Lynzie's Job Continued

Things at my job are very busy these days. I’ve started to take on a lot of projects and the amount of things I am responsible for in a day can sometimes be overwhelming. I have finally had some of my molds come into our facility and it is exciting to get to witness them running.

Most of our projects are built in China, and then shipped over to either our facility here, in Erie, or to our facility in Mexico. Bringing a project over here is a little easier, in my opinion, since I can physically see the tool run and have information relayed to me as it’s happening. The difficulty with molds that are sent to our Mexican facility is that I do not get to see things as they run, and the fact that there is a 3 hour time difference. It doesn’t seem like much, but sometimes things won’t get shipped to their facility until late morning which can mean I do not hear anything until later afternoon. I think that some people don’t realize how tricky it can be to manage something that you can’t see. There are undeniable benefits that come from being on site to watch a mold run or to see what problems have occurred. So when working long-distance on a project it is really crucial to pay attention to what is happening and what will be needed. Even simple requests could take 3x as long. For example, I could ask for samples of a part that was run on Monday, but if they don’t run it until Monday afternoon and can’t ship it until the Tuesday morning, I may not see the part until that Thursday or Friday. Things like are usually the most important to pay attention since they can eat up a lot of unaccounted for time. I think realizing that earlier may have helped out.

Lynzie's Job

I have been at my new job for a little over 2 months now. I am relieved to say that I am finally getting the hang of things. When I first started here I was asked to step in on projects right away, which seemed like a pretty daunting task.

There are two project engineers here, myself and John Kraynik. We are responsible for all new projects. The first thing we do when launching a project, is to evaluate the customer’s requirements and any quotes we have received from our material suppliers and tool shops. Once we have determined the feasibility of a project we establish a timeline and get the tool shops started on our projects. There is still work to be done here even though we are not the ones actually constructing the mold. We have to prepare for the mold to come back to our plant, setup the materials that will be needed, keep the customer informed of the progress on their mold, and any other details that are crucial to this mold running in our facility.

The workload may be very intimidating, but I believe my decision to come here will only make me a better engineer.

Lynzie's Job Change

So after a year and a half at my first job at Pittsburgh Plastics, I have decided to change things up. I was recently hired at a company called Accudyn, in Erie. Oddly enough, this is also where fellow blogger John Kraynik works. I will have the same type of position. I will still be managing projects at Accudyn.

The thing that excites me the most about this new job (besides how much closer to home I am), is that it’s a complete 180° from the job I currently hold. Yes, the actual position is the same, but the materials and molding techniques used at the two companies are completely different. Pittsburgh Plastics is a company that prides itself on cushioning and very low durometer materials. Accudyn works with a lot more engineered resins and metal to plastic conversions. PPM doesn’t injection mold that often. The majority of materials here are cast. This is a really efficient way to create products with 2-part polyurethane. Accudyn’s focus on injection molding is much more than PPM’s will ever be.

When I heard about this job, it was through some people that figured I might have the right qualifications for the position. I was hesitant to interview, or even apply, because things were going very well for me at PPM, but after hearing really good things about Accudyn, I decided to interview. Obviously things went pretty well and I will be starting my new job there on March 15th. I am looking forward to taking this drastic turn in my career and I hope in the end, I am a better-rounded Plastics Engineer.