Joining our PIC team this year is our newest addition Sophie Pawloski. Sophie is a third year, Mechanical engineering student here at Tech. She is very excited to learn more about the lean culture and implement lean into her own life while helping promote it around campus. Now Sophie will tell you a little bit about herself!
Hello!
My name is Sophie Pawloski. I was born and raised in a small town in downstate Michigan called Durand. This is my third year here at Tech working towards my Mechanical Engineering degree and it been some of the best years to date! You can probably find me at most Tech sporting events cheering them on with the dance team. In my free-time I also enjoy snowboarding, hiking, and just exploring the Keweenaw.
I was introduced to lean the summer after my freshman year at my first internship working at Magna. They were very involved in lean manufacturing and focused heavily on it at their facility. During my few months there I was able to participate in Kaizens, 5S during change over, and implement many lean ideas, which they called lean thinkers, into the assembly processes there. After this I was able to see the impact lean had on not only the company as a whole, but individual workers as well. In lean everyone’s opinion is valued which can really boost the morale of a company! After this experience lean had me hooked.
Since I’ve started the training process in the Office of Continuous Improvement I’ve learned so many new lean tool that I’m beginning to implement into my everyday life, like how I organize my planner or putting up a whiteboard in my room. I’m so excited to continue this journey and see not only how lean affects Michigan Tech but also how I can implement it into my own life!
Thank you!
Welcome Sophie! Sounds like you already have some experience and knowledge to use as a springboard for your work at Michigan Tech. I can tell by your blog that you are energized. Can’t wait to hear more about your improvement work as you dive in.