All the engineers doing internship in an industry must have gone through this. You have to do an internship in a manufacturing industry because your institute has this requirement for your course or you are interested in doing the internship. Whatsoever the reason may be for being in an internship there are somethings you should not forget about. This is an opportunity for you to get a real life job experience before you even start the one. More than that this is an unique opportunity for you to learn. And also a challenge. Before we get on to what you should be doing there let's discuss what many of us may experience in our internship.
My first say in an industrial internship
Conditions are very harsh
Of course industrial conditions are very harsh. You may feel a hot , humid ,noisy environment. Also you may be upset to see the hectic work schedules of all other workers, supervisors , managers etc. But stay calm and positive. You are going to adjust to this and above all learn a lot in your internship. Remember this is where role of we engineers and scientist come into picture. We are making continuous efforts to cop up with these situations and making conditions little less harsh for people working there.
You are given a project you do not even have slightest idea about
You go to the internship and may be thrown with a project you do not even have a slightest idea about. But understanding things one by one will of course make this thing easier. The one main of project is to give to help you learn during your intership as well as well as coming up with some good suggestion and solution for some problem or may be a fantastic observation. Thus this is both way. You learn something from the organisation and you are giving some more insight to organisation about ongoing processes.
You may feel demotivated
You may be thinking that nothing is being implemented from the theory you learnt
You may or you may not feel motivated. But remember once you go through the internship and do a good work you will feel a great. This will be a good experience for you as well as will be a plus point in your resume. Remember this is where you can showcase your ability and add a good point in your resume. One thing for here to motivate you should be that by running this plant, they are making a huge profit. Now why should not you use this opportunity to learn that.
There are practical natural limitation to implement something. But you will still find that everything here is based on some theory. Then we build on it. We face practical problems and optimise it to remain at a good efficiency level.
No body is helping in internship
You may feel no one is helping you understand what process is going in the industry.
Actually they have their regular routine and can not find time out of it. So you learn as you see. Of course if you ask some specific question they will be happy helping you.
Actually they have their regular routine and can not find time out of it. So you learn as you see. Of course if you ask some specific question they will be happy helping you.
How to learn in an internship
Okay..Now, it is usual in the internship no one holds your hand for long and explain you each and everything. So there has to be some way out of it.And yes there is.See, supervisors and managers in an industry don't explain until you yourself show some interest and go some extra mile by yourself.
Thus in a nutshell, you have to observe each machine on your own. Ask machine operators and supervisors there, what things are going on, specifics of each machine and process. It would be nice if you could track a complete production of a product. Make a note of the machine and you should study on yourself separately about that machine. Now if you ask some very specific question to your managersor mentors they will be happy answering the question.
Thus in a nutshell, you have to observe each machine on your own. Ask machine operators and supervisors there, what things are going on, specifics of each machine and process. It would be nice if you could track a complete production of a product. Make a note of the machine and you should study on yourself separately about that machine. Now if you ask some very specific question to your managersor mentors they will be happy answering the question.
How to carry my project
You must be given some project in your internship. And it many times happen that even objective of the project is not even clear to you. All you have to do is keep observing and thinking about the project.
Next, industry does not guarantee you a research environment . So to study a pattern or something you cannot make changes in the machines and have much samples to observe.
They do not have time to produce that many samples and sometimes simply they don't have facilities to make those samples. So what you have to do is to keep a note of all variabilities you can find in ongoing production. Just based on your observations which will be very few you cannot observe a pattern. Then what. You have to take a theoretical bias. This means many times there are already some studies which tells about that process. So all you have to do it , assume that to be true. Make a best guess. See if there is already some sample for that or is it possible to test that.
Many times you mightt feel low but don't loose motivation.The success rate of the projects is usually less than 10%. And even if you fail to derive some conclusion , or make a move you should no what went wrong and what it is all about.
Next, industry does not guarantee you a research environment . So to study a pattern or something you cannot make changes in the machines and have much samples to observe.
They do not have time to produce that many samples and sometimes simply they don't have facilities to make those samples. So what you have to do is to keep a note of all variabilities you can find in ongoing production. Just based on your observations which will be very few you cannot observe a pattern. Then what. You have to take a theoretical bias. This means many times there are already some studies which tells about that process. So all you have to do it , assume that to be true. Make a best guess. See if there is already some sample for that or is it possible to test that.
Many times you mightt feel low but don't loose motivation.The success rate of the projects is usually less than 10%. And even if you fail to derive some conclusion , or make a move you should no what went wrong and what it is all about.
How to prepare an internship report
One thing about report. Don't lie.Whatever you observed is alright and report it as such. Make graphs and charts to make clear.Make specifics of the process outlined. It will happen to you many a time that you will ideas while writing report. You will come to what happened and why.
Dont't mess up on format. Define headings,sub-headings and titles. Be consistent in writing the report.
Dont't mess up on format. Define headings,sub-headings and titles. Be consistent in writing the report.