Noah Kunst - 2018 Steel Intern Scholar

I was given the opportunity to spend this past summer interning under Bill Emling in the steelmaking and continuous casting department at SMS group Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pa. I am currently entering my senior year as a mechanical engineering student at Penn State Behrend and plan to further my education after graduation by pursuing an M.B.A.
At SMS, I was able to be involved with the implementation of HD molds (fiber optics), which is only the second time this project was conducted in the United States. With the help of Joe Laughlin, we visited the customer on-site to better understand the condition of their caster. I also traveled to another SMS facility in Oil City, Pa., to study the machining and manufacturing processes of their molds. In addition, I studied the EDM deep hole drilling process, which is an essential step involved in the making and testing of fiber optic cables in a continuous caster mold.
Another project I worked on was in the development and alteration of designs for continuous caster molds with the Creo program. We were able to model an in-line, on-mold remote adjustable mold (RAM) system, which uses a servo motor and a cyclo-gear reducer on the narrow-face drives. Through exposure to different software systems, I gained an abundance of knowledge on various aspects of the design process, such as reading prints and developing parts. I also had the opportunity to learn successful sales strategies from my time with Joe Laughlin. He taught me how to gather information from previous Delta Speed software sales to develop strategies to generate greater revenue for the product. The skills I learned will have lasting benefits in both my academic and professional career.
I had a fantastic experience at SMS, where I worked on different projects daily. My tasks ranged from updating the cost database to attending the review of a 400-page technical specification. In this internship, I learned about continuous casting and the entire steelmaking process. I also was able to improve my computer skills with the different software systems, read prints more efficiently and better understand the continuous casting process. Overall, I had an amazing experience working this internship for SMS and would highly recommend this opportunity for anyone given the opportunity.