Lab Continuous Improvement Intern: Lean Projects & Impact

Daikin Applied; Plymouth (MN); On-site; USD 25,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Daikin Applied in Plymouth, Minnesota is offering a 12-week Continuous Improvement Engineering Intern program in its test facility. You will lead a defined improvement project, conduct Gemba observations, time studies, and data analysis under supervision, applying Lean, PDCA, and DMAIC methods.

You'll collaborate with engineers, technicians, and operations leaders to drive safety, quality, and efficiency while presenting results to laboratory leadership.

Qualifications

• 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.
• Work visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

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/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.

Skills

Excel

PowerPoint

Word

Problem solving

Organization

Collaboration

Safety

Education

Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering or related field

Tools

Power BI

Power Query

Minitab

SharePoint

Microsoft Lists

Job description

Daikin Applied in Plymouth, Minnesota is offering a 12-week Continuous Improvement Engineering Intern program in its test facility. You will lead a defined improvement project, conduct Gemba observations, time studies, and data analysis under supervision, applying Lean, PDCA, and DMAIC methods.

You'll collaborate with engineers, technicians, and operations leaders to drive safety, quality, and efficiency while presenting results to laboratory leadership.