My journal of days spent at Mertek Solutions June 19-August 1.
Monday, June 16. 8:00am-5:00pm
We were ready to roll out at 6:00am so Melissa drove to my home and we commuted from there. Our ride is just over one hour each way to my home and Melissa has another 20 minutes past prior and after the pickup time. Jerry and Melanie met with us this am and then gave us instruction on persons to observe and ask questions in the process of designing and preparing a mechanism for the customer. I spent some time asking questions of a machinist (Ronnie) as he worked a set of 4 parts. He was using a manual lathe. Though I have had a table top CNC lathe in my lab, I have always been interested in the setup of a manual lathe. Jerry has been a part time instructor at the local community college and I can see why. Listening to him relate the steps of his work was phenomenal. He is a truly gifted instructor. I hope to spend more time in his area. I noticed many of the other operators asked him for advice about the work they were completing. We had the opportunity to lunch in a renovated bank in downtown Sanford. I also found this interesting since my family did this to a drugstore in Fayetteville a few years ago. After lunch, I met with the Project Manager, Mike. He walked me through a project he is working on and demonstrated several parts and projects that had been completed. Mike showed how he set up his folders for projects and demonstrated how he used Microsoft Project. Just prior to visiting with Mike I had the opportunity to meet Jeff, one of the designers. Solid works with is the design program that is most used in this facility.
Tuesday, June 17. 8:00am-4:30pm
The company meeting starts at 8:00am and was very informative. Melissa and I were introduced about midway through the meeting. I found it very interesting that Jerry had Durham Bulls tickets for someone, told the group about a quarter horse outfit nearby to take their families to for an outing and covered the cash flow with the employees. It prompted me to ask later if it was a shareholder organization or a private company. There are many members of the family working here and the atmosphere is relaxed but I am sure it can be tense at times. The meeting has a theme “Bananas for Bob” named after one of the deceased members who worked here. They eat fruit and breakfast cakes in honor of him and cover the projects and their timelines as they go. This is an excellent method to cover material, give feedback either good or bad from any member or team. Melanie provided Melissa and I with an unused office so we had somewhere to set up and work or make plans. There was some time spent in our office setting up the technology we have been provided and beginning for formulate ideas. We lunched in the break room today, then I spent more time with Ronnie and then Jim (they say the younger guys call them the gray line) as they worked on parts of a different type. I was interested in seeing a lathe tap a piece. Ronne let me feel the drill break through the end part and feel the pull. It is very similar to the feel of a drill pulling through wood. Ronnie demonstrated and explained the method of drawing and dimensioning they used in the house design drawings. Jim was operating a manual Mill. Once again the setup is very interesting as compared to a CNC mill. Melanie, the office manager took charge of us next and explained how she set up and used Quick Books in the process of estimating and billing the customers and paying the vendors. I was a reminded of a term today that I had forgotten HMI Human Machine Interface.
Tuesday, June 18. 7:30am-4:00pm
Melissa went over her curriculum for Physical Science today with me. We looked at commonalities with our classes. There are several but the time line for Physical Science is so tight with the 4×4 that any information will have to be interjected in small shots. We contemplated a co-teaching experience that would allow the students to be the instructors relating to AC/DC but the timeline might be too tight. There was a customer visit today relating to a checking system for gas and electricity. We observed the process with Melanie and spoke to Cody and Blair, two Machine Builders that went to App and boarded the slopes in their early years. (This was not too long ago since they are both young.) Both asked what type of equipment I had in my lab and how in depth my students worked and tried to ascertain the level of understanding of the equipment they gained over a period of time. We had lunch in the break room again today and got to know a couple more persons at Mertek. There are approximately 36 people employed at the facility. I have not had a good technology week and am still attempting to make inroads with the Lenovo. Melissa and I have been getting familiar with the tablet and asking questions. I have been doing some research on one of the projects I have in mind.
Thursday, June 19. 7:30am-4:00pm
I noticed one of the programmers had a marble composition book like the one I carry. I am to spend time with him in the next two days and hope to inquire about his book and methods for documentation at work. I encourage my students to keep an engineer’s notebook but have had trouble with the rationale time they feel that they do not need to invest. I took an optics/laser course at the beginning of June and learned a lot about light, lasers, and optics but I also learned from the master teacher’s techniques in the lab. I am in the process of updating the notebook requirements for my class by infusing some of his points. Of course, credit will be given to the instructor Frank E. Reed, Jr. with his blessings. Melanie demonstrated the accounts payable portion of invoicing today. Walked out to visit Cody and Blair and inquire about their note-taking and journalizing methods. I am creating a work sample for my students so that I can illustrate the quality of work and methods needed for their notebook/ journal/manual (it has many names) for future use. They will use it for the 3 years in IST and hopefully carry it on into the future be it in school or work.
