Tom Ward March 21,2008 Drexel University Boehringer Laboratories is a small privately owned company located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Currently the company’s and its subsidiary’s featured products include lines of auto transfusion equipment, suction regulators, and advanced negative pressure wound therapy systems. These products are designed, developed, manufactured, and sold from Boehringer’s main plant. Boehringer’s small size coupled with the multitude of operations carried out “in house” make the company an ideal place to work. My work experience at Boehringer began purely by chance. I applied to the company on a whim and did not begin to research what Boehringer did until I was granted an interview. During the interview process I was able to converse with senior engineers and current interns, which allowed me to develop an understanding of what the experience would be like. I also took qualification tests so that the company could determine my eligibility. Though my responsibilities as an intern had been described to me, I was not sure that the descriptions were accurate. At the time I was somewhat pessimistic because during my previous internship I did little more than surf the web and was rarely assigned projects, even if I asked for them. I was impressed by the fact that applicants were required to take and pass tests to be considered for the position. I took this as a sign that the company only accepted qualified applicants and would assign responsibilities based on the applicant’s qualifications. Though I still held some reservations I told myself that six months was a short time, even if I were to find out that the job was unbearable, and I decided to accept the position. After a short time a Boehringer I realized that I had made the correct decision in accepting the position. The senior engineers immediately began dolling out full project loads. The projects were initially somewhat simple and slightly mundane but as the senior engineers developed confidence they rapidly began assigning more complex and meaningful projects. In stark contrast to my previous internship, I always had a full list of meaningful projects that I was responsible for. My days of “surfing the web” during work were finished. Boehringer’s ability to manage all aspects of product development allowed me to broaden my horizons and develop skills that I would most likely not be able to develop at larger companies. During my six months with the company I worked on product design, helped with certain manufacturing tasks for new prototypes, aided with the development of automated machines for manufacturing, aided with quality control, developed a much deeper understand of CAD, learned how to machine products, aided with marketing projects, directly interacted with the sales department in efforts to better suit Boehringer’s products to fit customer needs, and submitted a scientific paper for publication. All of these projects were completed with minimal supervision, though help was always present if it was required. I began my tenure with Boehringer under the pretext that I would be working as an engineer. I ended my tenure with Boehringer as an employee who had worked as an engineer and much more. Looking back I almost find myself filled with disbelief as I recount the sheer amount of experience that I was able to gain with this organization. In addition to all of the non-engineering experience that I was able to garner, I amassed a large amount of engineering knowledge in many different fields of engineering. I developed mechanical engineering skills working with suction regulators, testing the structural integrity of various packaging and shipping configurations, and test consumable products to ensure that they were suitable for consumer use. I was able to enhance my electrical engineering skills by working with the circuit boards and programs used to control the advanced negative pressure wound therapy systems. Lastly and most importantly for me, I was able to improve my knowledge of biomedical engineering as Boehringer is a medical device company. Working with these products, I was able to develop a greater understanding of how the products work in a medical setting and how they interact with the human biological system. I am thoroughly pleased that I was able to work for this company. I am also eternally grateful that I was particularly lucky when I arbitrarily applied for the position. Boehringer is probably the best company where an engineering student can intern if they are willing to work hard and have a desire to vastly expand their practical knowledge.