2024 Steel Intern Scholarships
Rhys A. Fuller
AM/NS Calvert in Calvert, Ala., has a moto: “Innovations in Steel, Strengthened by People.” I was blessed to be able to experience both aspects of this moto during my internship at AM/NS Calvert. I worked in Digital Innovations & Applications at AM/NS, the department handling data analytics and machine learning for the mill, among other technological fronts. This department let me see the “Innovations in Steel” firsthand, as we worked on a variety of projects integrating modern technology with steel manufacturing.
AM/NS is currently working on integrating machine learning into the workflow of their mills. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to see the principles of computer science I learned academically applied in real-life situations. I was able to see how my work creating data analytics dashboards and developing machine learning code directly saved hours of time for engineers working in the steel mill, and thousands of more hours to come as these technologies become a familiar part of the work ecosystem.
One of the many projects I was able to work with was MAVIS, a project developing machine vision to enable operators to spot mistakes in the line faster and more reliably. This project is a part of AM/NS Calvert moving toward smart manufacturing, which the World Economic Forum described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. I was able to train machine learning models and perform data analysis on the logs of the systems to enable the department to make more informed decisions moving forward. I worked with state-of-the-art software, wrote documentation and wrote code directly contributing to the technologies serving the mill.
Additionally, I was able to help with creating PowerBI dashboards for other departments. PowerBI is Microsoft’s business intelligence solution, which allows us to take data generated by sensors and other producers of data in the steel mill and display it in charts and graphs for different departments. This is part of how the technology developed here helps every department, as every department can benefit from automating the process of creating graphs and analyzing data to free time for making decisions and finding solutions.
My work in Digital Innovations & Applications also let me see the second part of AM/NS Calvert’s moto, “Strengthened by People,” hard at work. I was enabled to be an active member of meetings, engage in dialogue with my supervisors and department members, and receive and give feedback about the work I was doing. AM/NS Calvert’s culture of teamwork, accountability and relationships shined through in my brief time with them. Not only did this allow me to grow professionally and learn how I can be a better employee and coworker, but it also enabled me to do meaningful work for the company as I was able to have a better understanding of what was expected of me and what I could do to engage in work that was accessible to me but beneficial for the company.
I would like to thank AIST for hosting this program, which gave me an outstanding introduction to the steel industry and valuable experience in my professional development. I would also like to thank AM/NS Calvert, and my mentors and supervisors there, for their environment of encouragement, growth, and effective work. This was a summer well spent, and I am glad I had this opportunity to dive in and learn more about the steel industry.