Friday, June 20. 7:30am-4:00pm
I had the opportunity to visit a local company where a machine has been installed and is awaiting testing. Chuck took me over to see “his baby”. This is a machine that operates on a footprint of at least 20’x30’. It has 2 carousels. One carousel houses the different size molds (top and bottom and the collar) in a storage rack that can be rotated then picked and placed into the other carousel. This carousel holds the mold that has a collar in position. There is also access to the molds for cleaning. Fiberglass is cut and fills the mold that has vacuum for placement. Resin is added and the fiberglass bowl top and bottoms are (pump bodies that look like vases) are heated (infused with steam for fire suppression) for curing (approx. 450 degrees). They rotate again and are removed with a spatula. This machine is at the beginning of the assembly process. Once the top bowl, lower bowl, and cover piece are removed they are assembled, bagged and molded to a hard product and painted. This is the outer shell of pool sand filter. There are several safety features on this machine such as a light line that will shut down the process if the operator enters the area. The part will then be threaded at the neck of the filter container and moved on to the next process. This has been placed in an optimum position for the beginning of the line. I also had the opportunity to visit the Creepy Crawler assembly line machine that was a press fit also designed by Chuck and the pump tester that tests both water pressure and electric for Europe and America.
June 23-27 NCCAT.
Monday, June 30. 7:30am-3:30pm
I am still on NCCAT overload today. I took the time to examine the due dates and print one of the lesson plan templates. I have several ideas but thought the review of the lesson plan might help firm up which topic is the best for me to use in my class. I spoke with my mentor Jerry about the ideas I have been floating around in my head and went to the production floor to ask a few questions about the PLC box that has been a center point of work. Jerry took Melissa, Melody and I on a trip around the Sanford Industrial Park today along with a visit to CCCC’s partnership building community training facility. It is a government/business partnership.
Tuesday, July 1, 7:30am-5:30pm
This morning started with the Bananas for Bob/ Mertek Company meeting. Jerry presided and allowed Melissa and I to speak about our project ideas. She is focused on lessons with a “Go Pro” that are videotaped. I am interested in a very much hands on plan that will have the students doing a Capstone Project using the skills they have learned in class and incorporating the planning processes I have learned at Mertek along with the skills they have learned in the Drafting class in the academy. I hope to find some video online or perhaps use some that is not protected from Mertek. I spent the morning with Mike and learned more about the Side Finisher Clip Assembly that is being worked on at this time. I spoke with him about my larger concept project and he suggested putting in the money element. I assisted Eve today on a possible journeyman card candidate with the DOL. I also spoke with Eve about bringing the money problem into the project for to give the students a more realistic problem. Since this concern has been mentioned twice by 2 different entities I feel I should find a way to include it.
Wednesday, July 2, 7:30am-3:45pm
Today was a strange day. This morning Melody brought me a stack of papers to go through and look for an error in invoices. It took me awhile to get the rhythm of the entries and understand her pattern. I am now very aware of the vendors and cost of some equipment used in this facility. Jerry gives a cash report each week at the Tuesday morning meeting. I have also been thinking of my lesson plan and making a few calls to persons that can make arrangements for me to present to new teachers in our county. I now know why I made the decision to leave accounting other than my grades in college.
Thursday, July 3, 7:30am-4:00pm
I started this morning at Pentair with Chuck. He put some signage on the machine Mertek created. There needs to be just a little more programming going on there. I hope they finish next week. While we were there we were able to see the injection molding process done on several different products. They were purging one that makes a pipe elbow. The pumps for the pools are done with a process that creates the melting heat from the pellets being pushed through a small orifice and have jets of cool water feeding in to cool the part and mold. It completes 2 at one time. I worked on the figures more today and was able to sit in on a conference (telephone and computer) for the side finisher clip assembly. There are some changes that need to be made after the discussion between engineers and designers. It was very interesting. Kirk is the main Solid works person and designer on this part. Mike is the project manager. I have made the determination to follow as much of this process as possible as they prepare the product. It will be closer to a completed part prior to me leaving. This afternoon I spoke to Kevin and Wayne. They are writing PLC code and I am very weak in this area. I asked if I could watch and learn next week when they are working so that I can learn as they go. The hurricane is off the coast today. Arthur is his name. I will try to reconcile a few more numbers.
