Lab Continuous Improvement Engineer Intern

Daikin Applied Americas • Plymouth, MN

22h • Onsite

About The Position

Daikin Applied is hiring a Continuous Improvement Engineering Intern for a 12-week internship at its Plymouth, Minnesota HVAC/R, chiller, and compressor test facility. The intern will support improvements that strengthen safety, quality, delivery, cost, test capacity, and employee engagement, working alongside engineers, technicians, laboratory planners, controls and instrumentation specialists, skilled trades, and operational leaders.

With guidance from a Continuous Improvement Engineer, the intern will lead a defined improvement project from initial observation through pilot implementation, measurement, and final presentation. The role provides hands-on experience applying continuous improvement methods and presenting project results and recommendations to laboratory leadership.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering technology, quality engineering, operations management, data analytics, or a related technical field.
• Sophomore, junior, or senior standing at the start of the internship.
• Experience using Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Ability to collect, organize, analyze, and communicate information.
• Strong problem-solving, organization, collaboration, and follow-through skills.
• Ability to work safely in both an office and active industrial laboratory environment.

Nice To Haves

• Coursework or project experience involving Lean, Six Sigma, PDCA, DMAIC, statistics, quality engineering, operations research, or project management.
• Familiarity with SIPOC, process mapping, time studies, Pareto analysis, 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams, standard work, 5S, or visual management.
• Experience with Power BI, Power Query, Minitab, SharePoint, Microsoft Lists, or similar analytical tools.
• Previous manufacturing, laboratory, maintenance, engineering, technical-club, or student design-team experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead one scoped improvement project using PDCA or DMAIC methodology.
• Develop a project charter, SIPOC, stakeholder map, baseline, root-cause analysis, countermeasure plan, and final report-out.
• Conduct Gemba observations, employee interviews, time studies, workflow analysis, and current-state and future-state process mapping.
• Analyze test readiness, setup, teardown, turnover, downtime, lost test hours, action aging, or other operational measures.
• Create Pareto charts, trends, Excel tools, dashboards, checklists, standard work, visual controls, or process-confirmation methods.
• Support a focused Kaizen or structured problem-solving activity.
• Pilot practical countermeasures, collect employee feedback, compare before-and-after results, and identify unintended effects.
• Create a control and sustainment plan with named owners, review cadence, and follow-up measures.
• Present results and recommendations to laboratory leadership.

Benefits

• Hands-on experience in an HVAC/R, chiller, and compressor test facility.
• Ownership of a meaningful improvement project that can directly improve Plymouth Test Lab performance.
• Practical experience with Lean, PDCA, DMAIC, Gemba, process mapping, time studies, root-cause analysis, standard work, 5S, visual management, and performance measurement.
• Opportunities to build relationships with interns and professionals across engineering, test operations, quality, facilities, controls, instrumentation, and skilled trades.
• Regular coaching from a Continuous Improvement Engineer and support from experienced technical subject-matter experts.
• Opportunity to present results and recommendations to laboratory leadership and gain a measurable accomplishment for future interviews.
• Exposure to career paths in continuous improvement, industrial engineering, test engineering, quality, operations, project management, and data analytics.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern