2023 Steel Intern Scholarship – William E. Schwabe
Noah J. Brack
This summer I completed an internship at AM/NS Calvert (a 50/50 partnership by the global steel producers Nippon Steel and ArcelorMittal) in Calvert, Ala., USA. During my time there, I served in a process engineering role in the cold rolling mill’s roll shop and was given the opportunity to use skills I had previously developed and learn new ones entirely.
While working at AM/NS I worked on a multitude of projects ranging from time studies on electroplating operations to determining the best geometry for gib blocks on the roll grinders to reduce wear. I also studied the best way to monitor coolant concentration, modified the design of split rings to allow for parts to be standardized across sizes, created work instruction videos to provide better training, participated in a criticality analysis and FMEA, attended a class on roll spalling given by Global R&D, led a trial on finishing direction of work rolls, and shadowed maintenance engineers during down days. The biggest project I was given was to automate reporting on roll inventory and improve roll spalling investigation using PowerBI and Power Automate. Having never used or heard of either PowerBI or Power Automate, this was a challenging but rewarding experience, and by the end of the summer gained a great new skill. I also improved my communication skills and learned the importance of collaboration between engineering departments.
Overall, I learned a lot over the summer about what it means to be an engineer at AM/NS Calvert and a steel mill in general. I learned skills applicable to my future career like Power Apps and problem solving, became a better modeler in AutoCAD, and gained a knowledge of the steel rolling and roll grinding process. Because of this I feel better prepared as I continue into engineering and hopefully into the steel industry. I’d like to thank AIST for the scholarship and AM/NS for the internship opportunity. I’s like to thank my manager, Mac, for all the great projects, and my mentor, Chris, for all the knowledge he shared during my time at AM/NS.