Monday, July 7, 7:30am-3:30pm
Continued working on the numbers. I returned them to Melody about 1:30pm. I also worked on them during the weekend for about 6 hours. It reminded me why I did not major in accounting. Today I also talked to Andy the technical writer. He is a manufacturing engineer and comes in when needed to write a manual for a piece of equipment. He shared the process he uses to create a manual and it is quite efficient. He starts with an assembled unabridged copy and then deletes what is not applicable to the necessary manual. Next, he collects information in the form of diagrams, photos and documentation. Andy says he uses much of the proposal when writing but changes the verb tense. We discussed what I do in class and I find I am not off of the mark when working on documentation. I plan to bring my technical writing book tomorrow and he said he will bring a manual for me to review. I spoke to Matt about a project he was working on and he was way beyond me but explained it anyhow. I listened to how he was problem solving and the issue. It must be a simple issue possibly relating to the software used for the format. It has issues in 3’s and when keying in individually.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014, 7:30am-6:00pm
This morning we had the company meeting (fruit) and the financial report sounded pretty good. Melissa reviewed her project with the team and handed out a slip indicating if they would consent to speaking and video with a couple of questions. I spoke to Andy again this morning. I remembered my book but oops, wrong book laser instead of writing. I’ll see him next week and he said he would bring a manual then. He is going to the beach. I am jealous. The guys were working on the camera with Melissa today and there are some gliches. She is waiting on the one from Kenan. I spoke to Kevin this am and we had a nice visit about living in the area and how we got here. I asked him to remember me when he was not super busy. They are trying to get the large Pintair project finished and running. It is huge. I spent some more time on the floor watching and listening to the gentlemen. Talked to Mike about the project sitting in the middle of the floor. It is a fuel injector building assembly line “Chase that rabbit.” The bases of the tables are laid out and painted. Discussed my plan with him and talked about the inventory and building process along with the purpose and why it is being built as a semi-automatic assembly line. I got to see the clip holders for the project that is being parted Jesse is doing the mill work for them. This is the project I have been following since it the first day I was here. It is a simple concept, but in fabrication manufacturing, nothing is simple. I visited with David the welder the gentleman that put together the bases. He has a very clean and organized metals area next to the paint room. His work is so clean and neat. I would love to have a table made by David. Spoke with Cody about the panel he is assembling and the need to put in a fuse that was not included in the schematics. It has a load ergo it needs a fuse. Chuck demonstrated the meter dial indexing machine to me today. They have made changes and hope to send it out this week.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014, 7:30am-4:00pm
First thing this morning I went with Kevin and Chuck to Pentair. It was the first run with fiber, resin, and mold release. How exciting! The first 2 products off the machine closely resembled the product but then the tweaking began and it was not the correct direction. There were 3 parts of the process that created issues. The resin guns and placement along with volume, the fiber strands with the resin piled up and jammed the cutting heads and the oven runs too hot. The machine will continue to be tweaked and may take some time then the workers at Pentair will complete runs and set parameters to the machine and that may take a couple of months. It is a hot place with little air. We took a break for lunch and I came back to work on my journal and make plans for the next part of my idea.
Thursday, July 10, 2014, 7:30am-5:00pm
This morning I walked out to the floor and saw Ronnie manhandling very large piece of very hard steel. It was about 10” in diameter and very heavy. He and Justin used a lift to move it to the horizontal band saw for a rough stock cut. I videoed the cut and then asked Ronnie to let me tape him turning this large piece of steel step by step. I am always amazed by his patience and natural teaching skills. He has such a gift! My arm got tired but we have video of him working with the larger lathe with the bigger chuck and jaws. I will assemble the video and use it during class. My students are tested on some parts of the lathe but the one in my classroom is being fixed the slow way. Maybe so maybe not it will happen. This way I can expose them to the technique and a wonderful explanation. I finished after lunch and then Craig and Amneris came by for a site visit and an opportunity to take some video and stills of Melissa and me. We did our interview and answered questions. Jerry also invited a gentleman from the local paper to tour and visit with us. We had some discussion around the conference table. We stayed busy until it was time to shut down. Such a busy day!
