a reduced chance of product defects. I review plant manufacturing non-conformances via a manufacturing review board (MRB) while driving suppliers (using data analytics) to enact improvements and controls to processes, ensuring that business targets such as defects per million (dpmo), OEE, throughput etc. are reduced and/ optimized. In my spare time, I provide facility tours, educating middle school NSBE students on our operations as part of the NSBE initiative.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

NSBE Conference 2018. I joined the UMBC chapter of the organization for the conference in Pittsburg, PA. I had an interview with the company at the conference and was extended an offer a couple months after.

The process lead time between the first interview and offer extension was roughly 4 months as I had other obligations via a co-op with Johnson & Johnson. Constant communication with my recruiter was pivotal during this time.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?

I enjoyed the culture, relationships, cross functionality and flexibility while at Cummins. I supported unique roles which affected process and product quality and worked on developing KPIs to evaluate improvements.

In terms of culture, it was great, a good mix of work and fun. Outside my base business, I engaged in the EEEC (every employee every community) initiative for communities in Charleston, SC as an outreach program.

More importantly, I got offered a full time role so I guess I really enjoyed it.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I worked on several projects geared at cost reduction, supply chain improvement and defect reduction. These projects were in line with our strategy for 2018 and adopted the six sigma approach to quality, minimizing process variation and improved line uptime. I also developed good relationships with functional leaders and plant leadership.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

Be aggressive in applications to organizations of interest. Begin with the end in mind. Understand your role of interest via research and work on learning the skills required for that role. Perhaps you are interested in a Data science role, it would behoove you to have a good grasp of DS and ML tools. In addition, apply to as many positions and tailor your resume to each position you applied for.

Lastly, follow up with people especially after discussions. This helps keep you in the conversation.