th

February29
,2016:10:00AM3:00PM

ThefirstDayShadowingatTwinCityDiewithDelwasaveryinsightfuldayinwhichtheygave
meabasictourofthebuildings.Thecompanyismadeupoftwolargeshopsjoinedtogether.Inthefirst
partoftheshop,theyshowedmewastheplacewheretheypouredmoltenaluminumintothealuminum
caststhataredevelopedformultipleusessuchaspartsforsemistoairconditioners.Inthesecondpartof
thebuilding,theytakethemoldedcastsandcleanthemandmachinetherestofthedesignthatisneeded
forthepart.
WhenIfirstenteredthefrontdoorofthebuilding,itwasveryneatandcleanwithcertificates
theyhadonthewall.OnceIenteredthefirstbuilding,Ifeltmylungsfillwithdampmetallicairthatwas
comingfromtheroom.Itisaverydirtyjob.Theemployeeswerecoveredingreaseandgrime.Iwouldnt
likeworkinginthisbuildingbecausetheworkenvironmentistoocompactandhumidformytaste.

st
March1
,2016:6:00AM12:00PM

Theseconddayofshadowing,Delshowedmethebasicsofhisjob.Thisdayconsistedmostlyof
followinghimaround.Hewasthesupervisor,sohewouldsetuptheCCMmachinesfortheemployeesto
startputtingpartsthrough.Healsowasaqualityinspector,soifamachinechippedaparttheemployee
wouldbringittohimtoinspectitandseeifitwasstillacceptableforuse.At10AM,hehadameeting
withtheothersupervisorstoreviewsomepartsthatweredeterminedfaultyinwhichtheyhadtosearch
throughthemallanddecide.Wealsowentthroughtheshippingdepartmentthatshowedmethe
packagingthatarerequiredforthedifferentparts.
Theseconddaywasmoreenjoyable.ProgrammingtheCCMmachinetookupmostofour
morning.Whiletheprogrammingconfigurationswouldhavetakenmeweekstorememberallofthem,I
didgainknowledgethatallthemachinesareprogrammedusingXandYaxisandmultiplesmall
equations.Thispartseemedconfusingandverytimeconsuming,soitwasntthebestpartofshadowing
butitwasstillquiteinteresting.Whenwewenttothemeetingat10,therewere5supervisorsthereto
inspectandlookthroughtheparts.Aftertalking,thesupervisorsprovidedaplan,andwewentbackto
work.Theypackagingandshippingareaseemedveryneatandwellkept.Thisplaceseesmostofits
actionthroughoutthemorning,itwasprettyslowintheafternoon.AsIcontinuedtotourthisplace,the
uniqueprocessestheyusestartedtobecomemorefamiliartome.

nd
March2
,2016:6:00AM12:00PM

Onthethirdday,DelhadaMeetingfrom9AMto11AMinwhichtheydiscussedrevisionsfor
somepartsthatthecompanywantstomake.Icouldnotparticipateinthismeeting,soDelplacedmewith
amachinetechniciannamedNathan.Natesjobwastofixmachinesandprogramthemwhentheywere
beingproblematicorneededtobechangedsoitcouldrunadifferentpart.Inthistwohourperiod,I
watchedhimreprogramingamachine.Attheendofmytimewithhim,hewasstillprogrammingit.Del
thencameandgotmeafterhismeetingwasover.WethenwalkedoverandIwatchedhimrearrange
palletsofpartswiththeforklifttogetreadyforshipping.Afterthis,wetookpartstotheCCMmachine
andcheckedtomakesuretheyareproducingtotherightrequirements.
WhenIarrivedonthethirdday,westartedsortingpartsandpackagingthefinishedmachined
partstogototheshippingdepartment.Afterwefinishedthistask,Delhadameeting,inwhichheplaced
mewithNate.WhenIwaswithNate,westartedworkingonamachineintheassemblylinethathadtobe

programmedtofitadifferentpartthatwasinuse.Thispartwasasealforanairconditioningunit.The
companythatrequestedthispartkeepsthepartsmainpurposeasecretfromthefactoryfloortolimitother
companiestryingtoreproduceit.AfterDelgotbackfromhismeeting,wewenttocheckpartstoconfirm
thediameterforanemployee.MytimewithNatewasinterestingtomebecauseofhisknowledgeofthe
machines.Mostofwhatheexplainedwasprogramminginwhichheshowedmeandexplaineditthebest
hecould.Attheendoftheday,itwouldseemmoreamusingtoworkasatechnicianratherthana
supervisor,exceptthepaydifference.

th
March4
,2016:8:00AM11:00AM

Onmyfinalday,hewalkedmethroughthecastingprocessmorecarefullyandletmegetclose
enoughtotakepicturesoftheprocessfrom2,000poundaluminumingotstomachinedparts.Theingots
wereplacedinalarge20ft.radiusheatedoveninwhichitmelts.Thensmallerroboticarmswithbowls
ontheendaredippedintothemoltenmetalandplaceitinapress.Thepresswouldcompressthemetal
intotheshapeofthepartthattheyareproducingwiththatmachine.Afterheexplainedtheprocesstome,
wewentandhelpedanemployeewhosemachinewasdrillingholesinthewrongplace.Hewentthrough
itsprogramandfoundoneofthemeasurementswereoffsothenhefixedit.Thistookahourandahalfto
fixthat.
Myfinaldaywasprobablythemostfunbecauseheletmegoaroundtotakepicturesofthe
processfromstarttofinish.Wespentagoodchunkofthemorningtalkingaboutthewholeprocessand
tryingtoexplainit.Afterthatwewentandhelpedtheemployeewhosemachinewasmalfunctioning.It
seemedacoordinategotbumpedormiswritten.Wewentandfixedtheissue.Aftershadowingatthisjob,
IlearnedalotaboutthealuminumcastingprocessbutIdontthinkitissomethingIwouldliketodolong
term.