3D designing allows you to model objects limited only by your own imagination. Dawid Zimoń, a graduate of the Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering and IFE and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TUL, knows it best . The junior constructor engineer, employee of Emerson AFCP Poland, talks about implementing his own ideas into large-scale production and about working on solutions that save human life .
During your studies, you had internships at four different companies, out of which you became permanently affiliated with Emerson. What determined this choice?
Already during my internship at Emerson, I knew that I wanted to work there. Each company is created by people, and it is where I met people who build a friendly atmosphere, thanks to which working on large projects becomes a pleasure. In addition, the company has great design equipment, which allows you to transform your own knowledge and creativity into ready-made solutions. Emerson offered me the position of a design engineer. Right after graduation, I was able to transfer my ideas through CAD software on a computer to the production hall. At the beginning of my professional career, I couldn't imagine a more interesting position!
You work as a junior design engineer. What exactly do you do?
I create cabinets and control panels, which are an indispensable element of any production environment, but not only. They are also used everyday, we are not aware of them on a daily basis, e.g. when we pour fuel into our car. Together with Emerson, we also actively support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic by targeting production and manufacturing elements of life-saving devices, such as respirators. My job is to design such a device in CAD software and to create technological documentation on the basis of which such devices are later produced.
Control cabinets, facilitating work on production lines, and respirators - your work requires extensive design skills. What studies provide such preparation?
I owe my knowledge to studies at two faculties at Lodz University of Technology. I have always enjoyed science, that is why at the first cycle of studies I chose an interdisciplinary course, which was biomedical engineering at the Faculty of Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering and the International Faculty of Engineering at TUL. For my second cycle, I studied manufacturing engineering in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Currently, despite the difficult situation on the labor market, graduates of Lodz University of Technology are still in demand by companies looking for young, talented engineers. On top of that, graduating from an English-language programme not only broadened
my range of technical knowledge, but also developed my - equally important - soft skills and foreign language skills. These skills play an enormous role in my work, as engineering projects often involve an international team in which communication plays a key role.
During your studies, you went for a semester to Caliagri in Italy. What did this trip give you?
Going abroad allows you to depart from the study routine that occurs at the home university. Suddenly we find ourselves in a foreign country, the familiar faces disappear, we don't know the lecturers and we have to find ourselves in a new reality. It seems to me that such experience opens the mind and brings out soft skills, such as communication or teamwork, which, combined with technical knowledge and language fluency, gives us a significant advantage in the future on the labor market. I appreciate my trip most precisely for the moment of breaking my own language barrier. Although I studied in English at Lodz University of Technology, it was only during Erasmus that everyday conversations in a foreign language became completely natural.
Mobility abroad and internships undoubtedly open up many opportunities for students. From the graduate's perspective, what do you consider the most valuable in studying at Lodz University of Technology?
One of the best things that happened to me while studying at Lodz University of Technology was meeting lecturers whose passion is science and conducting classes with students. Lodz University of Technology can also be recognized for the number of additional classes offered. Additionally, TUL is a great place for student organizations, enabling them to gain international knowledge, develop foreign language skills, and travel abroad. Being a member of organizations such as SKN BioMed-Spec, ESN, I can confidently say that studies gain double value then!
Interviewer: Dr. Aleksandra Pawlik
Pictures: Emerson company and private archive of Mr. Dawid Zimoń