I completed my senior capstone project for Gulfstream, a leading private jet manufacturer. The project involved developing a proof-of-concept model for a virtual reality cockpit display system using Unreal Engine, a widely-used video game development platform.

This Unreal Engine project integrates several third-party plugins and software into a cohesive simulation. For example, JSBSim provides the simulation with highly realistic flight dynamics, while Cesium projects satellite imagery onto a model of Earth. Meta Quest enables interaction with the simulation through a virtual reality headset.

Overall, this project was highly successful. It was awarded 1st place for "Innovative Computerized Design or Software Design" at the UGA Capstone Showcase. Gulfstream will leverage the research to further integrate mixed reality within their prototyping teams.

I had the privilege of working for Colgate-Palmolive as a Global Supply Chain Intern for the course of a summer at their deodorant and soap manufacturing plant in Greenwood, South Carolina. 

Through this internship, I gained valuable experience practicing LEAN manufacturing methods. The LEAN methodology focuses on minimizing waste while maximizing productivity. To implement these ideas, I created a process map of the plant with an overlaid value stream map. This allowed me to identify bottlenecks in the production system and highlight areas with the most potential for savings. By focusing my efforts on these areas, I was assured that I was tackling problems that would achieve high cost-saving results. To provide a specific example, I focused much of my efforts on improving a case packing machine on one of the deodorant lines. This machine was one of the largest sources of unplanned down time(UPDT) and absolute material loss in the line. To tackle this problem, I recorded the multiple machine settings over the course of several weeks. Then, I wrote a Python program to perform a weighted polynomial regression on the machine setting data compared to the machine's UPDT. This enabled me to find the optimal machine settings to minimize UPDT. To implement my findings, I rewrote the standard operation procedure for the machine, and I placed QR codes on each of the set-points around the machine, so operators had easy access to the optimal settings.

Towards the end of my internship, I planned and managed a week long Kaizen (continuous improvement) event focused on reducing material loss on one of the deodorant lines. Through this event, I gained experience leading groups of people (~20 people) in a collaborative effort to improve the production line. This required me to listen to others, gain their trust, contribute my personal input  to difficult conversations, and keep detailed notes to manage over 40 improvements made to the production line. 

Overall, this was an enriching professional experience that will benefit me in my future career.  On my final presentation to the company's higher leadership (CSO, CFO, etc.) I was proud to announce that my contributions, with the help of my co-workers, were directly saving the company $35,000/month.