Wafer Manufacturing Intern

About the Role

This internship is designed for a student who wants to make a real contribution in a high-technology manufacturing environment. A meaningful factory-efficiency problem will be assigned, and the intern will be expected to investigate it, challenge existing assumptions, invent practical new solutions, test ideas with factory stakeholders, and present recommendations to site leadership. The selected project will focus on one primary topic below, with opportunities to connect findings across the other topics when the data supports it.

Key Responsibilities

• Collect, clean, and analyze manufacturing data from appropriate factory reports and systems.
• Observe work in the wafer factory and interview operators, technicians, engineers, and managers to understand barriers not visible in the data.
• Map current processes, decision points, ownership, and information flow.
• Use Lean methods, time studies, Pareto analysis, trend analysis, and other appropriate engineering tools.
• Develop new metrics, dashboards, analytical methods, or process concepts that make performance losses visible and actionable.
• Prototype and test solutions with stakeholders, incorporating feedback and documenting limitations.
• Estimate potential benefits of recommendations in output, cycle time, labor efficiency, or avoided loss.
• Provide clear documentation and present findings, conclusions, and recommendations to manufacturing leadership.

Potential Internship Projects

• Idle-Time Observation Study: Measure how selected toolsets actually spend available production time. Compare floor observations with system-reported states, build a clear idle-time taxonomy, quantify the largest recurring losses, and recommend improvements to data accuracy, operating practices, or response processes.
• Missing Minutes Root Cause Analysis: Analyze delayed or incomplete production opportunities that reduce output. Create a repeatable method to identify events, classify causes such as staffing, handoffs, training, dispatch, equipment, or process barriers, and develop visual management tools that help prevent recurrence.
• WIP Restriction Cost Analysis: Quantify the factory impact of work-in-process controls and constraints. Determine which WIP restrictions create the most waiting time, lost moves, or cycle-time risk; distinguish controls that protect quality from controls that may be overly restrictive; and recommend a fact-based prioritization method for follow-up action.

About You

• Curious and willing to spend time both in the data and on the factory floor.
• Comfortable asking thoughtful questions, testing assumptions, and working through ambiguity.
• A self-starter who can organize work, follow through on commitments, and seek input when needed.
• A collaborative communicator able to work with operators, technicians, engineers, analysts, and managers.
• Motivated by difficult, open-ended problems and interested in inventing solutions rather than only documenting existing processes.
• Able to communicate technical findings clearly through concise writing, visualizations, and presentations.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Experience using Microsoft Excel for data preparation, analysis, and visualization.
• Experience with Power BI, SQL, Python, Minitab, or similar tools is helpful but not required.
• Experience or professional interest in manufacturing systems, operations, statistics, Lean methods, process improvement, or data analytics.
• Ability to work on-site in Bloomington, Minnesota and follow cleanroom, safety, information-security, and manufacturing procedures.
• Currently pursuing a bachelor’s in an engineering or science major with enrollment continuing after Summer 2027.

Location

Normandale, United States