Category: Garrick

Now that my time at Triac is formally over, I am able to access my performance at the company. Overall, I think I performed my tasks well. From the start of the internships, I was given many projects, some of which overlapping with each other. While I have completed a vast majority of them, I did not get around to completing some, with some being in the fabrication process and others being in the conceptualization phase. To be honest, the constant flow of projects had it’s pros and cons; it gave me many opportunities to refine my skills in AutoCAD and Solidworks among others, but it did seem overwhelming at times not unlike having a pile of paperwork piling up at one’s desk. This may also be an indication that there is still room for improvement in time management. Also, as most of the projects were a collaborative effort, I feel that I did well in communicating my ideas to my supervisor and the other interns I worked with.

In terms of my career, this internship has solidified my desire to work in manufacturing. As expected, many of the task I performed were very hands on and there were many times I would be on the factory floor, supervising workers or doing tasks myself as opposed to being at a desk for the entirety of the day. I have also left on good terms with many others in the office, which may possibly open doors for me in the future. Because of this internship, I am ultimately very excited for what the future has in store for me. It is also worth noting my overall experience working abroad. While Vietnam as a whole is a great country to be in for two months, I am hesitant to say I want to work here for an extended amount of time. Many little things such as the traffic and it’s organized chaos nature and the lack of any reliable form of public transport is very off-putting to me. I would much rather work in a less bustling city, preferably one in which motorbikes aren’t often driving on the wrong side of the road to save a couple minutes.

I have been fortunate enough to given tasks that play a significant role in the product. Case in point, when I was at the shipyard, I was tasked with mapping out the engine room of a mussel dredger and modeling various systems such as the hydraulics, engine cooling, and so forth. In order to fully complete the project, I had to go to the ship’s engine room (which was still under construction at the time), dimmension components already placed down, and use my knowledge of said systems to estimate where the remaining components would go. With all the components and piping from the various systems looping around and interlocking with each other, I was quite proud that I saw this task through to the end. I would like to note again that this task dealt with an actual product that Triac was producing, and I would definitely not be feeling the same amount of pride had I been working on a hypothetical engine room purely for practice purposes.

Professionally speaking, I have been collaborating a far bit for most of my projects. Oftentimes I am working with another intern, brainstorming solutions to various problems. Other times, however, I am working with my supervisor such as with the engine room project I spoke about at length. Considering my track record with group projects back at university, I see successfully collaborating with others at the workplace as an accomplishment, especially when the quality of the completed projects are taken into account.

From working in Saigon, I have realized how fortunate I am in terms of education and opportunity. There have been numerous times in which I have talked to factory workers and on all accounts the workers did not have any form of education beyond high school. Some of the workers are very young (one worker I talked to is 18 years old, who I presume got this job right after graduating from high school) while others appear to be in their 50s or 60s. As the work on the factory floor is very strenuous, I doubt that the older work force is working at Triac for fun, to put it lightly. Meanwhile, I am studying in university and have many opportunities spread out before me.

In working at Triac, I have learned that working in the manufacturing industry requires a fair bit of physical labor. Going into the internship, I based my expectations on the Design and Manufacturing Lab, which involved a sizable amount of time at the lathes and milling machines, with neither involving extensive physical movement. Compare that to my time at Triac, in which I am often moving around large pieces of materials such as foam and medium-density fiberboard for the purpose of cutting via a large CNC or other manufacturing processes. This movement of large materials may be a result of working on a large boat, but I still believe that it is something worth noting.

As most of my time thinking about the internship has been focused on my tasks performed and not the company as a whole, performing a SWOT analysis has helped me to reflect on Triac as a whole. In terms of strengths, Triac is working in a less populated industry by working with primarily composites. Many of the other manufacturing companies focus mainly on metals, meaning that there is less competition in the composites industry for Triac. Additionally, the workforce at Triac has a diverse set of skills, with many being able to be allocated to different projects. As an example of this, on my first day, I saw that one worker was working on wheel hub covers for mining vehicles. A week later, I saw this same worker working on carbon fiber ventilation tubing, which was manufactured much differently than the aforementioned wheel hub. A significant weakness for Triac, however, is the lack of any safety protocol aside from wearing masks and safety glasses when on the factory floor. As I have mentioned in the past, it is not uncommon to see stray materials being scattered all over the ground. In my time at the shipyard, the safety protocol was no better, as to get on the ship being worked on, I had to climb on the railing of the boat, which could range from a couple feet above the ground to a couple feet below.

