Author: Ananya Vangoor | Major: Computer Science and Mathematics (Statistics) | Semester: Fall 2022
Hello! My name is Ananya Vangoor, and I am a computer science and mathematics major (statistics concentration). During the fall semester of my sophomore year, I was an extern at Tyson Foods through the HEET program. You may be wondering what an extern is. While an intern learns and applies their skills in a professional setting, the extern learns more about the company, their values, and the typical responsibilities in the department they are interested in.
Most of the externship was in Fayetteville, Arkansas; however, we visited TMAC (Tyson Manufacturing Automation Center) and the Tyson Company Store in Springdale, Arkansas. All honors engineering students received an email towards the end of our freshman year discussing the Honors Engineering Externship at Tyson (HEET) program with Tyson Foods and encouraging us to apply. I was shortlisted for an interview and was finally selected a few weeks later. I wanted to learn more about how engineers apply their technical skills in a professional setting, and I thought this opportunity would allow me to do so.
During the semester-long externship, I mentored engineers from the Controls department, held conversations with leadership including the CEO Donnie King, and learned about exciting technology that Tyson plans to implement in its future factories. The controls department focuses on designing schematics for the machinery in the factories. My engineering mentor pulled up the human-machine interface (HMI) from a random factory in the United States, and he showed me the live status of the conveyor belts. Controls department engineers must constantly troubleshoot and fix the problems that arise. During the program, we had numerous speakers from high leadership positions who talked about their journey with Tyson Foods. My favorite part of the program was the visit to TMAC. We witnessed an autonomous robot stacking boxes on pallets. The boxes would be placed precisely on the corners of the pallet, and it would immediately stop if a human’s hand was in the robot’s pathway. Another exciting tool that I witnessed was the instant 3D imaging machine. The machine needs a few scans of a room and would produce a 3D model with precise measurements in a matter of minutes.
Throughout this process, I networked with numerous workers and interviewed for a potential internship. Not only was I able to network with Tyson employees but also with the HEET cohort. I learned more about the company during my time there. Besides knowing that Tyson makes some good chicken, I was not well informed about their business process before the externship experience. Their direct customers are the factories that produce the chicken. The company has set up rooms that replicate the kitchens of big customers like McDonald’s, Chick-fil-a, and Burger King to better assist them with new meat products.
The externship has allowed me to understand Tyson’s core values and workers’ responsibilities. Interning at Tyson Foods during the academic year is my plan if I have the opportunity. I want to intern in Tyson’s controls department or their information technology department.