I
still remember how the team was formed. Three of us, did not follow the
announcement that David Hiemstra made before our first lab, and we ended up in
a completely different room and different building… Remember? Many things have
happened since then, not only at school but also at work and in the personal
side. It is ironic that this assignment asks for a reflection about the
project, as it is only one of the three that I had going on this semester.
At
work, since January I have been working on the analysis of a data base that has
already brought more than $3M to the company and I am currently working on the
next one. At home I have painted all the interior walls, replace kitchen vinyl
flooring with tile, all carpet with hardwood, including 17 highly time
consuming stairs, all kitchen backsplash and replace most of the lighting…how
long? About 500 hours of work. And finally ME-250
Even
though I have some manufacturing and engineering experience, participating in
ME-250 has leaved many enriching experiences and lessons learned, mainly from
my team mates that did an excellent job, keeping up with all the assignment
dates and distributing load evenly at all times. From the beginning, I really
wanted to be the leader of the group, but two things stopped me from even
proposing it to my team. The first and most obvious was the extra time that I
had to commit to it, and secondly, I believed that my team mates would have a
greater benefit if they did it.
The
class overall has given me exposure to software that I was not familiar with as
perhaps SolidWorks and CES not to mention laser and watercut equipment. But
this is only an small part of the learning as I truly believe that most of it
came from Haipei, Julien and Wenquian.
Both
Wenquian and Haipei are from China, Julien from California and me from Spain,
and from the beginning we knew that communication was going to be key for
success as even we all speak (to some degree) English, the meaning in our
conversations always had slight differences that we had to be aware off because
it actually brought some controllable delays to the project, but each of us had
an area of expertise fundamental for the final product.
Haipei
Zhu, very disciplined, always on time, always on top of everything and every due
date. Lives in Duderstadt Center….3rd floor. Any question about the
project? Ask him
Wenquian
Ma, bright guy, always calm and also aware of every date, look at the simple
side of things and execute them on time.
Julien
Cohen, hands on, designer, give him it’s own space and let him develop, good
ideas creator, official English communicator of the team, as the rest of us
only try.
Me….I
will let that to my team.
About
some constructive ideas here are three simple ones that I think will benefit
next generations of ME-250:
1. Start working in the shop a
little earlier
2. Set up goals as Mechanical
and Electrical
a. 100% Mechanical completion
is only 75% worth. Defined Due date
b. 100% Electrical completion
is the remaining 25%. One week later so all teams will work on the electrical
system for at least one week.
3. Announce from the beginning
of the semester the price involved and invite companies to attend the
competition. I am sure that the interest will increase within the students.
Overall
ME-250 has been a fun and positive experience, the start of the 50’s series!..
and although I would have liked some more time to enjoy it more, I am satisfied
with the results. We demonstrated the potential of the car and the unique and
creative idea that we were able to bring to reality.
Finally
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank David Hiemstra, Prof. Mike
Umbriac and Prof Albert Shih for their fantastic dedication and attention to
the students. It isn’t easy to attend so many people and not lose site and/or
patience.
To
all, Thanks, I have really enjoyed the experience.
….see
you sometime soon!!
Miguel
Vidal
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