An Ever-Evolving Internship

Tiffany Hamm ’16

Math & physics major interns across departments at Mack Trucks

Internships often amount to a few months, but Tiffany Hamm’s experience at Mack Trucks spanned across two school years. The math/economics and physics major began as a Business Control intern during the summer before her junior year, which led into her fall semester—and beyond. 

“During this time I was able to meet many new people and, by helping other departments, I was able to prove that I had many skills to offer even outside of finance,” she explains. “So I was asked to join the Operations Department for my fall semester of my senior year. I decided it would be a good change for me, as it allowed me to expand my skills and learn an entire new world in manufacturing.”

Hamm’s most memorable project at the Macungie trucking plant included pedal cart training with Mack Trucks’ Continuous Improvement Team, creating a mock assembly line to train new workers.

“Through my time at Mack Trucks, I learned how to manage people, communicate with upper management who can sometimes be out of the country, and give presentations to a large group of people.” — Tiffany Hamm '16 

“Through this process, we took time trials to assemble and diassemble the carts, we collected tooling and parts, designed material flow racks, and developed training material. We even tested the carts and raced around the training room,” she says. The exercise put into practice the lessons of her statistics class, she says, when taking time trials and determining the most efficient assembly methods.

Not all tasks of an internship can be fun, but Hamm learned that applying a strong work ethic to even the most menial of tasks can show your value to a company. “I was given some tasks that I did not want to do. However, I carried them out and my boss told me that it was the best roll out he ever saw,” she says. 

Hamm also garnered other valuable lessons she could only have acquired outside the classroom, she explains. “Through my time at Mack Trucks, I learned how to manage people, communicate with upper management who can sometimes be out of the country, and give presentations to a large group of people.” 

Discovering of love of hands-on work, Hamm has gone on to secure a full-time position as a Project Handler at Underwriters Laboratories, where she coordinates and conducts safety testing for electrical components.