Triac has recently obtained a new milling robot, dubbed the Kuka Robot. With this new addition in the factory, it is evident that Triac is keeping up with technological advances and as a result, new opportunities will arise in the form of new methods of CNC operation. Conversely, a possible threat to Triac concerns cash flow; on many instances, it was mentioned that some projects were going overbudget and would result in a net loss for the company. However, given the fact that Triac is working on a variety of projects ranging from mining to boats, I personally do not believe that this is a big threat.

During my time in HCMC, an amazing moment that I will never forget was when I ate a whole watermelon in one sitting. I am a big fan of fruit and very much enjoy watermelon, so I was elated when I had just enough time to eat the watermelon whole. Most people cut up a watermelon into bite-sized slices. I did not do that. I cut off part of the bottom so that the watermelon could stand on its own, cut off the top, and used a spoon to hack away at the innards. Given the nature of watermelon, some juices would accumulate with every spoonful I took, so occasionally I would drink the juices. My roommate was less than enthused when he saw what I was doing as the juices were going everywhere on the table, but I cleaned up afterwards. Since that time, I have been hooked on watermelon juice and am very disappointed that in the United States, watermelon juice is not nearly as common.

In terms of actual tasks to do for my internship, most of the work has been fairly straightforward. While this answer may be a bit unorthodox, the most challenging aspect of this internship is physical labor. To put it lightly, I am weak. I am very weak. If Jackie Chan is the pinnacle in terms of strength, I am on the completely opposite side of the spectrum. On multiple occasions, I have had to pick up and transport material to a suitable location for manufacturing reasons. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had to carry large foam blocks, sheets of plywood, and steel beams up to 5m long. There have been multiple times in which I dropped the material due to the lack of muscle mass I have. And while not every day brings with it physically strenuous work, on the days that do have it, I completely pass out as soon as I reach my bedroom (my roommate Dom can attest to that). While I have been physically suffering over the past couple weeks, if given the opportunity, I would not change anything as I do acknowledge that gaining muscle is not at all a bad thing. Essentially, while this challenging aspect of the internship may not directly affect my engineering career, I do believe that it will open a path for me to improve my lifestyle.

                In terms of the best aspects of my internship, I really do appreciate the diverse amount of work I am given on a day to day basis. I previously mentioned that I am often given physical work, but I am also given a fair amount of more traditional engineering work in the form of modeling in Solidworks and AutoCAD. I am also given the opportunity to work with machinery geared towards engineers such as a CNC machine. For obvious reasons, this differs from my past experience at university, in which I am mostly given theoretical problems in the form of exercises from the textbook with the occasional design class.

                Of all the foods that I have eaten in Vietnam, my favorite dish has been Japanese curry. While it is not a dish that I discovered in Vietnam, I have not had a dish that I previously did not have, so I technically can’t describe my favorite dish that I discovered if I did not discover anything new. Overall, I think that Japanese curry is a fantastic dish as it does not purely focus on the spiciness level unlike other curries I’ve had before; in my opinion, Indian and Thai curries focus too much on being as spicy as possible while having too much oil in general. Japanese curry, while mildly spicy, is also slightly sweet, with honey and apples being ingredients commonly used.

Unlike most fellow interns, I do not have an overarching project as the central focus of my internship. While I do have a project, it is treated as a secondary task in the case that there are no tasks to perform on the factory floor. These projects include designing a safety railing for stairs, loading gate, loading bay, and bridge that is situated over one of the factory entrances. As of now, the safety railing and loading bay designs are complete, while the loading gate and bridge designs are still being worked on and iterated. Each of these design tasks revolve around safety, with the safety railing and loading gate being the projects most closely related to safety. Lately, however, work on these projects have halted as I am spending a majority of my time over the past couple days operating a CNC device.

               I have mentioned before in previous entries that everybody in the office, including my supervisor, are best described as being jacks of all trades. Each co-worker in the office is experienced in a multitude of areas including, but not limited to, AutoCAD, and Solidworks. As such, I believe that every other co-worker in the office has a very high level of technical skill, which is something that I believe I lack; while I do have experience in the aforementioned programs, I certainly do not consider myself to be an expert at them. As I see this internship as a learning opportunity, I often ask my supervisor and other co-workers for advice in Solidworks and AutoCAD that may help alleviate common issues I encounter. So, in a way, instead of my strengths being purely technical, one can say that my strength in the workplace setting is being open to any opportunity to learn.