Friday, July 11, 2014 8:00am- 5:00pm
Today was pretty relaxed but we were running a little late from Fayetteville. We were about 10 minutes late and then I could not remember turning the stove off so Melissa turned back and it put us about 15 more behind. Oh well, we texted so they would not worry and traveled on to Mertek. As an aside, being the creature of habit that I am I did turn off the stove but I am glad we returned just so I would not worry all day and come home to a cinder. It was slow in the back since many of the guys take off half a day Friday or were out of the building taking care of equipment in other areas. I spoke to Mike and Danny today. Mike is the project manager that I am speaking with about the plastic snaps for the car panels but he also worked with solar in the past, I hoped to inquire about this topic since I have a new solar trainer to use this year and I am always open to suggestions. He gave me a lot of information about solar in the business world and was talking with Danny too. I will bring my manual next week and pose questions again. This is out of the realm of Mertek but it wonderful to talk to someone on the business side of solar. Danny was there too and I think learned a lot. Danny is one of the young CNC operators and is using a mill that operates with a floppy disk. He, out of curiosity, notice the code was in a text format of some type and put it in a computer, discovered it would translate into a readable text that he could rationalize and translate. He had a curved piece of metal to cut and wrote a program using the Pythagorean Theorem using database chart. It is a backward way to get it done but for someone that is a novice, it is above and beyond. He found some simple samples on the mill to. I mentioned if he had an opportunity, we could run it just to see how it looked. I think we will if it works. We went to lunch and the bank with Melody today and had a good time. Crazy chicken for me! I continued to look for video for my classroom project. I have found some other good stuff but am still looking.
Monday, July 14, 2014 7:30am-3:30 pm
I have begun working on the lesson plans relating to my project. I also worked on them Sunday afternoon for 2 hours. I have inserted the information that is easily attainable into the format but have questions for Raleigh. Part of my technique is to italicize the parts I think are close to being written for the first draft. I have created a template for my lesson plans to be attached to the Kenan lessons. Melissa is working on her video since her go pro came in this weekend. This morning we went to Wal Mart to get SD cards for the camera. I have observed but tried to stay out of the way of the workers today since they have several projects on the floor. I got some numbers from Mike to complete part of my assignment to make it more real.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 7:30am-5:00pm
Went to the meeting today and Jerry handed us an article that was in the local paper. MyNews.OnThe Go http:www.mynewsonthego.com/sanford/EPaper/Crop/?mode=print&… I can’t say I am excited about the quote from me but it gets Mertek in the paper. Rule “Don’t use colloquialisms!” I truly did not know he was going to use that quote. It seemed the reporter was not very interested in what we were saying. Oh well, lesson learned. There are several products pushing forward. I want to get some pictures of the bases that are on the floor and note what has been done. I also want to start working on a sample of what I want one part of the process to look like. Back to the lesson plans for a while! I helped Eve get together some Kenan blurb stuff for their article in the paper. Jerry and Kevin will be gone through Friday. It was the birthday cake day for the month and it just happened to be Jerry’s actual birthday. It looks bad outside so I guess we will leave at 5:00 instead of 5:30 today.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014, 7:30am- 3:30pm
Melissa has been videotaping since Monday. Now she is into the editing and downloading. The conversion takes a while. I finally did the first run through of all 8 activities for my lesson plan. Each plan should be able to be used individually with a little tweak by the instructor and some items can be added into each lesson. Jerry came in the office today and told us that he did not know what was going on Friday but we should stand by. I went out to the floor today and asked some questions but will be going again for a long period now that the activities are more or less put together. I helped look for some songs for Melissa’s video and she proofed my work to see if it made sense. I am feeling a little punchy today.
Thursday, July 17, 2014, 7:30am-4:00pm
Wow! I won tickets to see Def Lepard and KISS today. Happy Birthday Dan! (that’s my husband) The concert is Sunday night in Raleigh. Oh the logistics of travel to Raleigh-from Raleigh and then back to Raleigh. Now it is time for work. I have organized my project and have started making rounds out on the floor to ask questions. There are several interesting things going on today here at Mertek. I watched 3 projects go out the door 1 was complicated, 1 was a repeat and one was simple enough that Chuck put the majority of it together last night when all of the parts came together. It was done with air logic. That is on my list to talk to Mike about in his office next week along with questions about my solar station at school. There is a lot going out this week and next week. It may be a good time for us to be gone so we will not take the project teams off task. I make a list and then zoom in for the questions. Andy, the technical writer, gave me 2 technical manuals from Meikle ( part of the old history of Mertek). They will be great examples and props for my classroom. He also looked through my technical writing text and made recommendations about what is not necessary. I sure appreciate his input.
