Xavier Zuvekas ’19 Amazon Robotics Intern Part II
First off, I would like to thank Mr. Schlenker and everybody at Amazon Robotics (AR) for the amazing opportunity afforded to me. I have learned an incredible amount ranging from the intricacies of robotic design and production engineering to the structure of the corporate environment. I came into this summer knowing almost zero about anything operations, manufacturing, or even making spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. Everybody welcomed me with open arms and did everything possible to get me up to speed wherever they could help. Over the course of the summer I developed strong relationships with people ranging from the line workers who build the robots to the engineers who design the robots being manufactured.
The main focus of my internship this summer was Drive Unit Packaging Optimization in the shipping department alongside an intern from UConn. The study was assigned as a part of a larger project to both calculate and increase the maximum number of drives that can be manufactured in our North Reading office. My part of the project was to identify and resolve inefficiencies and recommend changes to maximize shipping capacity in particular. I was able to complete this through extensive data collection over the course of five weeks. From the data collected, I extrapolated the maximum number of drive units that our current shipping process can handle. A fellow intern and I created both small and large scale process improvements. With the recommendations that we came up with, the number of drives that can be shipped could be significantly increased or decreased depending on shipping demand in order to save both time and money.
For my second major project I worked with a co-op from the supply chain team (the subgroup of AR that manages all purchases of materials required to build robots) to automate the supplier information sheet that we currently use. A supplier information sheet is a form that is sent out to every part supplier considering business with us so we can decide whether or not they fit our needs. Prior to my project, the sheet was sent out to suppliers, they would type their answers in and send it back to us. Once supply chain received a sheet, a person from our supply chain division would read through the vendor’s answers. After being read, it was graded and compared to other applicants in a long, tedious process. In order to simplify this process, the co-op and I developed a standardized grading rubric that will be applied to all current and future suppliers to analyze their capabilities. Once we created the grading system, I remade the supplier sheet from the ground up using formulas and macros in Microsoft Excel to create an easy to use user interface for both the vendor and Amazon’s employees. I found the completion of this project to be especially fulfilling due to the fact that every single part that AR purchases from now on will have been commissioned using the sheet that I automated.
My time here showed me so many aspects of the robotics industry and the engineering process. AR is an absolutely amazing place to work as there is so much going on at any given time, there is always something to be done. The things that I learned at AR will certainly help me through both the rest of my education and my career down the road. I cannot thank the people at AR enough for taking me under their wing and integrating me into such a unique business atmosphere.