               To be perfectly honest, due to many co-workers at Triac being in an industrial park in the outer areas of Ho Chi Minh, I do not feel that I can properly comment on what I learned working in Ho Chi Minh City. I can, however, talk about what I have learned from living in the aforementioned city. Despite being a Vietnamese city, I have learned that having limited Vietnamese vocabulary often does not limit what you can do in the city; oftentimes, using English is perfectly fine as many local Vietnamese people can understand English on a basic level. I have been other Asian countries and I have not used English often for fear that an awkward situation may have arose from a language barrier. Being in Vietnam for so long, I had to use English on some occasions and I am glad to finally learn that the language barrier issue is not as prevalent as I thought.

For the duration of my stay in Vietnam, I am working at Triac Composites, a manufacturing company primarily focused on composite materials, namely carbon fiber and fiberglass. The company was initially created with a focus on trimarans, a specific type of boat that consists of a main hull and two floaters attached on either side. However, recently Triac Composites have taken on more diverse projects, ranging from ventilation tubes designed for mining operations and train interiors commissioned by the Vietnamese government.

               So far, I have been at Triac for an entire work week, starting at 8:30 AM and ending at 5:30 PM. Within that time, I have taken part in a diverse range of tasks; for instance, the first day consisted of assisting other workers in creating wheel covers for mining dump trucks and designing railings in Solidworks while the second day was primarily learning about the process of creating a mold for the hull of a boat. To be honest, I was expecting the first week or so of my internship to be rather slow, so I was pleasantly surprised when my supervisor threw a variety of tasks to do from day one. While at times it may seem that the amount of work is overwhelming, I do believe that this is the best way to learn.

               As this company is very heavily focused on manufacturing, it is fitting that the majority of the building is allocated to the various manufacturing processes being used for fabrication; as a result, a very small portion of the actual building is dedicated to office spaces (fortunately, I do have a desk in the office space). From what I have observed, no single person in the company has a definitive role; instead, each person dabbles in everything. I previously said that the first day, I was working with factory workers on fabricating a wheel cover for a mining vehicle; the next day, I saw the same factory workers work on manufacturing ventilation tubes. This also applies to the higher ups in the company, who are each familiar with all the manufacturing processes being used and programs such as AutoCAD and Solidworks. This structure is very much reflected in what I have done so far in my internship, as I am not learning about one specific topic but a multitude of different skills. Furthermore, due to the nature of manufacturing, a good amount of tasks I have done were very hands on; this is something that I appreciate about this specific internship as I did not want to be at a desk for most of the work day.

Being in Vietnam for roughly a week, I have taken part in a fair amount of activities. One activity that I thought was culturally informative, however, was the Vietnamese water puppet show. According to locals, water puppets have existed in Vietnam since the 11^th century, providing a glimpse into Vietnamese folklore via a variety of different scenes and set pieces. It was very clear from the performance that Vietnam is very proud of it’s past.

               Unlike most others on the trip, I am very familiar with Asian countries, especially China. As a result, I do not believe that I had the same level of culture shock as others. One aspect of Vietnam that did surprise me, however, was the traffic; the sheer number of motorbikes on the road was a sight to behold. It was also interesting to see that the pedestrian-driver relationship in Vietnam is a bit different from that of the United States; when crossing the street, the pedestrian trusts the drivers’ ability to avoid them and as such walks at a consistent speed into the street regardless of if there is anybody on the road.

               In regard to Vietnamese people, I certainly expect them to be extremely friendly towards foreigners. Before arriving at Vietnam, I was expecting the majority of Vietnamese to be very neutral towards foreigners. Instead, many Vietnamese were very friendly or even went out of their way to interact with me and others in the group during the tours. There were numerous occasions in which I or another individual attempted to speak a local in Vietnamese; the majority of the time the local would look very pleased and happy as if they were approving of us learning the Vietnamese language. One interaction was fairly memorable; when walking up Black Lady Mountain, a group of Vietnamese locals briefly guided us to ensure that the group would not accidentally walk in the wrong direction. At one point, the Vietnamese locals asked for a picture; again, I would like to reiterate that I was taken aback by how open and willing Vietnamese people were to interact with foreigners.

               Naturally, as I have just started to get adjusted to Vietnam and am starting to get used to the Vietnamese way of life, I am curious of some aspects of Vietnam that I would like to delve deeper into during my two month stay in the country. Most notably, I am wondering how the Vietnamese work culture is and how it compares to that of the United States. Fortunately, given the opportunity to work at a Vietnamese company for the next two months, I will firsthand be able to further investigate this curiosity.