Friday, July 18, 2014, 7:30am-4:30pm
Melissa drove herself today since she needed to take care of some business after work. I have the run of the Mertek after 11:00am. Only a few work on projects later on Friday. This is a very relaxed environment. I set up at a table on the floor and started doing portions of my project and taking pictures for student directions. One picture is worth a thousand words. There will be simple PowerPoints as needed for some of the project activities. Mike was loose for a while (sometimes you just need to get away from the planning board) and he walked me through several of the items that have popped up like mushrooms on the assembly floor. I am reminded of a TV show, “The A Team.” “I just love it when a plan comes together!” Very relaxing and very productive Friday afternoon! I am looking forward to seeing everyone Monday!
Monday-Wednesday, July 21-July 23, 2014 –Kenan Session 2 in Raleigh
Thursday, July 24, 2014 –1.5 hours working on Kenan Fellows Presentation with Dora, April, and Melissa
Friday, July 25, 2014–working on Flipping the ClassroomMonday, July 28, 2014, 7:30am-3:30pm
Today I started putting together my cardboard model and making comparisons to a real product that does almost the same function but to another type of product. It is slow going but I am getting it done. I do not have enough toilet paper and paper towel tubes to finish the project so I will check the recyclables at home. It has consumed most of my day. I saw a sweaty Travis today and asked if he had been to Pentair to look at the big machine. He had and it is getting closer to being finished with Mertek. Pentair will have to run tests per product to get it calibrated soon. It was a busy day. I know everyone thinks I am just cutting cardboard, but they watch my project grow when they come by the table. It has been a busy day. I am only doing one portion of the capstone project for demonstration so students and teachers can see how it is assembled.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 7:30am-6:00pm
I worked on my project most of the day and did an interview with Jerry. I am having trouble loading it and sent Craig an email about what to do. It is 3.30 minutes and will not load to Edmodo. This morning during the meeting he let everyone know Friday would be our last day and it was bittersweet. I will be glad not to drive and be able to sleep in a few days before school starts but will really miss these great people and the environment where you feel special. We have been so welcomed here and have had an awesome time. This morning during the meeting, I mentioned I needed a few more paper rolls to complete my project and I don’t think there is a roll of toilet paper left in Mertek with a tube in it. After lunch, a few more arrived on my table, I wonder if a restaurant or somewhere else is missing their tubes too. My part of the assembly line for my kiddie play shoe is complete. I just need to put a few things together tomorrow that are drying (Elmer’s is a little slow). I did my project with only cardboard and glue but when my students do it they can add items from the class room. This is for the other teachers that may not think they can do my project. Kevin gave me a huge stack of catalogs for my students to use for this project. Sometimes it is hard to get online and see the assembly line building parts. Tomorrow I will go to a meeting with Jerry at 1:30pm.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014, 7:30am-3:30pm
I went to Pentair with Chuck and Kevin to right when I got here. Chuck took off one of the sprayer heads for it to be reworked. Great progress has been made on that super large project. It was a wonderful trip the guard is so funny and these two guys are great! When we returned, I asked Kevin to demonstrate my cardboard facsimile so I could get pictures. Just funny! Too funny! I am supposed to attend a meeting with Jerry today with the Innovation Center Advisory Board, I may be asked to give a little talk about the advantages of having a Kenan Fellow to other business people here in the Sanford area. Good PR. I have on my Mertek shirt. I sure wish I had a Kenan Fellow Oxford shirt to wear to these occasions. I would pay for it. Melody has put my sticker on the front door just below the NC State Sign. I will send a picture on Edmodo. Excellent meeting! When we returned it was time to leave. Melissa’s little girl needed to be picked up today.
Thursday, July 31, 2014, 7:30am-3:30pm
I brought in some Little Debbie cakes to the employees with a card today and we had pizza as a large group. They gave us a plaque and signed cards. Teary eyed was my lunch. What a mush I am. I worked on the lesson plan a little and packed my cardboard model into the van to travel home. I placed it in the living room along with the aluminum tubes Kevin gave me. I see project stuff! Watched more of the projects being put together that have been growing in front of my eyes.
Friday, August 1, 2014, 8:30am-3:30pm
We are running late today. Melissa’s daughter performed yesterday and did a solo so it was a very late night for them. My son came to Mertek today and I gave him the 50 cent tour. He was very interested. I could not settle today since it was the last day. We said goodbye to everyone and had lunch at a great steak place, worked a little while longer and then cleaned out our desks. I will miss the friends I made at Mertek. What a wonderful experience.