COFS CIR Chat Session - Avery Zwayer

Avery Zwayer is a fourth year Choose Ohio First (COF) Engineering and Science Innovators (ESI-Engineering) scholar majoring in Mechanical Engineering at The Ohio State University with a passion for the healthcare engineering industry. She is particularly interested in medical device development for individuals with type-1 diabetes. This past summer, she traveled to Irving, Texas to work for Abbott Laboratories on their Business Excellence team in the Core Diagnostics division. Her experience focused on managing a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (YB) project, and she was tasked with reducing scheduling discrepancies based on kit cycle times within the Accessory-Catalog-Pack (ACP) department of this Core Diagnostics manufacturing site. She engaged in an 8-hour training to learn the DMAIC methodology and had the opportunity to leverage it for YB certification. She developed skills in project management, process mapping, conducting time studies, and analyzing data to inform data-driven decisions. She attended project tollgates with mentors and the Business Excellence Manager and presented the project results to the Dallas site leadership. This effort resulted in a projected 11,000+ hour discrepancy improvement over the next five months at the Dallas site. As a Mechanical Engineering student, this experience enabled Avery to develop skills and knowledge of industrial engineering principles.

Avery will present her internship experience at CIR chat session at The Ohio State University on Monday, November 27, 2023 from 5:30PM - 6:30PM in Smith Lab Room 1153 (SM1153). She will share about the Abbott Operations Internship experience as a whole as well as speak about her site-specific project. Avery sought out this experience through networking and the university’s career fair. She will be returning to Abbott for a co-op rotation within their Nutrition division in Columbus, OH this Spring 2024.