6/11/11

Well it's been quite a while since I've posted but no time like the present... I will try to summarize my past week and since a picture is worth a thousand words:

A week ago last Friday Jason from work invited the co-ops to grab some food at his house then enjoy some music in downtown Jonesborough. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The band was The Barefoot Movement a really cool local band made up of local former ETSU students. Check out the website to hear some of their songs! When we got there they introduced a cover of a song originally played by The Dillards (the Darlings from the Andy Griffith Show) With the atmosphere of Jonesborough, the people and the music I felt like I was in Mayberry!

Here are some pics to catch us up on my week..

 

Picture of the old Jonesborough courthouse

On Monday we had Access Training...

...and Chick-fil-a for lunch!

Today my new roommate moved in...

...and quickly got comfortable.

Oh yeah mom and dad came too. And helped me move my table in finally.

 It was great to see my parents and get my dog. A really nice couple of days although they probably feel like they were in the car  the entire time as I tried to show them everything I could think of haha.

As for work we (the three co-ops) have been working through some of the stations on the assembly floor. It's been long and hot days and I have falling asleep nearly as soon as I get home (except for some math tutoring :))

I'll try to update more regularly this coming week and hopefully will have some more pictures once Dad uploads them. 

6/2/11

What a day! I feel like I actually did some work today. :)

8:00 am - Popcorn Making
  Apparently it's a tradition for the co-ops to make popcorn for the employees on thursdays when we have staff meetings in the morning. It looked like we would get off to a bad start when we could only find 2 sticks of butter instead of the usual four. However, everyone said it was good anyway and that we could stay. :) 

Allie showing us how it's done.

8:30 am - Leadership Meeting
Edi and I were introduced to the division managers and team leaders at the 8:30 meeting today (Allie started working two weeks before we did). During the meeting they announced that they would be working Saturday and possibly Sunday to make up for the sudden increased demand from Lowes (and later in the day Home Depot). Soo... needless to say I might be working a lot this weekend on the production line but the people are friendly and and the work hasn't been too bad so far.

9:15 am - Production Meeting
This was a bigger meeting that included people from the floor. After this all three co-ops were assigned places on the line so that we can start to get familiar with the assembly process and people. I worked with team 5 on the north line. I put the decals on the dash then put the dash on the tractor and connected the throttle cable at one station. Then I moved over to another one and put the floor pad and a few other things on one side of the tractor.

10:45 - 12:15 pm - Physical
Physical so that we can be officially employed. ;)

12:30 - 1:00 pm - Lunch
See previous post. It was just as delicious the second day. Thanks for the recipe Abby!

1:00 - 3:00  pm - Back to the floor
This time I worked with team 3 that basically puts the engine on the frame of the tractor. I watched a few of the stations at first then they had me assemble the paperwork bags. The guys are cool and I should be working with them all day Friday and possibly Saturday and Sunday.

After they shut down the lines at 3pm I went back to the office and found that it is now official... my name is on my cubicle..

They even spelled it right!

Picture of my cubicle. Notice the special employee blue John Deere bump cap.

 

Dinner

I had salmon and veggies for supper. Abigail was nice enough to provide me with directions for the salmon and it turned out great! Also I now have lunch for tomorrow. I hope nobody gets to0 jealous. :)

6/1/11

Second day!
Today was the first time that I had to report at the usual time of 6:30 am. It's been a little while since I woke up at 5 am but it's a beautiful drive. Also I was able to fill up for only $3.29/gallon at the Greeneville Shell station.

Today we had a half-day Database Concepts class in Johnson City. It was a bit conceptual but will help set the stage for us to take Microsoft Access courses. (Levels 1-4) After the class we were again treated to lunch (I can get used to this) at a place called Beef 'O' Brady's. Again good food and great sweet tea which seems to be the norm in this area. After we got back from lunch I went straight into a Tech Services meeting that broke down some of the tasks that we have and start to assign and check on the status of them.

First Day 5/31/11

I wanted to start this blog to document my experience at John Deere and to provide an easy (efficient) way to keep family and friends updated on what's going on in my life. All of you should know me but just to recap I am a junior Mechanical Engineering undergraduate at Virginia Tech. I was fortunate to obtain a co-op with John Deere Power Products in Greeneville, Tn. The co-op will be for a full year and will be an amazing chance for me professionally and personally. I will start by trying to chronicle my experiences day-by-day. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

First Day:
I arrived at John Deere at 7:45 am. After finding my way to the Technical Support (my group) offices I was shown my my cubicle (pictures to come!) I was introduced to my fellow co-ops Allie (TN Tech) and Edi (VT). Most of the day was spent following Richard (our supervisor) around the plant on a detailed tour and meet-and-greet. After this we went to HR and finalized forms and submitted orders for our uniforms. Richard, Jason and Jeff (?) took us out to lunch at a great place called Fatz. The food was great and the name appropriate. :)

I got off at 3pm and breathed a (hot humid, it's 92 here) sigh of relief.