Meet the company:
Absolute Quality Manufacturing (AQM), a Minneapolis-based electronics manufacturer, operates as a subsidiary of Stark Electronics. Where Stark distributes the electronics, AQM creates the value-add, building custom cable assemblies, wire harnesses and much more.
Since we last spoke with AQM in 2018, much has changed. With a focus on efficiency, the manufacturing floor got a facelift and all staff receive on-going training to encourage continual learning and growth. That goes for the interns as well.
This year, AQM’s Owner Jason Everson hired Joshua Meinert for a manufacturing engineering internship. When hiring interns, Everson said, you should consider your companies needs and the students’ need as well.
“We want to give them the opportunity to see the manufacturing side of things,” Everson said. “That leads to better design.”
Meet the intern:
Meinert is studying mechanical engineering and mathematics at Minnesota State University Mankato. Math, Meinert said, is something you use every day, “It helps make big concepts easier” and pairs well with engineering.
When looking for an internship, Meinert was partially drawn to AQM for the chance to fill a gap in his classwork.
“There’s not a lot of manufacturing exposure in school,” he said. “So I wanted that opportunity.”
During his time at AQM, Meinert worked with wire lengths for their client’s harnesses. The goal was to get them as close to perfect as possible to help the manufacturing team produce the product faster. Once that was done, he wrote the official procedure that would be used for the builds going forward.
“His work on this has made a huge improvement,” Everson said proudly. “He shaved off a bunch of time.”
This was Meinert’s first internship. Looking back on it, he said, “I’ve learned so much. Some of it seemed small at first but then turned out to be really important. Most of all, this experience helped me narrow down my area of interest in my work going forward.”
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