What I'm Doing Here

Ok, I have no real reason to post. This will be the absolute most pathetic post you've ever read, and this blog has seen some pretty pathetic posts.

Whatevs.
It's my blog, I do what I want.
Get out my way. [Don't, I like that you're here reading my nonsense]


My boss took me on a mini-tour of Marienplatz the other day, and since then I've been trying to go back. There's a Viktuellmarkt, where you can buy freshly pressed juices (among other things of course, like organic vegetables. But I don't eat those. Vegetables.) - I am jonesing for some of the lemonade/mango/orange juice. Oh, you bet I'll take pictures, and then I want you to leave me a comment letting me know how jealous you are.

Also there is the Alter Peter, and for only 1,50 you can climb to the very top of the .. steeple? I think it's a church. Anyways - I was planning on going to Marienplatz and being a megaTourist but yesterday I left my money in a coworker's car, and today I had to stay late for a conference call.


That's right. I just became important.

Ok, I was there to halfway kind of help translate. Except both parties knew some amount of english/german. So really, I was just there to kind of mediate or something. But it was fun because I haven't really been able to contribute all week so I've just been harassing my coworkers and asking them to help me figure out how to get to Baden-Wuertemburg this weekend.

It turns out if you wait until the last minute to buy your train ticket, it's almost 100 euros. So they showed me this website where you can sign up to ride with someone else already going for super cheap. Don't worry, those of you with maternal instincts - I found another Fraulein with whom I could ride.

Anyways - are any of you actually wondering what it is I do as a co-op????

You sure are.

When I worked at the plant in South Carolina, I was what we [in the biz - yukyukyuk] call a process planner. Essentially, my department was responsible for writing and coming up with a lot of the processes the associates use to build our cars. Now this sounds like it might be a one-time thing, but in reality, we end up working with the assembly line a lot - integrating new processes, fixing problems [missing tools, process isn't ergonomically sound, etc], preparing for changes in content, etc. When working at the plant, keeping the line running is of the highest priority. When the line stops, no one is happy. That means overtime for someone later. Process planners are always busy finding ways to improve the line and fix things that aren't working so well. And being at the mercy of the assembly line means being extremely flexible.

Now I'm over here at the R&D center, doing things from more of a design perspective. It's been kind of a shock, attending every single meeting and conference call. At the plant, sometimes planners have to skip meetings because the line and its needs take precedence. But from a design perspective, planning for a future product requires meetings and conference calls, and the stress of a moving, breathing assembly line is not a concern.

I haven't received any new projects to work on as yet, but I am super excited about this rotation of my co-op. When one is at the plant, one sees the design once it's handed over, but now I get to see its creation! My coworkers are making big decisions about integrating an entirely new automobile into our current line, the changes to the process, the new tooling and fixtures, and lineside planning. Manufacturing is really kind of exciting, I think.
Especially on this end of it.

Anyways.

I'm visiting my dear and sweet exchange student, this chica, this weekend:

We will have a bangin' good time, and I will post incredible pictures, because I am an amazing photographer and my camera's zoom is too large for me to fit my finger over the lens.

So maybe next post will be photoriffic.

thanks for reading, readers.

-bRob